Some of my American street photographs:

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Tesla Model 3 is Just a Really Nice Toyota Corolla?

Tesla Model S is just an insanely nice Toyota Camry?

1. Beaches in California suck because it is soooo over crowded and impossible to find parking.
2. Traffic in California (both norcal and socal) is insanely horrible.
3. People in Bay Area tend to be close minded (“woke” and intolerant liberals on the left). Southern Californians are actually more open minded and tolerant (leave me alone, and you leave me alone), but anything outside of Downtown LA seems like a suburban nightmare.
4. Socal is too consumerist and shallow minded. Too much fakeness; guys juiced on steroids and women with too much unnecessary cosmetic modifications.
5. Norcal as too boring and monocultural. Everyone either wears Patagonia or North Face. Absence of style and fashion. Caveat: Los Angeles has great style (especially Downtown LA); far superior to even New York and London.
6. Car slavery: Socal life (beyond downtown LA) is car dependent. Norcal is also mostly car dependent (unless you live in SF). Also too much of externalizing one’s ego and self worth to one’s automobile.
7. Beyond Los Angeles; nobody really speaks their true uncensored mind and opinion. Orange County as far too conservative and narrow minded. Bay Area is liberally narrow minded.
8. Bay Area weather is too cold and wet. Southern California is too sunny and hot. Lack of seasons sucks. East Coast (New England) as great for the distinct 4 seasons. I feel everyone in Southern California (in terms of weather) is constantly a 6.5/10 in terms of happiness. Bay Area people are probably on average a 5/10 happiness scale (love to complain about rent being too expensive). San Jose and Silicon Valley folks probably a 7/10 happiness; irregardless of how rich or poor. San Jose and Palo Alto is nice but just really boring and unusually expensive. Nobody wants to live in San Jose. Palo Alto is very nice (folks who live there are probably on average much happier at 8/10 happiness). However I find Providence, Rhode Island a perfect 10/10.

Google rules everything around me. This is the future:

1. WordPress.com and Google News Initiative are in bed together. This means any website or blog or news agency on WordPress is going to be favored.
2. Google will become the news agency. All news sites will eventually become assimilated into Google. Publishers dependent on Google Adsense to monetize and to transmit and publish their works.
3. Websites or blogs with Google Adsense will probably be more low key (subtly) favored and might rank higher.
4. The more you publish, the better.
5. Optimize your site and blog with Google Website Speed Insights. The higher score you will rank higher in Google.
6. Google owns YouTube. YouTube and your website and blog integration is better.
7. Google Amp (Accelerated Mobile Pages) will be favored.
8. WordPress “Newspack” theme will be favored. Install it on your WordPress.org site (an open source version exists; I’m currently using it on my site).

In praise of shooting nature, even though you’re a street photographer.

1. Shooting nature is good for the soul and body. The color green is the color of life. The more green you shoot it will improve your mood.
2. Shoot selfies with yourself in the middle of nature.
3. Use macro mode. Ricoh Gr3 in macro mode is really good! Shoot wild life, birds, plants, spiders or whatever!

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COVID 19 ain’t going away anytime soon. Perhaps we Americans should just do as Asians do (even pre-covid):

Just mask up and live your life.

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Key to success:

First dominate a small niche and then continue to expand outwards!

Easier to start off by being a big fish in a small pond than a small fish in a big pond.

Let us not be fooled — the purpose of a phone is to make phone calls and send SMS text messages. The simple rule:

Buy an insanely cheap phone for phone calls, and own an expensive laptop.

Android or Google Pixel as superior for a phone for:

1. Google Maps is the killer app for smartphones and it runs far better on Android than iOS. For best Google Maps experience, use an Android smartphone or Google Pixel.
2. Smart replies text messaging for Android is very useful. Less mental strain for texting back friends.
3. If you use Gmail, or Google Calendar, Android is far superior.
4. Google Photos
5. Android phones and Google Pixel has USB-C which is the future. I love I can recharge my Android Motorola smartphone (I bought it new for only $150 USD!!!)

You never know what you really like or prefer in life until you’ve actually spent your own real money on it. Also, don’t ask other people what they think, their opinion or “recommendation”. Better to ask what they actually do, what they’ve actually spent their money on, what car or phone they bought or what they’re personally invested in. This is real preferences … the revealed ones.

