Do we get a perverse joy from criticizing or critiquing others for the sake of it (to feel superior), or do we genuinely want to treat, heal, and help people?

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Dear friend, no idea where you are, or what you are doing right now, but know … I got your back! Some quick photo assignment ideas for you to get you going:

1. Cross-process JPEG filter: Experiment with the cross-process JPEG filter for RICOH GR III camera. It is really good!
2. Shoot video: We are not just still-photographers, we also shoot moving photos as well! (video). If you shoot with a Ricoh, Fuji, Leica, Sony or whatever … experiment with the built-in video function. Shoot at the highest FPS and resolution, and start uploading it to your own YouTube channel (https://youtube.com/upload). And yes, you already got a YouTube channel! If you have a Gmail or a Google account or Google Maps, you can start uploading directly to your YouTube channel from your laptop or desktop here.
3. The colors green and red: The best two colors. Red like a cherry or strawberry. Green like fresh verdant (green) pastures and grass. Think Gucci colors, Heineken beer, or Christmas. Green-Red is a fantastic color combination! (Red and Green Composition Color Theory For Photographers)
4. Make your own PDF e-book of your best photos on Mac with iBooks Author. You can see my YouTube tutorial video here.
5. Start your own website-blog. I am convinced. The future is websites and blogs. The death of the indoor spaces … who will go into a physical gallery anymore with COVID-19 on the rise? I say — create your own virtual gallery space (your website) with a curation of your best photos. Learn more: Why Curate Your Photos?

With any new photos you’ve created, upload your best to arsbeta.com for honest feedback and critique.

Why?

Also exciting news; finally released my ‘Why App?‘ (Also called ‘Zen of ERIC KIM’). My friend Stoytcho built it for me .. the basic gist is this:

It is a Facebook chat bot which helps you discover deeper truths about your life by constantly badgering you WHY? you do anything?

Learn more about the WHY APP here, or give it a spin here: https://www.messenger.com/t/ZenOfEric

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HAPTIC INDUSTRIES

Creative tools to empower you.

See all the fresh new products to re-inspire and respire your passion for photography here.

You can also see the HAPTIC SHOP on Amazon here.

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Turbo thoughts

Some great thoughts and ideas I’ve had on my mind:

1. You never step into the same river twice (Publilius Syrus)
2. The rolling stone gathers no moss (Publilius Syrus

New Blog Posts

1. Anti-Moderation
2. Why I’m Anti Silicon Valley Thinking
3. How to See in Layers (Composition 101)

And let us never forget our motto:

When in doubt, just shoot it!

ERIC

(If this inspired you, please email this to a friend! 👍👍👍).

Subscribe to ERIC KIM NEWSLETTER here.

Turbo Links

1. ERIC KIM YOUTUBE CHANNEL
2. ERIC KIM PODCAST
3. ERIC KIM VIDEOS

Never stop learning: Free Books >

Or in other words, why Coca-Cola is evil. Also … how Type 2 Diabetes is totally reversible by quitting sugar. And how Type 3 Diabetes is essentially Alzheimer’s disease.

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What is wealth, and why have it? For what, and towards what aims?

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All or nothing:

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The bias in philosophy and thinking:

Only things created with purpose and intent have worth.

Which means:

Rationality, logic, and purposeful decision-making is king … any unconscious, subconscious or random has no worth.

Why this bias? My theory:

In a world of chaos, fear and darkness … humans have only been able to survive and thrive through careful planning to PREVENT potential bad things or trauma from happening.

But in today’s quite predictable world, is this a good way of living and thinking? If COVID-19 has taught us anything it is this:

Logic and rationality and planning abilities aren’t apex. No. Fearlessness, flexibility, ability to change, adapt and evolve is king.

The more ghetto and janky, the better:

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You don’t always need a high-tech solution to a low-tech problem:

In praise of a ‘McGyver’ mindset — where you can ghetto-hack things in a fun, interesting and novel way to solve problems!

Or in other words:

Anti-Silicon Valley Thinking

Also–

You don’t need to always BUY or purchase some sort of technological tool or app to solve a deep problem.

Deep problems require deep thinking … not just buying another Apple or Google Device, or signing up for some new App or service!

