Seize the photograph moment.

One of the biggest things becoming a new parent was transitioning to not really having the time nor the desire nor the efficiency to go to a gym. Being a new parent, literally every minute is too valuable.

In the quest to stay strong and fit in spite of my lack of time, I discovered the notion of a minimum viable workout: what is the simplest, most sinister (Pavel T), and most effective workout?

Simply put, I think it involves kettlebells. I have a 70 pound kettlebell home, as well as 105 pound.

You could use the 70 pounder to warm up, do hip-openers, and a few swings just to get your blood flowing. And then, you could just use the 105 pound kettle bell to do about as few swings as you want just to get the momentum going, in the range of 3 to 5 swings, with maximal force output. You produce your own resistance, your own force.

For example, the variable of the weight of the ketball remains the same, yet you dictate how much thrust you decide to output with that weight. Therefore, in theory you could create unlimited force. I wonder if you could actually do the same force output as deadlifting over 400 pounds.

Philosophically, I like the idea that you could just have one kettlebell. If I could just on one piece of workout equipment for the rest of my life, maybe it will just be one single 105 pound kettlebell (the beast).

Ultimately, I would still prefer to go to the gym. But with limited time, and limited resources, becoming more improvisational, and adaptable is good.

Eat more cholesterol, not “protein”.

Promotes your thing and also benefits the person you’re publishing to.

Also mobile nap pod.

Trying to be too secure, you end up disadvantaging yourself or locking yourself out.

Less security is better.

It often breaks something critical.

PODCAST

Dear friends, to promote my upcoming Seoul South Korea street photography workshop experience, I wanted to share some thoughts on discovering your own personal soul in photography:

1. What is your soul?

The first question which comes to mind is what is your soul? What is the significance of it?

I don’t really think about the soul in a New Age spiritual way. I see it as very pragmatic. Basically your soul is a combination of your personality, ego, self consciousness, your memories, and your personality.

Basically, your soul is you.

2. What does the soul mean in the context of photography?

My thought is in the context of photography, your soul is imputing your own personality into your photos. In another way, you could think of your soul in photography as your own personal style, your style being like your own personal paintbrush. To show your own brushstrokes in your photos is your photographic style, and your soul.

3. Aesthetics

When it comes to aesthetics, everyone is drawn in a different way. For myself, I see black-and-white as the most sublime form of aesthetic and photography and also art. I have a very deep and strong connection with calligraphy, and abstract black-and-white paintings.

In photography, you choose your own paintbrush in your own aesthetics. For example, you make the conscious decision whether to shoot film or digital, which format to use, and what “look” you want.

For example if you shoot film, you have an array of choices. For example, you could choose whether to shoot 35 mm, medium format, large format. You could shoot color film or black-and-white film. You could push your film or pull your film.

In digital, you could shoot digital medium format, full frame, APS-C, etc. Also you can shoot JPEG or RAW. And also if you should JPEG, you could decide what filter to use. In raw, you could create a preset to create a certain process look, in which your aesthetic suits your artistic taste.

The aesthetic you choose is very important.

4. Consistency?

My personal thought is philosophically, your soul is always changing. Even Heraclitus says, “you never step in to the same river twice”. This means that your environment is always changing, and you are always changing. Therefore your experience will always be different.

Therefore in the context of photography, we should take the same approach. This means allow your photographic style to change. Shoot different subject matter, process your photos differently, and choose different processing techniques. Consistency is for suckers.

But why is there the bias that one must always be consistent in the artwork? I think it is a marketing thing. It is easier to market yourself if you are consistent, difficult to market yourself if you are always changing and evolving.

However, if you think about great artists like Leonardo da Vinci, Picasso, etc., their style and subject matter is always in a sense of flux, they just followed their curiosity.

5. You are always re-discovering your soul

Discovery, and reddiscovery. Even if you travel to the same place again, you will reddiscover something new. Either in yourself or the environment, or the people there.

And this is why nostalgia is such a bad thing. When it comes to nostalgia and romanticism of the past, we seek refuge in the consistent. We don’t like change. Yet, the reality is things are always changing. And this is what makes life so beautiful.