Don’t get suckered. There is a difference between ideals of humanity and “revealed preferences” of humans in embodied reality.

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A heart-warming personal essay by Timothy Flanagan (my friend and blogging mentor and teaching guide) … originally posted here. Reading this has re-warmed my enthusiasm and passion for photography and the personal meaning and *worth* of a photograph:

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The problem with digital:

It is so insanely fragile.

Almost everything digital gets worse over time (digital is not “antifragile”). Digital devices get outdated in 6 months. None of my devices have really stood the test of time. Even my website (this blog) has been quite robust over the years, but sooner or later even everything on this site shall fade into the digital ether.

So … what are we to do about this?

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Let us not be fooled and suckered:

Amazon is just Walmart 2.0

Or,

Amazon is just Walmart with a Good Conscience.

For example:

1. I find it hiiiiighly hypocritical when I hear all these left-leaning elite liberals who chest-thump and virtue signal about how shitty Amazon is about treating their workers so poorly, when these ‘critics’ all have Amazon prime memberships. Simple rule: Thou shalt not critique Amazon or their services or how they treat their workers if one owns an Amazon prime membership (or has ever purchased anything recently on Amazon). Or better yet — just look at how many random Amazon cardboard boxes you got lying around at home (just in case).
2. Amazon works. Really well. But if you go to the Amazon.com website home, it is a mess. It is really ugly. But it works! Amazon sells a shitload of stuff and will continue to dominate the planet. Jeff Bezos is a genius. But for any techie or ‘woke’ or ‘elite’ individual who is anti Wal-mart but is addicted to Amazon … there is a huge discrepancy here. Amazon is just Walmart with new Emperor’s clothing.

Some pragmatic thoughts:

1. If you have Amazon, feel no shame, guilt or whatever if you decide to shop at Walmart. At this point it is a class issue — poor people shop at Walmart, rich people shop on Amazon. But Amazon and Walmart is the same thing; two different sides of the same coin!
2. To be clear I am not Anti Amazon. I actually think Amazon is great. I have zero ethical or moralistic qualms against Amazon. I just think Amazon is ‘bad’ insofar much as it promotes you buying tons of shit you might not really need.
3. Amazon is a ‘net positive’ to society (in my opinion).

Caveats

1. I would prefer to support local ‘mom and pop’ shops than to use my money on soul-less corporations. Whenever possible, pay in cash ($20 dollar bills, USD in hard cash) than credit card with local vendors (VISA is mafia; they take a huge 3% cut for local merchants). Also whenever possible pay with a cash tip (it is more morale-boosting for industry workers).
2. When possible, buy stuff used, or buy it from a friend or from a local on craigslist, eBay or whatever. Keep the money in the family, or with friends, or with local community members. These people need our money the most.
3. Cash-forward society; Use your credit card as little as possible. Whenever possible pay EVERYTHING in cash, and you will probably save money (net) by knowing how much you *really* spend on things.

My personal design aesthetic and preference:

A design or thing which is smaller, more compact, doesn’t have superfluous elements (uber-clean). No logos. All black.

Note:

1. MUSE by KIM (ultimate minimalist-blacked out luxury strap)
2. RICOH GR III (ultimate smallest premium luxury point and shoot compact camera; ultimate in performance, size, and everything).
3. Outlier.NYC clothing: Black merino wool T-Shirt; I will wear these shirts until I die (thanks to my friend Kevin for gifting me two of these shirts). The ultimate minimalist shirt, highest quality materials; you never gotta buy another shirt again.
4. Luxury minimalist living: I prefer an insanely small apartment (300 square feet) with the most premium materials (in unit washer and dryer), insanely fast wifi (fiber optic), and ceiling-to-floor windows (tons of natural light) in the best location in a downtown area. This is my ideal. I would NEVER desire to live in a big home, because I have to vacuum the whole motherfucker myself. Also I realize I really care for interior design and aesthetics. Ideal is clean, simple, minimal, wabi-sabi vibes. My ideal as being a techno-zen Kyoto-modern aesthetic.

