What is the psychology of blaming others or society? My thoughts:

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I say this out of deep respect for Leica, all the folks who have helped me (Christian, JJ, Ebhi, etc). Truth be told I can only speak good things about Leica, people who work at Leica and for Leica. This critique is out of respect.

But I go to the Leica Website now; and it feels really lame. Why? Some of my honest thoughts and feelings:

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Attitude is the same word as ‘aptitude’ in Latin (aptitudo). Thus rather than thinking that ‘having an attitude’ as a bad thing… perhaps we should think of our attitude as our aptitude (our ability)?

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We are artists. What is the ultimate art work? Our body!

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I am so productive because all of my work is ‘plork‘ (play work). I never force myself to work. I only do what I am interested in, and don’t do nothing I’m not interested in. Uber-simple. I believe this is the key to uber-productivity.

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Open source is the future. Why?

Open, free, and flexible will always prevail.

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“You see there’s leaders and there’s followers, but I’d rather be a dick than a swallower.” – Kanye West (YEEZUS album)

In life, you have the choice:

Be a leader, or a follower?

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I very much despise Google Chrome (web browser). I believe Safari (made by Apple) is a quadrillion times better. Why? Let me explain:

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To settle is for suckers. I say —

Strive for the best. Strive to create and make the best, not just to buy the best.

Also a step towards our elite asceticism:

Either own or create the best, or prefer to not own it at all.

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Lower your drag, or your drag coefficient in life. Get rid of things and people who slow you down, drag you down, or weigh you down.

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Perhaps this is the most ethical thing we can do. Be maximally transparent about how x, y, z benefits you. Perhaps Google can be improved (not by changing their algorithm), but just being more transparent on how their algorithm works, and why it works that way (to maximize advertising revenue). Google could do this without giving away the secret sauce of their search algorithm, but could be more transparent about their method, technique and approach. To become less sneaky.

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My theory:

Human nature is 80%, societal nurture is 20%.

Metaphor and analogy:

Human nature as the engine and motor, nurture as the operating system.

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With human affairs and with morals and ethics, the sword must cut both ways. Which means — dynamic symmetry in human ethics and how we talk and treat one another.

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If you got a great body, share it!

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Simple ideas to workout at the park:

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Why workout? Because it is insanely fun! Working out improves my mood 10000x.

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Many people seem to want to become independent. But the important question:

*WHY* become independent? Once you get your independence, *then what*?

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In practical and pragmatic matters in life, I don’t trust myself when it comes to:

1. Putting myself into social situations in which I will talk a lot, and lose track of time.
2. When I plan; things always take faaaar longer than you expect them to. I always try to add a 50% buffer to almost everything I do.
3. I don’t trust myself to keep promises. Thus it seems the optimal thing is to never make a promise.

It ain’t about men or women; it is about societal thriving.

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When it comes to asking others for advice, don’t just ask for ‘advice’. Just ask them what *THEY* do. Ask them what car they own, what stocks they are currently investing in, and how they do x, y, z. When you ask them for their ‘opinion’, you are less likely to get intelligent wisdom.

When in doubt, eat more meat. Meat as supreme nutrition:

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Blogging — just post it. Why? At worst you can always edit or delete it later. And if we consider we are always in a stream of becoming then that means:

No blog post is perfect nor *SHOULD* be perfect.

Or in other words:

Better post a ‘bad’ blog post than no post!

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The best lens to understand society. And if you plan on (continuing) to live in society, sociology is great.

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Practical ideas:

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Motivational photo ideas I hope will also inspire you — things which have worked for me:

