Build equity in yourself.

The game changer, especially for getting beef, eggs, and other meat items.

You can access it, even if you just have a normal Costco membership.

Or get a Costco gift card as a “golden ticket” to entry. If you don’t have a Costco membership but have a friend or family member who does, ask them to buy you a Costco gift card, and you can use it to enter a Costco. And pay the remaining balance with cash or debit card.

Life gets better when you close doors and options.

Before working out, have as much of a dynamic warm-up as possible. Push-ups, bodyweight squats, Burpee‘s, pistol squats, dive bombers, One arm dive bombers, hip openers with kettlebell, kettlebell swings, Turkish get up, etc.

For shoulders and joints, chin ups, mixing up your grip. Also the broomstick stretch.

Dear friends,

To advertise my upcoming new ONLINE PHOTOGRAPHY CREATIVITY WORKSHOP, I wanted to share some quick thoughts with you on photography, art, and creativity:

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1. Photography as the ‘Occam’s razor’ of artistic creativity

I like the notion of Occam’s razor (as simple as possible, nothing superfluous). Digital photography is this. What I mean is that with photography, you can most directly create art objects (your photos), with as little effort and mess as possible.

There is no other form of art which is as simple and direct as photography.

Even nowadays, I believe the RICOH GR IIIX as the supreme camera. And the upside of digital over film is that digital is 1000000x more cheap, convenient, and fast than film.

I feel that COVID-19 might have been the final nail in the coffin for film. Even though I love film, the aesthetics, the process, and the zen associated with it, film is now dead to me. Long live digital.

With RICOH GR IIIX, somehow they made the optics even more superior to Ricoh GR III. And I’ve actually discovered I actually really like the 40mm perspective. Now, I no longer think about the focal length — I just see, point and shoot.

2. Extra Small JPEG (high contrast black and white)

Assuming we create a ‘full stack’ digital photography solution, and assuming we won’t print our photos super big, then it seems that extra small JPEG (around 2000px wide) is ideal. Why? Even on a 13” MacBook Pro (or perhaps even the new 14”), your JPEG photos full-screen are big enough for your laptop wallpaper.

Also, the upside of extra small JPEG is that you can shoot more, more freely, with less risk. Why?

With extra small JPEG, you don’t need to think twice. It won’t take up much space, the photos will import super fast, and also upload super fast. In fact, shooting extra small jpeg on my RICOH GR IIIX has made my photographic workflow probably at least 10x as efficient even when compared to shooting ‘normal small’ JPEG.

Also, after extensive testing of the iPhone Pro, I’ve discovered the optimal is to just get the new iPhone SE (just use the iPhone as a phone), and optimize your photography with RICOH GR IIIX. As much as the new iPhone Pro seems to be the ultimate photo solution, it isn’t. In fact, I think that only lemmings will get the iPhone Pro. Even now when I observe people who have an iPhone Pro, they tend to be millennials (or zillenials, or gen-Z) Instagram-addicted folks who want to become ‘influencers’ or go to ‘festivals’, and simply want the best internet-connected camera/phone to flex their festival-centric lifestyle.

If your true goal is to focus on photography, just have a ‘standalone’ digital camera. RICOH GR IIIX.

3. New ways to share and publish your work

Something I learned from Cindy and her students is how well they use new technologies like Google Slides (it is like the new version of making a linkable website), Canva (the new ‘Photoshop killer’), Google Docs, etc to publish and share their artwork and ideas.

For example, you can easily make a photo book designed in Google Slides (export as PDF) or even using Apple Keynote to make a digital photo book.

Affinity Publisher is also a great solution for us when using our Mac (MacBook laptop) to publish digital works of art (beautiful e-books). I truly believe PDF is the future.

4. Retire Adobe products

I’ve been a hardcore Adobe Lightroom user ever since I was in college, but now, I just use Apple Photos (the default one baked into MacBook laptops, and also your iPhone/iPad). Why? Deeper integration. I love how Apple Photos easily syncs everything — the Adobe ‘Cloud’ is clunky.