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What is the purpose of being a billionaire when your body looks like shit, when you *feel* like shit, and you look anything less than a Greek demigod?

I say —

The ultimate wealth is your body.

Your body in terms of your bodily composition (skeletal muscle mass and adipose tissue composition), as well as your health (physiological vigor) and your mental-physical-bodily health.

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there is no sound sweeter than the sound of your own name.

Do you bother to remember other peoples’ names? Do others bother to remember your name?

The thought:

Strive to remember the name of others to the best of your ability.

Also:

When it comes to teaching, or meeting other people… less important to remember what they said, more important to remember their name!

This means strive to devise all these funny tactics and strategies to remember the names of others. What I typically do is try to associate their name with a name of a famous person (Michael Jordan, Tina Turner). Even when I introduce myself to others I say: “My name is ERIC KIM. ERIC like ERIC CARTMAN from South Park. Kim like Kimchi because I’m Korean!”

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Another life heuristic:

When in doubt, delay.

We have been brain-washed into thinking that we must always have a ‘bias for action’. But in fact, to delay takes more courage and skill. Purposeful procrastination is key.

Also —

When it comes to decision-making theory, ‘ALAP’ (As Late as Possible) is best.

Or in other words:

All forms of creation are good!

Nothing is possible without me having unusually abundant health. Thus the first step:

Prioritize your personal health, vigor and strength above all!

Why do we falter as photographers and visual artists? Our sucker mistake:

Believing that photos are sacred.

In fact, photos are profane. No sacred quality to them. Let us go BEYOND this basic romantic (French, Henri Cartier-Bresson notion). Photos are just art works!

Filling the frame, and creating dynamic tension in your frame with all your subjects.

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Some of my personal thoughts on the future of creativity:

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My attempt at an “antifragile” (Nassim Taleb) system of ethics:

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He who creates, benefits and bestows blessing onto others and society is the good (generative) man. He who is the parasite and milks the system is the bad man; the degenerate.

For a healthy thriving society; promote the generators, cut the leeches.

Innovate means to breathe new life into something old, or to just create something new from scratch.

How do we do this? Some thoughts:

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We philosophers … we must share our thoughts and visions without spite and malice. To analyze society and other humans honestly, without hatred. To judge others honestly with love.

To not blame others for who they are— just striving to understand why they are the way they are.

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Simple ideas:

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The beefier, the better.

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More wisdom in your stomach, legs, and intuition than your ‘brain’.

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To make huge money, strive to solve huge problems. Best to think:

What are massive personal problems in my life, and if I could… how could I fix my own problems and share the solution with others?

You can’t have one without the other. The true ubermensch will have augmented both his or her virtues AND vices to the max.

Towards a more rigorous and honest approach.

Beware the word “should” from others. It is a sign of disrespect and intolerance.

Before you say or do something that may be irreversible, wait at least 48 hours before acting. In fact delay and purposeful procrastinaton are our two best weapons.

A primer on working out:

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It isn’t really “minimalism” we want … it is convenience.

For example, the reason why I don’t like owning a lot of stuff isn’t a virtue thing. It’s pure convenience! To own just two T-shirts (Outlier.nyc black merino wool t shirt) makes life a trillion times more convenient. Also for pants, more convenient to have black merino wool leggings (Meriwool brand) instead of jeans. Also, the benefit for us men and merino wool leggings:

Whenever you want, you can workout!

You can do yoga whenever, stretch whenever, do one legged pistol squats whenever, and do deadlifts whenever.

When it comes to people, thoughts, philosophies or systems of thought ask yourself:

Are these people on the ascent or the descent in life?

Avoid those stagnant or descending. Link and partner with those on the up and up— those who believe and breathe for ascending life!

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I never blame people for being sick or toxic. The best is just to avoid them, and distance yourself from them. For your mental hygiene, and also for your mental health.

I don’t blame people for who they are. But if you meet someone who is like a rabid dog, you don’t blame the rabid dog for being a rabid dog… but the wise thing is to just keep as far away as humanly possible from the rabid dog.

Shouldn’t we also do this with toxic people?

I love talking to strangers. Why? And how do I do it?

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Optimus means “best”. To optimize is to make things better.

It seems in life, perfection doesn’t exist and isn’t a goal. Instead, striving always for more better … this seems to be a better goal.