Therefore in your photography, and your soul, allow yourself to always discover it, and rediscover it anew.

ERIC

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EXPERIENCE SOMETHING NEW

NEW: DISCOVER YOUR SEOUL: ERIC KIM SEOUL SOUTH KOREA STREET PHOTOGRAPHY TRAVEL EXPERIENCE 2022 (September 30-October 2, 2022) >

ERIC KIM EXPERIENCES >

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If this gave you deeper insight about your photography, and some interesting pragmatic ideas on the soul, feel free to re-publish or share with a friend!

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It isn’t about becoming a “better” blogger, but a more fearless one.

1. Asymmetry

Don’t make the photo symmetrical. Off-center.

2. Black and white

You can capture more beautiful tones and see the overall shape of the face in black and white.

Tip: Invert the photo to better see the silhouette and outline in your photos:

3. Shoot a lot of photos

Work the scene.

4. Obscure

Chiaroscuro — clear and obscure.

Curiosity — the impetus to travel, explore. To become stronger (curiosity about one’s strength) is what drives us to pursue new personal records in powerlifting.

Travel, adventure, exploration, physical training (powerlifting, weight lifting, physicality).

PODCAST

SEOUL IS THE FUTURE:

Dear friend,

If you’re hungry for adventure, and curious to experience the culture and streets of Seoul, South Korea, I cordially invite you to my new DISCOVER YOUR SEOUL ERIC KIM TRAVEL STREET PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOP EXPERIENCE (September 30th to October 2nd, 2022):

(more…)

A new shift:

I don’t care to have it to become the ‘best’ or the fastest, or the most optimal … I just want it to work!

Some simple creativity ideas:

