Dim vs Bright

HOW TO GET YOUR THOUGHTS GOING

ERIC KIM MORNING COFFEE ROUTINE

Start the day with a lot of fine robusta, ERIC KIM OMAKASE COFFEE, then hit the gym!

Thoughts:

First, there seems to be a huge benefit of just getting your ass out of the house. When you wake up, and shower and am indoors, indoors is dark, cramped, short narrow and regular ceilings, and dull.

However once you coffee up, put on your clothes and shoes, and immediately just stepping outside and getting into your car, you immediately feel much more activated! Even driving, seeing the change of scenery, getting some movement and UV sun exposure is uplifting!

Even getting to the parking lot, seeing other people and cars, economic activity is very uplifting. And certainly getting to the gym is great — high ceilings, music, random stuff on the TV’s, seeing people at the gym— some familiar, some unfamiliar, some friends, some you might have seen is all good!

Once at the gym, great to empty your bowels, and start off the day with the hot sauna (yes, even BEFORE) working out! The sauna is like my zen meditation chamber, dark, quiet, and the higher temperature, humidity, and feeling my body sweat gets my thoughts going?

Also pro tip— ask your gym for the Wi-Fi password if they got Wi-Fi, and just bring your 11 inch iPad Pro, no case, no stupid stylus with you, and use it to do creative work, writing and ideation! For example all of this blog post was written on my iPad, using the free gym Wi-Fi, while in the hot sauna!

HE WHO IS THE STRONGEST IS THE MOST SUPERIOR AND SUPREME.

Aka, me.

YOU CAN’T CONTROL THE WEATHER, BUT YOU CAN HAVE INSANELY GREAT COFFEE!

ERIC KIM OMAKASE COFFEE.

THE GYM IS MY DAILY CHURCH?

kewh— to swell, to prevail, spread, be strong. To prevail.

Kirika— the Lord’s house.

Kurios— the Lord. Kuros— supremacy.

Savas— strength, power, might, superiority.

BEING DIFFERENT FOR THE SAKE OF WHAT?

VISION.

WHY become a visionary?

How to become a visionary?

WHAT DO YOU LIVE FOR?

Why do Americans care for cars so much?

How to become a visionary

battle ready, ready for war.

Over consuming is a virtue?

Just get your ass out of the house!

MOVE WEIGHT

JUST LEAVE THEM ALONE.

Don’t Be a Dummy.

WHEN TO STOP THE ATTEMPTS?

After 50×50.

I HAVE AN OPINION ABOUT EVERYTHING!

The Philosophy of Masculinity

Going to the gym as training your manliness, your masculinity.
Each and every man seeks to become apex masculinity.

Bad Stoicism

Stoicism is immoral, but that is also why it is good! Also effective.

STOICISM 101

Become invincible:

The Stoic Masters

Marcus Aurelius statue — Marcus Aurelius

Learn from the master stoics:

See all philosophy >

BEEF TRI-TIP INSTANT POT RECIPE SAUTÉ AND CHILI INSANELY GOOD: ERIC KIM 100% CARNIVORE BEEF DIET

How I beef:

AVOID CONFRONTATION AND ENGAGEMENT

Just ignore them. Ignore their existence? Pretend like they’re not there?

Also, no eye contact. Also, position your body away from them.

Experiment.

Social congregation and economic activity

It seems that the best way to earn money, create capital, great value is to have people congregate together. This is the logic of sports, grocery stores, concerts, workshops, seminars, as well as restaurants and bars.

Being a carnivore is cheaper

It seems that if you want to be economical, the cheapest way to approach things is to just be 100% carnivore. If you go to Costco, Costco business center, you can still buy 80/20 ground beef for only $2.99 a pound! Also, tri-tip beef is only $4.49 a pound!

Other day I went to my favorite are you Korean barbecue place for a dinner date with Cindy, and I was shocked that it ended up costing us almost $50 USD a person, which included tax and tip. The other day when we went to the Costco business Center, it cost only $70 to buy a big ass slab of beef tri-tip for only $4.50 a pound!

BE YOUR OWN BANK.

A standard camera

Very inspiring; the Tesla model three is almost like the new standard car. The new modern day Ford model T.

Maybe I could do the same thing with cameras? What would a standard camera, like let’s say a Tesla model 3 look like for cameras?

Tesla’s are selling like hotcakes!

Last over 100 years?

The Meaning of Inflation?

What is the meaning of inflation? What does it mean when gas prices keep going up, above five dollars a gallon, and the price of beef per pound keeps going up?