For example, always striving for a better body. Better body means more muscle mass (skeletal muscle mass) and less body fat (adipose tissue).

For websites, web design, blogs, or any design… recognize that perfect doesn’t exist. Great exists; perfect — not.

Once you become great, just keep striving to become great(er)!

ERIC

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In life, ignore commentators. Only heed the words from creators.

In praise of life-furthering and life-promoting photos:

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My personal goal:

Craft my physique to look like that of a Greek demigod.

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Instead of striving to one day buy or purchase x, y, z … isn’t it far more interesting to aspire to build, create and design something instead?

Is there a future for photographers in today’s brave new world?

My thoughts:

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The notion of “van life” and “tiny homes” are a trap. Why? It makes us think:

Once I just disconnect from technology, society, and go “off the grid” I can finally become happy and free.

Not true. Far better to be part of society, live in a city, and live in a tiny (“luxury”) apartment than to live sequestered from society …. cut off.

Minimalism is escapism. Escapism from the reality of our own lives. In other words:

Lifestyle ain’t the answer, our own approach and philosophy is.

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As long as you cleave your self esteem to others, you will be disappointed. The simple solution:

Extreme selfishness and extreme self esteem, and extreme self focus on yourself.

No dependence or reliance in others. No expectations in others. Only high expectations in yourself. To conserve your energy, and not waste it on others.

Jony Ive — apparently wanted to leave Apple after Steve Jobs died. Jony Ive was truly the last bastion of hope for Apple in terms of the artistic soul of Apple. But since Jony Ive has left, it seems Apple is going downhill. Too nerdy. It will become (or has already?) become the new Microsoft.

Then the thought:

Only trust Apple devices that were designed while Jony Ive was still at Apple. They are the last devices with a soul.

I’ve discovered in my life when I try to “help” others I’m always disappointed. Why? I expect them to become like me. But when they fail to do so, I feel disappointed. As a consequence, perhaps I feel low-key spite or malice towards them?

Solution: dispel this notion of trying to “help” others. Sometimes I might be doing more harm than good?

Or change my expectations. Help others as a consequence of my hyper-abundance and joy, but don’t expect anything from others. So keep helping others, and remove the expectation part from the equation.

My theory:

I like others to treat me how I treat them, but this almost never happens. Why? I expect everyone to treat me highly.

As a consequence, I treat everyone else highly. But is this reasonable?

And perhaps why I’m always disappointed in others is because I expect them to treat me how I treat myself, because I have such a high expectation of myself? And I feel disappointed because I don’t see others as high as me?

We only got this one life to live. No life or consciousness or spirit after death. The mortal soul— the soul which dies once your body dies. If this is the case, then why live life doing anything which bores you?

When you got nothing else to shoot, just shoot the sky!

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With working out, don’t do these boring static stretches which take waaaay too long with waaaay too many boring repetitions. Just do it quick, efficiently, and get on with it!

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In praise of just having fun in photography! Shoot with mirrors, shoot videos, and just have fun, keep experimenting and confusing the viewer with your (weird) perspectives!

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In today’s brave new COVID world … isn’t right now the best time to go out and shoot uber-interesting photos?

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As an artist, you’re always in a state of flux and evolving. No limits!

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The goal:

Associate with people who uplift and pump you up, not people who depress and hold you down.

Fear is the ultimate emotion we must conquer. The goal ain’t to live a “happier” life but a LESS FEARFUL life.

One of the worst ills of ‘Gen Z’ kids:

They cannot make eye contact, have poor social skills.

Even us ‘Millenials’. We cannot make eye contact. We always got our AirPods in. It is not considered ‘cool’ to talk to strangers. Worse yet, most people don’t got the guts (or social skills) to talk to strangers.

But what is the real problem here? Twofold:

1. Modern society doesn’t encourage talking to strangers or interacting with strangers (stranger danger)
2. Technology and our phones make us socially averse to other people.

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Simple tutorials:

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To weigh yourself, whether your scale-weight (how fat you are), weighing yourself in terms of your bank account balance, weighing yourself in your social media following numbers likes views etc is self-esteem suicide.

What is self-esteem suicide? Quantifying your self-worth and ‘progress’ through numbers.

