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Becoming a Street Photographer
We are the new street photographers. We disdain the old, and we throw mayhem and havoc onto past notions of street photography. No more John Szarkowski, no more Gary Winogrand, no more Henri Cartier Bresson, no more Alex Webb, etc.
Why have I never met a self-assured street photographer?
I think the funny thing about street photography is that it is such a small funny niche. The interesting thing is that a lot of new industries were born out of it, including Leica camera, and also Fujifilm, and also Ricoh.
Also, I love street photography because it is the most democratic. Literally anyone could just grab their iPhone, or camera, and just go outdoors and make photos.
Think about street photography as an aesthetic an ethos to life
One thing I love in Vietnam, like my friend Chu Viet Ha is they don’t really call it street photography, they call it “life photography.” I really like this, because I think that is ultimately what we are trying to capture is life. We love life, we love being alive, and we want to share our joy of life with others.
Pro life, or anti-life?
The reason why we have to be very very careful with artists is that some artists are anti-life, very few artists I have met are pro life.
For example, the reason why I think it is a good idea to be very very distrustful of artists who were either addicted to drugs or alcohol is that their artwork was simply a way and a means of bearing their pain, depression and sorrow. While I do think that making art is a good remedy to dealing with the maladies of life, the big downside is that if you ingest the artwork of a sick person, you will also become sick. There is a physiology to art, which means, the physiology of the artist is imputed into his or her artwork, and when you consume that type of artwork, you will also gain the physiological attributes of that individual.
For example, do not trust any artist who are addicted to alcohol, drugs, heroin etc. For example, don’t trust Jackson Pollock, because he was an alcoholic. He died while drunk driving, no respect should be given to that man. Because if you are drunk while driving, the potential of killing someone else in their family in a car.
Even Jean Michel Basquiat, he died of a heroin overdose. I don’t think we should trust his artwork either, I would only trust the artwork of the sober artist, more trust in Kendrick Lamar, whose only vice seems to be eating Cap’n Crunch cereal, rather than all these other rappers and artists out there who are perpetually drunk or high off of some sort of strange drug or alcohol concoction.
Also, the reason why I am highly distrustful of EDM, and all of these millennial music festivals is that everyone there is high on drugs. Can anyone really enjoy an EDM festival, or some sort of music festival without alcohol or drugs? Highly doubtful.
The best drug is coffee
Elon Musk said something very funny in the interview with Joe Rogan when he said that smoking weed is like the exact opposite of having a cup of coffee. I think the least bad drug out there is probably coffee, consume it straight black, with no milk cream sugar or fake substitutes. Also maybe green tea. But that is pretty much it. No drugs, no alcohol, no weed, etc.
Why do I not trust anybody who smokes weed, either regularly, or even recreationally? I think the reason why people like to smoke marijuana is that it eases their pain, or it makes them forget about themselves. The only philosophers we should trust are the sober ones, because in order to have real lofty thoughts, you must have 100% of your cognitive abilities with precision. Anything which intoxicates you is bad.
Back to street photography
If we assume that street photography is an aesthetic and ethos and approach to things, then you could apply the street photography methodology to anything I like. The way you photograph your kids and your wife and your family is a street photography approach. Either with permission, without permission, it doesn’t matter.
I think you could also shoot street photography in national parks. Like Joshua tree. That you could shoot a Street Photography aesthetic of natural places and things, in a street photography aesthetic. Also, you get extra bonus points if you get humans in it, which is often the case. The funny thing is a lot of people desire to go to all these nice national parks, thinking that they will be the only ones there. No. They are very very crowded and full of tons of people, Maybe as crowded as the mall. And this is a good thing, because even if you go visit Joshua tree, you could do street photography there of all the people trying to climb the rocks etc.
Think beyond street photography
When people ask you what you are, say that you’re like a big kid, and you like to run around with your camera.
Street photography is the future. Let us pave it together.
ERIC
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Innovation thoughts
- My personal thought is perhaps the future of innovation doesn’t lie in tech, but clothing, fitness, health, etc. At this point, we have all the money, and all of the iPhones, etc. However, what we like is physiological health and strength. Currently speaking, my favorite clothing brand is Lululemon, their license to train shorts are quite phenomenal. Also, I’m very inspired by Outlier.nyc, they keep innovating and creating new products. A very good sign.
- Why do I think that fitness clothing is so important? It makes a huge difference. Our clothes might be more important than our iPhones. Why? If you have the right pair of shorts or pants, it offers you greater freedom of movement, a very simple thing in these Lululemon license to train shorts I have is front zippers and a back zipper, which means I could play with Seneca in all situations without worrying about my stuff falling out of my pockets. This is quite critical. Also, when hypelifting at the gym, often times the clothes get in my way. I’m starting to think about trying to discover new clothing types in order for my shirts not to get in the way when I’m lifting.
- All of the new Apple products are insanely boring. I stepped inside an Apple store the other day, and I believe that Apple needs a radical line of simplification. Way too many products, lame colors etc. For example, the new MacBook Air in the midnight blue is really ugly, it looks like an old Sony VAIO laptop. Also, I think Apple should just get rid of their big size iPad Pro, Steve Jobs would’ve hated it. Also, I don’t think Apple went hard enough with the deep purple color for the iPhone pro. In real life it’s not that impressive. Also, it looks like nowadays the Apple store is really empty. A very bad sign. Why? No more radical innovation in their product lineup, just boring iteration. Unless Apple does something radical, I think Apple will become the next Microsoft, a lame and slow decline.
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