1. Just do it on the iPad. Funny enough, I see the iPhone as anti-creativity. The canvas is too small, and I think for the most part, iPhone breeds for bad habits. iPad on the other hand is a much larger creative canvas, and is better for illustration, the procreate app, viewing and reviewing your photos, calligraphy, etc. While I do not see the iPad as a full laptop replacement, it is a full stack creative powerhouse. I said instead of getting an iPhone Pro, just get a iPhone SE, and get iPad Pro instead.
2. Just do it manually. Manual means hand. The more you could use your hands, the better. Raising Seneca I have discovered that there is a deep connection between what you do with your hands, learning, and enjoyment.
3. Use voice dictation on iPhone or iPad. If you have an iPhone or iPad, enable dictation, and just use your voice to dictate your thoughts. I have discovered that there is something very natural about standing upright, walking around, and just using your voice to dictate your thoughts. If you think about ancient Greek in Homeric times, the great orators had iron lungs. And there is something more primal about using your voice than using your fingers to type, which is a lot less natural.
4. To become more creative is via negativa. Funny enough I’ve actually discovered that in order to become more creative, you want fewer apps, and also fewer sources of inspiration. The tricky thing is that we need some outside influence, but not too much. It is a dosage dependent thing. For example, having 1 to 3 cups of coffee a day during the morning is good, but having 50 cups of coffee a day is bad. I think in today’s world with all the streaming services and entertainment sources, it is like equivalent of drinking 1000 cups of coffee a day. Not good. As a simple creative exercise, I say that for entire month, unsubscribe from all your streaming services. Don’t look at YouTube. Uninstall social media. And your ultimate source of inspiration is just going out, going to the streets, going to public places, and just shooting things with your camera.
5. Kinetic creativity: all artwork is rooted in the physical. When I say physical I mean I was literally walking around, moving our bodies, etc. If you want to become more creative, I just say do more physical activity and exercise. For example, go to the nearby park and do a bunch of chin ups, go to the gym and going to powerlifting, or just buy a heavy kettle bell and work out at home. I think I might be the first person to discover that there is actually a link between art and adrenaline. The more I get amped up at the gym, the more creative ideas I get. For example, I’ve discovered more about myself, in reality, from deadlifting 475 pounds, than all these books of philosophy and wisdom combined.
6. Buy a cheap espresso machine. Cindy recently picked up a cheap Delonghi espresso machine, singleserve, for the house, an Amazon open box purchase, and it only cost 100 bucks. Waking up and being able to pull my own espresso at home is great. Also we buy the light roast Ethiopian fresh roast coffee on Amazon, which is great. Do not become dependent on coffee shops. You become your own coffee shop, your own barista.
7. Deep nutrition: I found it very fascinating that when you study wild predators, when they kill their prey, the first thing they do is consume the organ meats, like the liver heart and offal, and leave the rest of the lean flesh for the scavengers. What this means is this: liver, heart, and organ meats have the most nutrition. Recently on a trip to Charlottesville, I stopped by a local butcher, and started buying beef liver. I also find it fascinating that beef liver has one of the highest sources of cholesterol, which is essentially a steroid. Also, the more you consume foods high in cholesterol, it acts as a natural testosterone booster. Therefore as a simple thought: if you increase your testosterone, will it also augment your artistic abilities? I think so.
8. Travel: pretty basic but one of the biggest benefits of traveling is that it forces you to innovate your life and approach. A lot of people actually do not want to travel because it is not like home, and you’ll not have access to the same things you are used to. But this is actually a good thing. Always having access to everything is bad. It causes you to become stuck in your ways, and what creativity actually is is being able to discover new ways of doing things, new ways of thinking about things. Therefore, living a semi nomadic life is probably best, if you want to augment your creativity. Therefore if you have the option, and if your job allows it, move around, and don’t stay in one place for too long. If you stay in one spot for too long, it breeds stagnation. And stagnation is bad for creativity.
9. Vibram five fingers shoes: the best shoes are Vibram five finger shoes. Why? It is essentially like walking around barefoot. And our feet actually has one of the highest density of receptors. Nassim Taleb mentions in his book anti-fragile that there is a theory that our feet are actually able to map out the natural environment. And there is also a reason why getting a foot massage actually stimulates your thoughts. I think there’s actually a very strong link between the stimulation you get the bottom of your feet, and your intelligence. Also, the reason why humans are so intelligent is because we are bipeds, and walk around a lot. The days where I walk the most, around 30,000 steps, is the days that I get the most creative ideas. The more foam you have on your shoes, the worse. It is like putting a very very thick condom on. Who wants that?
10. think classic: the best creative ideas are very old-school. Ancient Greek times. Read the Iliad by homer, the odyssey, ancient Greek poetry, Horace, and philosophers like Heraclitus. For the most part, all modern ideas are not very interesting. I have discovered that after reading all these books on business and innovation, that all modern books try to turn you into a machine, or try to maximize your money making potential. True creativity is rooted in the past.

Upload your creative photos on arsbeta.com

Why make art or photos? Ask WHY APP?

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Creative sources of inspiration

Watch some Stanley Kubrick films, or Akira Kurosawa. Roshomon or Stray Dog by Kurosawa.

Cinema by Kim>

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If this gave you any sources of creative inspiration or motivation, feel free to forward to a friend!

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FREE NEWS >

I think so! Perhaps I’ll experiment and find out for myself.

It augments us, our ability.

Anti automation.

Our ethos:

Which environments are best simulating for our minds?

The best armor is muscle.

This is what we seek. 

Maybe it’s a good idea to try to intentionally scratch your phone, camera, and devices.

This is living life on the edge. No need for stupid protection devices, cases or covers.

If your kid is already perfect in your eyes, maybe one is enough.

My critique of a lot of modern day games, especially mobile games this this: it takes no skill. Honestly, if you look at it long enough, and click enough buttons enough, you will win and advance.

The upside of living in a hotel — your own personal fortress.

Often when you try to optimize things, you either break it, or make it worse.

What is critical photography? Critical coming from the Ancient Greek “Kritikos”, which means judge. As a critical photographer, you judge your own photos uncompromisingly, without concern for others.

How and why should you be critical? Not self critical in terms of self flagellation, and lowering your self-esteem. No, to become deeper, more introspective, and more philosophical in your photography. Becoming more critical on why you make photos, for whom, and what innovation and creativity means for you in the context of photography.