Unquantify yourself.

Some pragmatic ideas:

1. Get rid of your scale at home or in your bathroom. Just give it away or throw it away. Better to just look at yourself naked in the bathroom mirror before you shower to judge your body composition.
2. Delete Instagram. The worst thing for your self-esteem as an artist. Start your own websiteblog instead.
3. Don’t look at your bank account balance. Make sure you got enough money to pay rent but beyond that… you are not your bank account balance. You are not “ones and zeros” and commas.

Less worries, less stress. Less stuff.

Fewer obligations, fewer things to manage. Less is best!

Simple ideas:

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Technology as a means to an end, not the end in itself.

Which means:

Be more interested in your personal end-game, rather than being interested in tech for tech’s sake.

In other words:

Don’t fetishize and lust after gadgets and new technology for the sake of it. Think deep. Philosophy. Ask yourself *WHY?* and keep asking yourself *WHY?* indefinitely until you gain a deeper truth *WHY* you want the tech in the first place and for what end-goal?

For example, we don’t want new cameras for the sake of it, we want new cameras because we are currently lacking inspiration and motivation to go out and shoot new photos.

There is no end-game to blogging. The goal:

Never run out inspiration, motivation or ideas and to keep posting indefinitely, until you die!

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No doubt about it … WordPress (the open source wordpress.org and the paid wordpress.com) is *THE* best platform for publishing, blogging, website-building, whatever. Why?

1. Ultimate flexibility and customization
2. Future-proof (they got a trillion dollars to support it)
3. Matt Mullenweg can be trusted.

How to get started

1. Go to bluehost.com and pay for the cheapest domain and website hosting. Then install WordPress.org
2. Once your website–blog is up and running, just start posting!

And what is the end-goal? Never stop posting.

ERIC

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No no no… the devil doesn’t exist. Whoever talks about the devil in a metaphorical sense or even worse… a *real* sense — don’t trust them.

A thought —

When we hear music, did the artist create the music out of their own depression and sickliness, or out of their over-abundance in health, joy, and liveliness?

Perhaps this is the judge on what “good” or “bad” music is.

Something I’ve been realizing in the context of philosophy, health and hygiene … cleanliness certainly is the closest thing to godliness (wasn’t this an advertisement somewhere?)

Photos of my everyday life:

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1. Featured image doesn’t need to be related to your post.
2. Blog from your phone or tablet/iPad.
3. Blog about anything in your life. No categories.
4. Bullet point lists like this are useful.
5. Better to post a “bad” post than no post at all.
6. Drink cold brew black coffee to get the creative juices flowing!
7. The best desk is no desk. The best office is no office. Take your phone or iPad or laptop to the park! Get some fresh air, see some green, hug a tree, and walk around. The best way to get creative ideas.

Design your blog, website, products and life just like air, the great outdoors. A breath of fresh air. Openness. Light, brightness. High ceilings. Floor to ceiling windows. The more air, light, and lightness the better!

Towards more on the philosophy of fresh air.

1. Don’t be afraid of overtraining. Work out everyday for fun and physiological thriving.
2. Intermittent fast during the day. Workout while fasted is better. More energy and motivation. Hunger motivates you to move and workout.
3. Black coffee (no cream, sugar or milk) before working out.
4. No music, phone or headphones while working out. More focus and strength.
5. Aim to eat 5-10 pounds of meat when you break your fast. Then you can will sleep well and not be hungry the next day until dinner.
6. Aim to increase your “one rep max“. Reps are boring. Keep your intensity and difficulty high, repetitions low.
7. Minimalist shoes. Water or kayak shoes on Amazon. No padding or foam sole.
8. Always wear same outfit to workout to ease cognitive load. Black merino wool Outlier.nyc shirt. Black merino wool leggings (Amazon). Black athletic shorts.

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Real ideas:

1. Ricoh gr III in program mode and JPEG. Either high contrast monochrome or cross process filter. Positive film color filter is good too.
2. Post photos to your own website blog, not social media.
3. Delete your Instagram.
4. Use Apple photos on your MacBook laptop instead of Lightroom. Apple Photos is much faster.
5. If you want to use Lightroom, use the new creative cloud Lightroom on your laptop instead of the classic version. The new mobile friendly version is much faster.