Impressive how Apple can still keep her prices at the price as they are.

Physiological energy is supreme

At this point, my only limiting factor is my physiological energy, not money. My money outstrips my physiological energy.

The Philosophy of the Gym

Am I the first serious philosopher and the first serious weight lifter?

1. Public strength

Something that I’ve observed is that I am much stronger, physiologically stronger, when I’m at the gym around a lot of other people. I believe if I were just working out or lifting weights in a vacuum, or a home gym or garage, I would be a lot less strong, and also a lot more bored.

2. Social life

90% of the fun I get from going to the gym is the social life. To quote Cindy, who studies the social life of libraries in colonial Vietnam, I am interested in the social life of the gym. Post college, I haven’t really had the opportunity to be as social. But for me, going to the gym is great.

TRUST YOURSELF.

Trust your own gut, your own instincts.

I OWN MY OWN OPINION.

Trust EK.

I’m the last trustworthy blogger alive?

Hybrid Method and Approach

MY PRIDE AND GLORY!

LUMIX G9 IS THE BEST CAMERA?

HOW TO TAKE OVER THE PHOTO WORLD

Photo 101:

PHOTOGRAPHY 101

Dear friend,

If you’re new to photography, start here:

Photography is Everything!

Photography Tips

Photography Articles

Photography Techniques

Everyday Photography

RICOH GR II selfie in mirror, double eye surreal. Prague, 2017

Color Photography 101

Photography Philosophy

Photography Inspiration

The Fundamentals of Photography

Photography Equipment »

How to Take Better Photos »

Composition Lessons »

Photography Assignments »

Contact Sheets »

Editing (Image Selection) »

Creativity »

Motivation »

Post-Processing

How to Create a Body of Work

Don’t Work on Too Many Projects

Technical Photography Settings

DSLR Photography 101

Learn From the Masters of Photography

“He without a past has no future.”

Start here:

The Masters of Photography

Prague, 1968. Josef Koudelka / Magnum Photos

Classics never die:

NEVER STOP EXPANDING.

NOT JUST SURVIVAL

But ever expansion!

ALWAYS BE REVIEWING YOUR PHOTOS

Armoured Car

Armored Prius.

CREATE SOMETHING MAGNIFICENTLY GREAT

Like Tesla.

New Concepts

Also seeking insanely great icons.

Disobedience is a virtue

MLK VIBES

I always listen; I simply never obey!

Conserve

Car Life

Reduce Expenses

Gun Theories

Guns and pseudo masculinity?

Bad Influences

Inglewood

Apparently Inglewood is gentrifying a lot right now, a good investment opportunity for the future. Ken told me this!

Productivity for the sake of what?

Public productivity

We are more productive when we are in public spaces and places? For example, why I’m so productive at coffee shops!

Or at the gym, or at the park, or at the mall?

Free Gym?

I have a new concept for a gym, a free gym, which is a freemium model. Like an open source gym, no membership necessary anyone can work out, but ultimately, you pay money for some sort of premium service or personal training?

Real Life

just be around other humans!

In real life! Just go to the park, go to the mall, go to the shopping center, go to the gym, just congregate anywhere where there are people!

Beef is Best

Beef yourself up, beef up your kids!

My thought on good parenting, is essentially just feed them more beef! Always have it with you!

societal impact

Forward Progress

Lumix G9 over Ricoh GR?

I love the Ricoh GR with a passion but the issue is they always break. The longevity of a Ricoh GR camera is very poor.

Therefore, maybe a strategy instead is buying a camera that has an interchangeable lens and body. For example I really like the Panasonic Lumix G9, and if you want a cheap lens, you should just get a Panasonic Lumix 14 mm pancake lens, which is roughly a 28 mm full frame equivalent.

Pricewise, just getting a lumix g9 body is pretty cheap, in the $800-$900 range. And the Panasonic Lumix 14 mm lens is really cheap, only around 200 bucks. So in all, by thousand dollars, for a Lumix G9 and lens, which is the same price of a Ricoh GR 3X!

Some of the upsides of the Lumix G9 camera is that it is very good for video and vlogging, and I find the dynamic monochrome with grain and contrast added to the max mix very beautiful JPEG images.

The downside of the Lumix G9 camera is that it is really big and heavy, but maybe is it worth it if the longevity is better?

Vlogging?

From an entrepreneurial perspective, it seems that in terms of media media production, vlogging is the way.