I believe in life the best life is the life with the *LEAST* amount of worries about maintaining stuff. NOT wasting any of your valuable time, energy, mental space or brainpower to fix stuff. To rather focus your thoughts, energy and metabolic life towards creating, thinking, rather than just basic maintenance. This means:

1. Do not buy the ‘best’ car, or the ‘nicest’ car, or the most ‘luxury’ or fast, cool, sexy or best designed car. Just buy the car that will break down the least, that will need the least amount of fixing, maintaining, etc. Because no matter how rich you are, it is always a headache when you gotta fix your car. For example a guy I know who owns a Range Rover just had to drop $3,000 to fix the turbo. Or friends who own BMW’s who have an insane headache with the cars constantly breaking down (includes Mini Coopers, which is a sub-brand of BMW). Same goes with Audi cards (the components always seem to like to break and let us not forget, Audi is just an expensive Volkswagen Car, as the VW corporation owns Audi, Lamborghini, Porsche, etc).
2. Homes as machines for living: A home is just a car, except it doesn’t move. Do not get a home that is too big to vacuum on your own. Older homes are typically bad insofar much as they always have hidden costs, hidden things that break, hidden headaches and nightmares.

Don’t go broke. Don’t waste money. Live like a poor person. In praise of “ghetto” living.

Some quick thoughts: First of all, you no longer really need to live somewhere in a ‘good’ location. You can just work remotely. So why live in an expensive downtown area? Best to live a bit further out, or even move to a new city which is waaaay cheaper (I think California is insanely overrated — since moving to Rhode Island I’m 10000x happier).

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The best way to leave a substantive and enduring legacy:

Don’t devote any of your life doing anything you hate for.

Also … only doing that which you truly love and care for.

And when you do what you do, share it openly and freely with others! In praise of OPEN SOURCE.

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Of course we need jobs to pay rent, feed ourselves, etc .. but with today’s brave new COVID world, what is really the purpose of a job?

For example for a lot of people, a job is their external identity and sense of self. For others it is a monetary thing; they have too much debt (debt is the devil) and cannot afford *NOT* to work (they are dependent on their job to pay off their bills, credit card debt, mortgage, additions to their house, car payments, etc).

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To be human is to share our meals with others. If we do not share our meals with others, what separates us from the beasts of burden?

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I think it is Corbusier who called homes “machines for living”. Is this the right idea?

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Simple thought and idea:

Once you’ve made your own needs and wants uber-basic, then you can devote all your energy, time, mental space, mental power, and human metabolism on creating things *beyond* yourself.

Note arsbeta.com (crowd sourcing real photography feedback). Why App — philosophical reflection tool.

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Simple ideas:

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Ideas:

1. Shoot a lot
2. Run around with the kid
3. Play with the kid
4. Don’t worry about making “good” photos … just have fun and enjoy the process!
5. Shoot while they move and are dynamic. Dynamic photos are better.

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The brave new quarantine lifestyle:

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Money makes the world go round. Money puts the whole world into motion (Publilius Syrus). The thought and my personal curiosity:

What will the future economy look like, and what will it be for?

Consider:

1. What’s the point of having fancy possessions if you don’t even have anywhere in real life to show it off?
2. What is the point of saving up money to buy a house … if you hate staying at home all day? (Quarantine Lifestyle)
3. What is the point of desiring to travel, when traveling is banned? A future without travel?

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What is photo vision? Your ability to see details, see compositions and beauty everywhere you go, live, see and experience:

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In praise of grit and grain in your photos:

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You are the platform. You are the end goal. The goal ain’t to build some external empire in quick sand. No. The end goal is for you to build your own personal self to the max.

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Existential dread — the dread of being alive. The feeling of having no purpose or direction to life.

Solution: the WHY APP? The opportunity to ask “why?” ad infinitum (to infinity). You must discover a guiding principle to lead yourself in life. You cannot build your own empire of yourself based on the ideals of others.

Some thoughts on the future of living:

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I love Apple, their products and am a self devoted Steve Jobs fan boy. But one of the reasons I returned my iPhone (both the iPhone SE and the iPhone Pro) is this:

It’s a trap.

This is what I mean:

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With almost everything in life ask yourself:

Is this a toy or tool?

Also then we must ask ourselves:

Why are toys bad? And also what are the consequences when we mistake toys for tools and tools for toys?

For too long philosophers have tried to *change* human nature and to deem human nature as ‘evil’, ‘bad’, etc.

But what if all the things of human nature are good? It is what makes us human? Perhaps rather than trying to root out the ‘evils’ of money, greed, wealth, desire for more, vanity and pride… we should figure out how to leverage these beautiful beasts in our favor?