For us photographers, assuming you just stick to JPEG, you can just cancel your Adobe Cloud service, and just stick to Apple Photos which is free. Of course you’re locked into the Apple Ecosystem, but we all already are anyways, so it isn’t a big deal. For me personally, I don’t pay for any subscription services (no Spotify, no Netflix, no Adobe cloud, etc) — only YouTube premium (for my family, so I don’t overhear annoying advertisements) and Dropbox Pro (and also pay for extra cloud storage for Google Drive and Apple iCloud). The fewer subscriptions you gotta pay, the better.

5. Use more of your money on experiences which will expose you to making new photos

Even beyond photo books— the best money you can invest in your photography is experiences. For example, use your money to travel (either domestically or internationally), use your money on hotels/airbnb, use your money for a cruise, or gas for a road trip.

In fact, I am becoming less price-sensitive when it comes to paying for AirBnb, or even Hotels, because I know in that kind of scenario, it will motivate me to make more new photos.

Some recent trips I did which I loved:

1. Socal to NorCal (Berkeley) road trip // stopped by Sacramento which I thought was actually very cool (Sacramento x Berkeley Road Trip 2022) also Morrow Bay
2. Lake Arrowhead mountain retreat
3. JOSHUA TREE (love love love it).

Some things which might be in the pipeline for me:

• Cambodia, Phnom Penh

A simple heuristic to life:

Optimizing your life for experiences and adventures is good.

6. Creative Resources

Creative Products:

1. Embark On Your Own Photography Adventure Flowchart
2. Creative Everyday Print Edition (FREE MOBILE EDITION HERE)
3. FREE Photography Visualization PDF Resources

HAPTIC SHOP >

7. Creative books

Also some creative books:

1. PDF: Josef Koudelka Photography Composition Studies
2. PDF: Henri Cartier-Bresson Photography Composition Studies
3. PDF: ERIC KIM Photography Composition Studies

More books

8. What’s been inspiring me

Got a good source of inspiration from the new HALO show on Paramount+, and great new ideas from the new BATMAN movie.

Ultimately I prefer John Wick over Batman

9. More turbo ideas for you

1. “He who has started is already more than halfway done.” – Aristotle / Marcus Aurelius
2. Low-key photography is more artistic
3. Why I like crypto
4. Channel your anger into focus
5. Is beef liver the true ‘super-food’?
6. Praise is bad
7. ‘Sustainability‘ is a trap.
8. Theories on why hiking is so great
9. Photos for self
10. Stoicism is aesthetic

More on blog >

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10. HAPTIC INDUSTRIES

1. HENRI SHOULDER STRAP
2. Henri Neck Strap MARK IV
3. Henri Wrist Strap PRO
4. ERIC KIM NECK STRAP MARK II
5. ERIC KIM WRIST STRAP MARK II

Discover all HAPTIC >

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Start here / Books / Products / Workshops

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If this sparked any creative ideas within you, feel free to forward to a friend!

The upside of shooting photos with strong streaks of light, and just shoot with ‘highlight‘ priority as your exposure setting.

With Crypto, you don’t feel tied down, or tied to a bank or banking institution. More freedom to move your money, store it, or have the joy in speculation or seeing it go up (or down).

Typically, whenever I see Bitcoin go down, I see it as a ripe opportunity to acquire MORE Bitcoin. I like the notion of the 10+ Bitcoin club.

If your goal is to eat less, eat more fat.

For example, pork belly, beef belly, beef neckbones, beef liver.

For public speaking or a book or an article or argument, the goal is clarity, and confidence.

Make your argument as clear as possible, and say it as confidently as possible.

You are what you eat, you are what you shoot.

And if you wanted things to have manifested differently, just use your past experiences as information, to make a different decision in the future.

And for the decisions that you made today, yesterday, or in the past, always think to yourself: everything happened as it should have happened.

Do you need to praise your kids? Or praise others? Not necessarily.

Better to live a short yet intense life, than a long and mediocre one.

Disregard notions of “sustainability“. People always ask, “But is it sustainable?” Sustain simply means “to hold on” (tenere).

What should be done manually, what should be done automatically?

Why is it that I get so much energy from the sun?