EQUIPMENT by KIM

There is no “perfect” camera. Don’t fall into GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) and falsely believe that buying a new camera will make you a better photographer.

If you’re not feeling inspired in your photography, I recommend you to buy books, not gear. Also check out these 75+ Inspirational Photo Books You Gotta Buy. You can also download my free books.

Equipment Articles >

Digital Medium Format Photography

Smartphone Photography >

Film Photography 101 >

My favorite camera: RICOH GR III

Currently my favorite camera is the RICOH GR III:

Best Equipment by ERIC KIM

This is a list of my personal favorite equipment in photography, computers, and life:

Of course, this list probably won’t apply to you — but this is advice I would give myself (if I needed to buy stuff):

Film cameras

If you’re new to shooting film, pick up a copy of FILM NOTES.

eric kim melbourne benjamin thompson — Portrait by Benjamin Thompson // Leica MP + Henri Neck Strap + SF 24D flash + Leica 35mm f/2 Summicron ASPH lens

Best film rangefinder

Leica MP + Leica 35mm f/2 Summicron Lens

Best affordable film rangefinder

Leica M6 + Voigtlander 35mm f/2.5 Lens

Best compact film camera

Contax T3

Best medium-format film camera

Hasselblad 500-series

Best black and white film

Kodak Tri-X 400 (pushed to 1600): $5

Best color film

Kodak Portra 400: $8.50

Best film scanner

For medium-format/35mm: Epson v800: $800

For 35mm: Plustek OpticFilm 8100: $270

Camera accessories

eric kim street photography gfx fujifilm medium format digital-7340

Best camera shoulder bag

SAIGON SATCHEL

Best camera backpack

Fits 13” Laptop and Camera: Thinktank Perception 15 (black): $120

Best photography neck strap

Best photography software

Adobe Lightroom

Best video editing software

iMovie (free) or Final Cut Pro X ($300)

Books

See all my free books.

Best educational photography book

Magnum Contact Sheets

Best black-and-white photography art book

“Exiles” by Josef Koudelka

Best color photography art book

“The Suffering of Light” by Alex Webb

Best photography handbook

Street Notes

Best philosophy book

On the Shortness of Life – Seneca ($8) // 10 Lessons Seneca Has Taught Me.

Best digital tools

Best laptop

Maxed-out 13” MacBook Pro (Refurbished)

Best phone

The smallest iPhone available (currently iPhone Mini)

Best Mac Apps

Best writing app

IA Writer (for writing)

Best screen recorder

Camtasia

Best image resizer

JPEGmini Pro

Audio

eric kim hanoi street photography-0012663

Best earbuds

In-ear monitors

Apparel

Best underwear

ExOfficio Men Boxer Brief (black): $26

Best T-shirt

Outlier NYC Merino Wool T-Shirt

Best socks

Outlier NYC Black Merino Wool Socks

Best pants

Merino Wool Leggings (black)

Best glasses

LINDBERG – Titanium

Finance

eric kim street photography x100f fujifilm-7232

Best bank

Chase

Best entrepreneurial tools

Best blogging platform

WordPress.org + Genesis theme

Best paid online services

eric kim street photography gfx fujifilm medium format digital-7360

Best cloud storage

Dropbox (Pro)

Diet & Nutrition

Food

Intermittent fasting — with one big meal a day (only dinner)

Workout

Deadlifts (one rep max) + squats + dumbbell press + chin-ups + pushups

Conclusion

Of course this is just a list of stuff that work for me. It probably won’t work for you.

But I got inspired to make this list– because it took me about 10 years to figure out the best equipment for me. And this works for me, and I hope it can help simplify your purchasing decisions (at least in photography and some other details).

I’ll continue to do articles and videos related to equipment– because I do believe (up to a certain degree) having the ‘right’ equipment in life makes life easier. But the problem is falling victim to GAS (gear acquisition syndrome) where we are buying stuff for the sake of it (has happened to me).

If you already have a bunch of equipment that works for you– stick with it. But if you need some help, I hope this list helped you.

Always,
Eric

What’s best for you versus what’s best for your kid?

Substantive versus superficial virtuosity

Just live your life as if your real life were Diablo, and you were the main character

Become the DIABLO

Just always have your iPad with you

You cannot focus on more than one thing at a time

Minimum Viable Philosophy by Peter Limberg

Great thoughts by Peter >

Some thoughts I want to expand on:

Justice

How to make a WordPress site with Amazon Lightsail

How to do it.

Real Life DIABLO

Life Goals?