1. Don’t limit yourself to any type of subject matter. Shoot anything and everything.
2. Get close; in praise of macro photography. RICOH GR III as one of the best macro cameras in the market.
3. Shoot everything uber-wide. In praise of the new iPhone and ultra wide lens. Or get 21mm adapter for RICOH GR III.
4. The desire to make ‘good’ photos is a bad one. Better to strive having fun making photos, than to strive to make ‘good’ ones.
5. Consider photography and breathing is the same. Do you force yourself to breathe? No. Then why force yourself to shoot?
6. Buy RICOH GR III, and just keep it in your front right pocket. If pockets to small, get ERIC KIM NECK STRAP MARK II, or ERIC KIM WRIST STRAP MARK II.
7. Creative constraint: For an entire day, limit yourself. Only shoot one square block, only shoot the color red, etc.
8. Buy books, not gear. If you want more motivation and inspiration in your photography, the money you invest into photography books and education is 100000x more effective than buying a new camera.
9. The best cameras: RICOH GR III. For the apex image quality, Pentax 645Z. Best vlogging video and photo hybrid camera; Lumix G9.
10. Recognize that Leica digital cameras (any NON-LEICA M camera) are essentially just re-packaged Panasonic Lumix cameras. Just like how Volkswagen owns Lamborghini — the Lamborghini is just a very expensive VW or a very expensive Audi (VW also owns Audi).
11. To re-inspire your passion for photography, delete Instagram.
12. Start your own blog. Register on bluehost.com and install wordpress.org. ‘Until you own your own you can’t be free; until you own your own you can’t be me.’ – JAY Z
13. Recognize that photography is essential in society. Street photography is essentially just applied sociology — visual sociology.
14. The color green is the color of life. The color red is the color of blood. Both colors are possibly the most powerful.
15. Don’t limit yourself to only monochrome or color; do both.
16. You’re not a photographer, you’re a visual artist which means — permit and allow yourself to indulge all of your different passions in photography, art and beyond.
17. When you got nobody else to photograph, photograph yourself.
18. Don’t photograph others you don’t want to be photographed, but also photograph others how YOU would like to be photographed.
19. No such thing as a good or bad photo; only authentic or inauthentic.
20. Nowadays everything is a camera! Consider your car backup camera, your door bell camera, your video camera, your phone is a camera; all is cameras.
21. The goal ain’t to become the best photographer. The goal is to simply have the motivation and inspiration to never stop photographing.
22. Instagram is a 10000x ‘net negative’ for any photographer or visual artist.
23. Websites are the future galleries of the internet and for the photographer.
24. All photographers are photographers. All photographers are good photographers. Your goal — strive to become the best photographer you possibly can!
25. Why social media is bad for photographers and humans– photography ain’t a competition.
26. Recognize you don’t gotta share all the photos you shoot. Just shoot some photos purely for yourself; purely for selfish reasons.
27. Selfish isn’t evil. The best photographer is very selfish.
28. To re-spark your passion for photography, also shoot video!
29. Small thumbnail test: If your photo works well as a small thumbnail AND works well as a large image; it is a strong image.
30. Photos which inspire movement (visual kinesthesia) are good. Why? Motivation literally means ‘to move’. Thus the more likely your photos are to move you (physically, metaphorically, emotionally), the better.
31. Blurred photos are good because they inspire us to move! Sharp photos are overrated.
32. Details are overrated in photography. In praise of uber-high contrast (crushing the blacks in monochrome photography).
33. For real feedback on your photos, upload them to arsbeta.com and also contribute your own personal wisdom to the community. The more you critique the work of others, the better you can critique your own work.
34. WHY? Whenever it comes to photography or anything in life, always ask yourself ‘WHY?‘ at least 3 times, to gain a deeper truth about a certain concept or idea. Try out ZEN OF ERIC Facebook Chat bot (I dubbed it the ‘Why?‘ App)
35. Create your own photo book digitally. Just use iBooks Author on Mac, or you can even make it in Google Slides and export as PDF. E-Book PDF’s for photography are highly underrated!
36. To better learn composition, study art fields OUTSIDE of photography.
37. Learn from the masters of photography, then kill them. You must become a master, not just a follower.
38. Every photo you make is a self-portrait of yourself.
39. With photo editing (when in doubt, throw it out).
40. Creativity in photography is highly overrated. More important to just never run out of inspiration and motivation to keep shooting!

Let us never forget our motto:

Just shoot it!

Shoot on!
ERIC

HAPTIC INDUSTRIES: Creative tool to Empower You >

Also peep HAPTIC INDUSTRIES on AMAZON >

More inspiration:

1. ERIC KIM PODCAST
2. ERIC KIM VIDEOS

Behind-the-scenes:

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Why do we think selfish means evil?

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Why I hate competition:

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Our ultimate goal as photographers:

Never run out of inspiration and motivation to keep making new photos!

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There is no such thing as making a ‘good’ photo. Perhaps better to make *EMOTIONAL* photos.

The best photos:

When you can encapsulate and immortalize your emotions and feelings in a photograph you make and create.

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Certainly a harder mind is superior to a softer mind.

A harder mind — this will help develop society. Why I am anti-soft society.

Why become more masculine?

Shouldn’t a man become more “masculine”?

Let me speak for men:

If masculinity or manliness (virtue) is the art of a man becoming the apex version of himself, then shouldn’t manliness and masculinity be the goal?

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The ultimate goal:

Become wiser.

Why wisdom? Wisdom is fun, interesting, challenging, and the wiser you are… the less you will become suckered by others. Wisdom as very practical and pragmatic in everyday life.

Wisdom:

More physiological power, more focus, more creative energy … and more love and zest for life and being alive!

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“I’m a product guy!” – Kanye West

A lot of people think of themselves as ‘product people’. A lot of people are “producers”, and even the etymology for the word product means “leader” (or *TO LEAD*).

As bloggers, we should not talk down on ourselves. We bloggers are also product people. Our posts are our products! And the goal:

Never stop producing new products!

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How do make better photos and compositions? Simple —

Photograph during the moment of the highest tension; visual kinesthesia.

The goal:

Your photos inspire others and yourself to move!

My friend Charlie Kirk said it well:

If you shoot film, you’re a photographer. If you shoot digital, you’re an editor (image-selector).

My vision behind ARSBETA.COM

Create the most robust, useful, simple and beautiful-elegant platform for photographers to effectively gain useful and constructive feedback on their photos, and also have a tool to help them more effectively choose their best photos.