Why do some people like outdoorsy things, hiking, flowers, vegetarianism/veganism, ‘plant-based’ things, ‘peace’, etc?

Aversion to conflict.

But, is it aversion to conflict out of strength, or out of weakness?

A simple trick to make more surreal photos:

Cover the face with some sort of other object.

I think we humans have an interest in faces, and when we cannot see the face, we become *MORE* intrigued. Thus why we are so interested in the ‘man behind the mask’, or even by people with sunglasses — not being able to see their whole face. Also the new ‘ski mask’ fashion trend (Maison Margeila mask).

Hiking with Vibram 5 Fingers (EL-X) and hiking with Seneca (baby front carrier, ergo baby carrier) and backpack is sublime.

The other day I went hiking with Cindy (a pretty big loop, around 2 hours each way, 4 hours in total), I think it was a total of 10 miles.

Hiking was an insanely great experience. Why? Some theories:

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John Wick — fresh new story. Batman; we keep recycling the same old story, and just re-articulate it. John Wick is more interesting and fun, because it is totally a ‘carte blanche’ story, so more opportunities for innovation in the story line. I actually *like* the sequels, as it builds upon a totally new storyline and universe, and *builds upon* this brand new John Wick universe.

Also, John Wick is more ‘realistic’ in some sense. Blood-thirsty revenge, and killing people is no concern. Whereas Batman is too moralized, John Wick seems like a more interesting or ‘relatable’ person.

For example, in the first John Wick film, perhaps at least 300 people are killed in the first 30 minutes. With Batman, none.

Also as much as I loved the new BATMAN film, it seems that the new Batman is more anaemic, less ‘buff’, and not as physically strong or imposing as even the Christian Bale Batman.

Also, John Wick is great because Chad S (Keanu’s former stuntman) is both stunt man *AND* director– one of the most unique combinations.

Also, Batman has too much “daddy issues” and inner conflict and drama. John Wick doesn’t — he just wants bloodthirsty revenge, then survival, then revenge (again).

Assuming that writing is simply an act of making notes for yourself, perhaps photography is also the same– making photos for your self.

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For me, making beats, music is insanely fun.

Essentially all I do is open up GarageBand when I’m in the mood, or need music to accompany my slideshows, and I love to ‘vibe out’ to my own beats, and I like the zone it puts me in.

Beats by KIM PODCAST

And the big upside:

Because I do not consider myself a ‘musician’ or a ‘producer’, there is no need or pressure to make music the ‘real’ way.

BEATS

Takeaway:

Don’t consider yourself *something*, and then you will have fewer ‘rules’ and boundaries in which to abide by.

Thus, more artistic and creative productivity, more having fun, and greater joy in life.

Writing is simply a process of writing notes to yourself.

Be topless as much as humanly possible.

More effective than ‘calorie counting’ or other nonsensical ideas.

The general idea:

If you spend as much time during the day topless, you get a better sense of your body composition (your muscle mass, your body fat percentage, etc).

If you don’t like the way you look, or if you feel you got too much body fat, or not enough muscle, it gives you the motivation to be insanely strict with yourself (fast during the day, and cut out all starches, carbs, sugars, etc).

The secret to extracting the maximum out of life and existence.

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What I look for often– triangle composition.

One of the most difficult things to spot and shoot in street photography:

Surrealism.

What is surrealism? When something looks like something else.

For example I was at the outdoor mall the other day, and I saw this:

Essentially at first, I saw the scene and I thought:

“WTF” is going on?

It looked like the girl and the guy merged into one.

You can shoot street photography, layers, etc anywhere. At the mall, at the outdoor mall, in the indoor mall, in the suburbs, in ‘boring’ places, etc:

Think fill the frame.

When shooting photos of Seneca, I’ve discovered:

There are certain photos which bring me deep pleasure (super low-key, as dark as possible), and photos which bring others pleasure (him doing ‘cute’ stuff).

But ultimately, it is the photos which please me which brings me the greatest joy. Thus the takeaway:

More focus on making photos which please *YOU*.

Also a thought on the new DONDA2 album from Kanye:

I think he really made the album to please himself. And it is great.