Life-Goals-6 Download

Dear friend, a thought on my mind; perhaps the best way to approach life is to consider our life goals, and also for us to become more critical and discerning on how to achieve those life goals.

For example, our creative life goals, and also, what we want to achieve in a single day, in a week, or our lifetimes.

1. Mastering your physiology

I just hit the legendary 975 pound atlas lift, powered by ERIC KIM OMAKASE COFFEE, and a realization for myself:

I have a passion and a lust for ever more.

For example, it seems at least for myself, the direction and path I desire is to always have higher numbers.

For example, when I consider my younger days when I was 16 years old, and I had my 1991 Sentra SE-R, 5 speed coupe, and the joy that I had was always changing the modifications and things on it, do you ever give it more horsepower, torque, improve performance, etc.

However, I was never interested in comparing my car with other people. In fact, I had deep pride in my car, and how unique it was. The Sentra SE-R, the B 13, a unique model built from 1991 to 1993, was practically unheard of, even when I was a teenager. Similar to performance to an old-school BMW M3, and superior performance to the Honda Civic SI, which was also very popular when I was a teenager.

It seems that nowadays, at least in cars and car culture, we are obsessed with having more horsepower, more performance points, etc. It seems that the traditional benchmark in holidays is to have the Tesla model S plaid, 1000+ horsepower etc. I think this is what drives us, both metaphorically and literally, for example the dodge hellcat, SRT, dodge challengers etc., everyone wants to have the mythical 1000+ horsepower. But a funnier life goal and path:

Maybe a better life goal is instead, to desire to lift 1000 pounds.

I am fairly certain that I should be able to atlas lift over 1000 pounds, within the next year or two. I find this to be an interesting pursuit, because the only things I require is courage and time. The courage to attempt it, and time.

Also, focus. I think focus is a critical part of the equation, as the criticality of focus is that before you attempt a certain lift, when you load up over 10 plates on the bar, you gotta focus. You must focus to channel all of your energy, guts, courage, chutzpah into that one single given moment.

Why? Several things. First and foremost, you must focus and hype yourself up in order to have the courage to even attempt it in the first place.

Second, you want to be successful. The courage necessary for the attempt is critical, but technically the desired outcome is to be successful. To succeed.

Truth be told I don’t really care for “failure“, that is not being successful. If I try a given day give it my all, even if I had supreme focus and I was not successful, it doesn’t bother me that much. I’ll just try again in a few days, in a week, and if I have a long enough runway, I know I will eventually be successful.

2. Time

The reason why I believe time to be a critical component is at least in the context of weightlifting, if you attempt a one rep max, consistently, at least once a week, every week, let’s say for 10 years straight, certainly you’ll get stronger in the long term.

Are having a more long-term vision towards the future is a good one. Why?

I’ll give you an example. This summer me Cindy and Seneca spent about a month and a half in Asia, about two weeks in Hadong South Korea, and about a month in Saigon Vietnam. Because I did not have my typical gym, I noticed that my strength went down a little bit, or at least my technique and familiarity went down a little bit. But ultimately in the long term vision of things, I was not really affected. Actually, within about a week of coming back, or two weeks of coming back, I’ve been able to hit greater personal records than I had before I left to Asia. For example my rack pull, before leaving I was able to do eight plates, 25, five, and a 2.5’er. But a few days ago, I was able to supersede that old personal record, by doing a plate and a 35, 845 pounds. Therefore, even though I was gone from the gym for about a month and a half, I was able to achieve a new personal record that was 5 pounds greater than I was before my trip.

Also my atlas lift. 970 pounds was my new personal record before my trip, and after my trip, I was a little bit concerned if I lost too much strength and chutzpah. But even though I am still jetlagged, and I am sure that my strength waned a bit, I’ll be able to hit a new personal record of 975 pounds. That is 5 pounds more than it was before!

Therefore my big suggestion life is this; maybe in terms of vision, it is good to think at the three month, six month, year, 1-3 year, five year, 10 year, 20-30 year spans.

For example, I remember after I graduated UCLA, and I was living in West LA, and there was a tiny Tesla showroom dealership in the area. This is when Tesla was still just the rebranded lotus car. This is one there was only a Tesla roadster. I think Tesla was already IPO’d public at the time.

I think the genius of Musk, Jeff Bezos, etc. is that their vision encapsulates very long periods of time.

For example, SpaceX. Or thinking about colonizing space and mars. Certainly we have to think at the decade, 20 year, 30 year, 40 year time span. To think short periods of time is not useful.

