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There are a trillion photographers out there. How do you make a name for yourself and differentiate yourself from the billion of other photographers out there?

Some ideas:

The photography market is vast, wide, and deep. Given our image conscious society, and our visual sociology, the photography market is the biggest (ever expanding) pie to take advantage of!

I get bored very easily. Perhaps this is my great advantage in life. As a consequence to conquer my boredom, I go out, I do things, I strive to be more active, and to affect and effect the world.

Boredom is a useful tool to be harnessed to your advantage!

You’re not in school anymore. Now is your turn and time to direct your own self development, your own self learning. No homework, no due dates, no deadlines and no grading. You’re the teacher and professor of yourself. Don’t delay; lead yourself!

In this game of life, the point ain’t to become someone else or emulate someone else. The point is for you to become yourself, become more of yourself. To invent yourself.

Despite all the pain and drudgery of life, what’s our salvation? Photography!

The ideal state: not freedom from pain and suffering, but the ideal is a state of maximal engagement; maximal engagement with my mind, body, soul, other humans, and the world?

Photograph the brave new covid world in which we live in!

It seems the principle of life is growth. But for us photographers, what does ‘growth’ mean?

The best form of stimulation is social stimulation.

Why am I such a great critic, judge and sociologist of America and American society? Simple: I was born and raised here!

Also as a Korean-American, I have one foot in American society and one foot out which means I can better analyze and critique it than a typical Caucasian American (what some basic people call “white”).

Hybrid-Americans as better critics and judges of American society, especially when they’re born here in the states.

Photography is and should be maximally democratic and open for all. Phone photography is great, but ultimately if you got a choice (and the money), RICOH GR III is a far superior choice (perhaps by 100x). Why? Superior ergonomics for Ricoh to turn it on and off, superior ergonomics to hit the shutter, 100x better image quality, sharpness, resolution and aesthetics, and it is only nominally larger than a phone. Also at $899 the Ricoh GR III is still $100 cheaper than a new iPhone Pro!

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I am one of the most motivated people I know. How do I do it? Some thoughts:

1. Go for a walk. Once you walk, *THEN* you get creative ideas. When in doubt, go for a walk.
2. Music.
3. Lots of black coffee.
4. Cold showers
5. Quick pump: Go to the park and workout, lift weights at home, do body weight exercises at home, or go to the gym and do some heavy ‘one rep max’ deadlifts or squats. To motivate your legs is the best form of motivation. Or in other words, when in doubt, always workout your legs (instead of your upper body). Assuming ‘motivation’ means to ‘move’ (literally to walk and move your legs), then your legs reign supreme.

What is motivation? Moving people.

PODCAST

Or why the sociologist is the most keen marketer:

What is the end towards all our human activities? The social!

Or why Donald Trump is the most entertaining man of all-time:

The mistake that marketers and ‘content creators’ make:

They optimize for machines, algorithms and Google Search (SEO) instead of optimizing for real human beings!

Get the people going and moving:

Street photography as an ethos, approach, and lifestyle.

Street photography; one of my greatest joys and fun-things in life!

What is pure bliss and joy? Being in the zone. A creative zone where you can focus, think, and create like a stream of water, with no delay or pause.

Rather than see clothing as vanity luxury items, better to see it as functional, utilitarian battle armor (like the gleaming bronze armor of the ancient Greeks in Homer’s Iliad). Note Hector and Achilles.

To continually find inspiration as a photographer and visual artist: look at your own old photos to serve as your own visual stimulus!

When studying the recent presidential debate, the question:

What is the philosophy of a ‘fact’ vs a ‘lie’?

The root and foundation to study all fields of knowledge.

When watching the debate between Biden and Trump I realized:

The left (Democrats) often use anti-rich rhetoric to gain support and votes.

But the thing is this:

Americans don’t resent the rich. In fact, Americans *ASPIRE* to become the rich.

What is it that Americans hate? Unfair bailouts of big corporate CEO’s. Americans seem to resent guys who work on Wall Street, but actual billionaires and rich people … Americans *aspire* to become rich, wealthy, and billionaires themselves.

To grow your mind, your erudition, your BS detector, your physical body (grow your muscles), grow your audience, and keep growing. Because if one isn’t continually growing (over the long term), one is dying and decaying (Bob Dylan quote).

Or why Biden probably won’t win the election:

Surprisingly, flying during COVID-19 isn’t that big of a deal:

Was on a Southwest flight yesterday and (finally) had the chance to watch the new JOKER film. And holy moly — was blown away. The film is unusually good, even considering it was made in 2019 (typically modern films are no good). Some thoughts:

Color is great, but if you seek maximal clarity with your photos, monochrome is the way:

SHABU SHABU (all you can eat in Orange Country) is unusually fun and good. Perhaps not as good as All You Can Eat Korean BBQ, but equally worthy nonetheless.

Good photos encapsulate high energy. Immortalizes energy. Takes the energy power of a (real life) scene, and solidifies it into a photograph.

Discipline for whom and towards what ends?

What does it mean to “listen” or to be a ‘good’ “listener”?

Some thoughts:

To write great:

To write with blood.

To write about your own life experiences. To write with brazen fury. To not censor yourself. To share your thoughts, undiluted … thoughts which even scare you. Or thoughts which make you feel uncomfortable. Ideas which are ‘unsavory’ — interesting ideas you truly believe in, that you don’t want to admit to yourself.

Bad writers: to just commentate on the lives of others, rather than write about yourself.

This is what you were made for:

Let us not fool ourselves:

You cannot become relevant unless you know how to effectively market yourself as a photographer.

Real thoughts:

There are a quadrillion people out there; how can you stand out? Simple: stark differentiation. Rather than seeking to become more similar to others, strive to become more *DISSIMILAR* to others!

The builder ethos:

Currently helping my sister Jennifer build her first computer, and reliving all these joyful memories of the past:

We think the ultimate wisdom resides in rationality, logic, unemotionalness, and the mind. What if the wisdom of the body were superior to the mind?

ALL AMERICAN:

The goal — not more money and resources, but more physiological power.

Dynamic is better. Dynamic means more energy, force, and interest:

If you desire to make massive impact and change on the planet, the world and the human race … you must be dominant. Leave submissiveness to the herd animals and cows.

Are you dominant or submissive? If you desire to advance the human race forward … you must be dominant.

While you’re in VR, and assuming you got noise cancelling headphones on or whatever … you’re totally focused and in the zone. No distractions.

Perhaps good for reading, writing, thinking, and exploring?

Dear strettogs, a thought:

Are humans made for computers, or are computers made for humans?

The reason this is important:

The (nerdy) silicon valley elite want us to become the under-lings of our new AI gods.

To become more creative, focus on optimizing your human metabolism:

The first principle rule to freedom and maximal joy, happiness and flourishing in your life:

Creativity; invest in your own creative longevity!

My favorite restaurant; all you can eat Korean BBQ places (mostly in LA/Southern California):

Any money you invest that makes you more creative inspired and productive— this is a good investment.

My (now) 5 year old niece Amelia is now great at making photos. I encouraged her from a young age (around 2-3) and the secret is this:

Just give them a camera, teach them how to hit the shutter, how to view photos, and let them go crazy!

Thinking about virtual reality — virtual reality is just computing and computers 3.0.

Which makes me think —

What are computers good for?

And do computers really improve our life that much? If so, how so?

The more things you own, the more things own you.