Perhaps the source of my creativity, empathy, understanding, love, sense of justice (or injustice), my morality and ethics and code of living comes precisely because I’m so sensitive. I’m very sensitive to audio-visual stimulation. Loud noises or the yelping of very annoying dogs bothers me 100x more than others. I am easily suckered by advertising and marketing. I cannot focus easily.

Perhaps my sensitivity is what makes me a great artist and thinker? I almost feel as if my audio, visual and emotional “ISO” is at 64,000 which means …I can pick up every little thing, which I can use to my benefit?

Let us not be fooled — what is legal is often *NOT* ethical. Thus we should be very very skeptical of people who try to game the legal system in their favor.

Also, be very cautious when you hear about big corporations talking about ‘corporate responsibility’ or ‘sustainability’. A corporation has no soul and cannot feel or believe in ethics (only the virtue-signaling ethics which can help improve their image, and eventually help them increase their profits).

Typically we tend to think that all addictions are bad addictions. But what is an ‘addiction’ and what makes for a ‘good’ and ‘bad’ addiction?

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A good thought:

As a blogger don’t feel pressured to only blog about one thing, one category, or one reductive thing. Instead, best to indulge your interests as far and wide as you want!

For me, all knowledge is inter-connected. This means if you truly want to plumb the deepest depths of knowledge and to gain deeper wisdom and understanding about society, humans and the world, you must study it all, share it all, and write and reflect on it all!

No, to suffer isn’t the end of life. And to suffer and self flagellate ain’t your duty neither.

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Why are street photographers so anti-social? My thoughts:

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I am currently in Westerly Rhode Island (Taylor Swift apparently owns a mansion by the water here) and I am currently in a more rural setting (at least to my Bay Area City California eyes).

Anyways — I have found that even though I’m not in a huge city proper, I see so many things to photograph!

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Better to aim high and fail (and hit a higher mark) than to set a lower goal and hit it!

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Simple biological approach and hack:

Never eat anything unless you’ve worked out (physically exerted yourself) somehow.

Does the lion eat a granola bar before hunting the gazelle? Of course not. Does the panther drink a protein shake before hunting the lion? No.

The naturalistic approach:

Treat working out like ‘hunting’ — you must first hunt, *THEN* eat!

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In praise of pursing an “unrealistic” life:

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Construct your own ideals for yourself and pursue them with great zeal.

My personal ethos and approach to life:

Better to just do it (80% ‘good enough’, satisficing) than to do *NO* job (paralysis by analysis, paralysis by desire for perfection).

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Simple:

Just shoot photos and videos of whatever you eat (every day), including your own food and the meals of others (your partner, friends, etc).

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When analyzing any thinker or individual ask yourself:

Is this thought born out of spite/malice?

If this is the case, ignore it.

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What is persuasion? To persuade means to ‘thoroughly advise’. Latin ‘suadeo‘ which means to urge, to extort, recommend and advise.

Thus when you are ‘persuading’ others, you are simply using your own thoughts and wisdom and encouraging others to do as you do, or think as you do.

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A thought:

When you give your advice to others, market or advertise it in such a matter: ‘Just take it or leave it‘.

Ironically enough if you spin it this way, you’re actually *MORE* likely to influence and persuade others to think the way you do!

Let us think beyond ‘self esteem‘. I feel the notion of ‘self-estimate’ as far more robust and accurate.

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Self cultivation as a noble pursuit:

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One of the worst curses of modernity:

We have been brainwashed to become obedient slaves.

Most of modernity is simply systematized forms of domestication of man.

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Don’t trap yourself in one aesthetic ghetto. Do both.

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Dynamic ethics means:

Don’t treat every single being as the same.

Towards a more ‘bespoke’ (custom tailored) form of ethics towards others:

My thoughts on advertising:

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Hate just means ‘strong emotion’. And the irony:

We can hate those whom we love the most.

Thus to me, hate and love is the same thing — simply two different sides of the same coin.

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Or in other words:

Buy my product and you will have *LESS* depression, *LESS* anxiety, and be *LESS* miserable with your life.

Consumerism and fashion — only works on individuals with low self esteem. And what do you do if the individual has high self esteem? Simple — use marketing and advertising to make themselves feel shittier about themselves. Marketing and advertising (in the mainstream sense) as tools to lower our self esteem. And buying a product or a service is the panacea (solution) to our (manufactured) problems!