I think the reason why I enjoyed reading Invent and Wander by Jeff Bezos so much, which is just a collection of his shareholder letters is that it is clear that Jeff Bezos had at least a 30 year vision. For example with Amazon prime, it was seen as pure insanity. Now we just take it as an expected thing. Fortunately for myself, I still see Amazon prime as pure magic and phenomenal. The same thing goes with Uber, etc.

3. Photo time

A thought that I’ve been having recently, I love the gym, but in someways, going to the gym eats into my photography time. That is, time it takes me to review my photos, time it takes me to process my photos and upload them, or even time necessary for me to blog, write, send out email newsletters, do more website stuff, backend stuff, building websites, blogs, etc.

Time is a critical component. But the question is, how do we gain more time?

Technically you can’t gain more time in a given day, or even a single lifespan. Let us assume that the maximum possible human lifespan is 120 years, but more realistically it might be around 80 to 90 years. I personally aspire to live to 120 years old, but whether I will be successful or not is uncertain. Why? I don’t know if I will die traumatically in a car accident, if I catch some sort of random cancer or a disease, life is always uncertain. Therefore the consequence is in life, we must always be cautious, in terms of our time and our life.

The first thought I have is it is a good idea to be insanely discerning with your time in your life. That is, do not trade your time or your life for anything else what you do not consider important or critical to you. For example nowadays, the only thing I really care to do is my creative work, spend maximum time with Seneca, etc. Everything else doesn’t really matter to me anymore.

I think in life, focusing on innovation is a good one. Why? I believe the greatest boon to being American is our ethos of innovation.

4. Thinking beyond?

As humans, human beings, what is a good way to think about life in approach life?

I think a basic notion is to think beyond. Do you think beyond our small little bubble, or small town or city or county or state, or even our nation. It seems much more interesting to focus on the planet, the globe, etc.

I think one of the best things of traveling internationally is that it widens our perspective and worldview, that is, we can think bigger, more globally and beyond.

5. Mad max world

I think it is clear that climate, the world, weather temperature and other things are becoming weirder and weirder. My friend Seth calls this “global weirding”— the general idea is that certainly notions of “climate change“ and “global warming“ is too political and misleading. I think more robust concepts include pollution, and weird weather or climate patterns.

For example as I write these words, there is big news that this upcoming Monday or Tuesday there will be a massive hurricane in Southern California. I consider this very weird because currently they speak this, the sun is insanely bright and it’s close to 100° degrees Fahrenheit. That’s around 40°C.

I think currently we’re living in a Mad Max world. What I currently witness is this:

During the day, it is almost too bright, the sun is too strong to go outside in the direct sun. The only solutions include wearing a baseball cap, a wide brimmed hat, long pants and long sleeves, protect your skin.

For myself the heat doesn’t really bother me, but certainly if the UV radiation from the sun is too strong, you can’t really go outside.

I still prefer this insanely hot and bright and scorching sun weather over cold and damp and bone chilling, but still, the climate and the sun is brutal.

I was talking with some people, why California, why southern California, it seems that other states, the climate is not so good. For example Arizona Utah and Nevada, Las Vegas, Texas, Austin is almost too hot. Certainly the east coast has lots of great options, but for some reason people seem reticent to move to the East Coast.

Imagine living in the world in which the pollution and the sun and the climate is too unwelcoming outside. Then what do you do, just live in a mall for the rest of your life? Or live indoors for the rest of your life? Not desirable.

So my general takeaway point is given that climate, outdoors, the world outside everything is shitty, still make the best out of it!

6. Life philosophy?

It seems that the things which need to be beefed up is our thinking and our philosophy towards life, being alive, innovation and beyond. This will be the topic that we continue to work on.

Philosophy by KIM >

Think better

The promise of ERIC KIM OMAKASE COFFEE — think better.

Drink better, think better >

New experiences to uplift you and take you beyond

If you’re hungry for a new embodied reality experience to take you beyond, some new workshops which might be interesting to you:

Master Street photography in Philly, this upcoming October 14
Discover the creative meaning of your life in downtown LA, this upcoming November 4th

Some new workshops I’m currently working on include a visual artist workshop, an introduction to stoicism workshop, etc. Stay updated on the workshops page or the newsletter.

Now what?

Hugging Face — experiment with AI ART!

Stable diffusion, introduction

OPENAI.com

Never stop thinking

EK NEWS

Beefed up and ready to go!

Check out the new beefed up START HERE page!

Also,

BOOKS

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