In praise of shooting more ‘random’ photos. RICOH GR III photos shot without looking through the viewfinder at very bizarre angles. No thought on composition or framing while walking. Shooting a bunch of JPEG photos (small size) to experiment with uncommon and unorthodox framing.

Randomness in framing is good to pave new grounds in composition!

An unsavory thought:

Perhaps those individuals with very high self esteem should NOT associate themselves with individuals with low self esteem.

Why? Individuals with low self esteem tend to be ‘energy vampires‘ and steal energy from those with high self confidence.

Nietzsche-vibes on a more elitist society (his notion of ‘pathos of distance’ — that ironically the strong should be shielded from the weak).

A thought:

Is it the duty of individuals with high self esteem to help those with low self esteem?

Some of my frank thoughts:

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A realization:

Those with an inferiority complex can never understand those with a superiority complex. Why? The individual with an inferiority complex will always see those with a superiority complex with suspicious eyes. And the individual with a superiority complex doesn’t even care or notice for the petty envious individual with the inferiority complex.

I think this is why people see Trump as such a bizarre individual. Most journalists, intellectuals, scholars and professors have an inferiority complex (they were bullied as children or ostracized by society) and tend to see Trump as pseudo-Hitler 2.0 (obviously not as evil, but almost as bad).

If you dig deeply enough into artists, you will be able to put them in two buckets. And if an individual has been raised and bred with an inferiority complex, he will never be able to transform himself into an individual with a superiority complex, no matter how hard he tries.

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Let us not be fooled. The point and telos of photography isn’t to make “great” or “good” photos… it is to make new photos. Some thoughts:

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In praise of brutal honesty and uncensored honesty:

A simple technique and approach which is very good for blogging and website building:

Add as many deep links to your site or blog as possible.

This means:

When you write anything hyperlink and link back to old things you have written and also as you write create *NEW* blog posts which iterate on your idea (a ‘recursive‘ approach).

What is the internet? Hyperlinks. No links, no internet.

Advertise means to warn, to notify, to steer, and to direct. Adverto in Latin. “Wert-” in Proto Indo European means “to turn, to rotate”.

Therefore if we take the poetic interpretation of this notion of ‘advertising’ perhaps we should see advertising not as just people trying to sell you stuff, but people who are trying to influence, persuade or direct you a certain way.

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Propaganda by itself … this term isn’t evil. To propaganda simply means to propagate. To spread. In this regard almost every form of communication can be seen as propaganda:

1. Religion
2. Spirituality
3. Philosophy
4. Marketing and advertising
5. Music
6. Videos movies and films-cinema
7. Podcasts
8. Cultural norms and values
9. Governmental or political messages

Thus from a very basic perspective don’t fear propaganda. Just realize that every message we consume (audio, visual, haptic) will somehow change and influence you.

What is the most robust form of ownership? Not ownership of your home or physical possessions. The most important form of ownership is over yourself. Your thoughts. Your speaking. Your actions or inactions. Thus it seems from a pragmatic perspective the goal then is:

First gain ownership over your self finances. This means become a self employed entrepreneur and self owned sole proprietor.

Also

Refuse to be put in a position where you require the approval of others to do something (or NOT do something).

Also

Have the courage to do certain things or NOT do certain things which may not (yet) have a precedence.

This is true courage and innovation! Self innovation!

ERIC

Pseudo means “fake” or “lying” or “to deceive”. The problem with modern day consumerism is this:

We are pseudo-unique and pseudo-individual.

We think that our “taste” (which is superimposed on us by others) distinguishes our uniqueness, individuality and greatness. This is false. We just become marketing and billboards for external brands, rather than promoting ourselves and our own brand (your first and last name).

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Let us not be fooled. Capitalism only works via injustice, inequality and war. Also, capitalism cannot exist or endure without inequality and without elitism in society. And all things considered, I am far more pro-capitalism than I am for communism. I think I tend to think of a hybrid between capitalism and the socialism of Sweden. Yet still the problem —

If we want truly great individuals and human beings we actually must widen the gap between the “haves” and “have nots”.

And the sad truth:

As capitalism, consumerism and digital technology continues to advance, there will be a death of the photographic middle class. Only the low class Instagram photographers and the high class elite Leica-Bugatti-Lamborghini photographers will persist.

What is the future of photography and capitalism? My thoughts:

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