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Two things I believe in:

Speed and simplicity.

In any design, optimize for these two.

For example on this blog, I am always striving towards the uber-simple and the uber-fast. I’ve been using old phones to load my blog, and have been trying to optimize my blog to make it as buttery, smooth and fast on an old device (as well as being ‘good’ on a new device).

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The future quadrillion-dollar economy:

The economy of FOCUS.

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Creativity:

The propensity, desire and joy of creating … anything!

Creativity not as “demi-god novelty inspiration from the gods”.

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When we make photos, we are making commentary and a critique on society. Critique as a judgement.

Do you force yourself to breathe? Then why force yourself to make photos? Shouldn’t making photos just be a part of you; something you can do unforced, unconsciously?

Perhaps not but maybe I can try?

“Treat your first like it’s your last, treat your last like your first.” (JAY Z).

8,000+ blog posts over the last decade+, and I feel like I’m just barely getting started.

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Blogging is my passion. Why? I love ideas, art, photos, videos and everything. I love to share, create and explore.

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We got “climate deniers” and all these kind of deniers. A strange thing:

Why deny human biology?

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More faith in older art, older religions, older poems, older literature.

I forget who said it (Nassim Taleb quotes it)

Keep old friends, drink old wine, but eat fresh food.

We moderns all want to be more productive, but towards what end? For what end? Why?

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Yeah yeah yeah, we all know that “non-GMO” and organic food is “better” for us. But I’m more pragmatic and practical. I just eat industrial food, and frankly speaking, I feel fine, and have been able to increase my meat intake, increase my muscular mass, lower my body fat, *AND* save money!

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Smaller is almost always better. Why? Simple reasons:

1. The smaller something is, the more frequently you will use it. Also, the smaller something is, the more ‘usable’ it is.
2. For example, the human hand is a fixed size. A smaller smartphone is ALWAYS better.
3. Smaller cars are better. Easier to park, easier to turn, easier to parallel park, easier to do U-Turns. Also, you are more likely to find a parking spot for a smaller car.

“Even a hair casts its own shadow” – Publilius Syrus (this means even the most minute, small, mundane, everyday thing you share can be interesting!)

When in doubt, just share it.

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When in doubt, just flex.

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If you don’t want to think about things, get it out of your sight.

Inspired by my buddy Jun Goodhouse Kim, I decided to start shooting more ‘muk bang’ videos and photos (“muk bang” in Korean literally means “eat, room”). So showing people behind the scenes footage of how you cook, how you eat, and how you live:

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How do you know if someone is a true friend or not? Simple:

A true friend is someone who legitimately wants what is best for you, not themselves.

Happiness is impossible without health. Health as “physiological power overwhelming”. Our mind cannot exist without a body; a body can exist without a mind.

When I don’t force myself to be “productive”, I’m actually MORE productive.

Powerlifters should get into photography, and photographers should also get into powerlifting. Why? Powerlifters are zen masters, and can gain much from being creative in photography. And photographers will grow more of a backbone and spine after powerlifting and deadlifts.

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No moralistic problems against porn. It is just a distraction, and also sucks away your “chi” energy life force. Jerking off to porn as “energy suicide”. The idea which I realized:

Would you jerk off before attempting a one rep max in your deadlift? Certainly not.

So I wonder … jerking off actually depletes our energy force and source?

How does photography work? We see photos which *suggest* movement. This inspires us to move!

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Besides wanting to become a bitcoin billionaire, I see cryptocurrency as a future economy; a future form of human trust (sociology of cryptocurrency), and I’m also interested in cryptocurrency as being the new internet; perhaps Internet 3.0?

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Thought from my friend Natalie Jing Ma:

When money can fix a problem, just buy away the problem.

Money then as a tool to buy away problems, rather than “buying stuff” to “improve” your life.

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Strong yet flexible and pliant.

The goal— master our own motivation, our own movement, our own.

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Practical thoughts and tips:

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To lose fat (adipose tissue — body fat) is simple. It might be hard, but the steps are easy:

1. Cut out all starches, sugars, carbohydrates (both the ‘good’ complex carbs and the simple carbs). No sugar, high fructose corn syrup, artificial and “natural” sweeteners. No fruit (it is modern candy).
2. No beer, wine, alcohol. These contribute to fat (adipose tissue) gain.
3. Cut out all dairy. Most humans are quite lactose-intolerant anyways. Lactose is just sugar– in cow milk form.
4. No pastries, cookies, sweets, breads (both whole wheat and white bread).
5. Intermittent fasting (no breakfast or lunch); one huge meal a day. When you break your fast, eat lots of meat and vinegary foods/fermented foods.
6. Stick to drinking only tea (no sugar or cream or milk or weird milk substitutes like almond milk/cashew milk/oat milk), drink only black coffee, and drink only water. If you want to extend your fast, drink 100% cocoa powder.

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Photography as one of the best tools to become more fit (more muscular, more skeletal muscle mass, and less body fat [adipose tissue]).

Also, photography as a tool to become happier, more productive, and to transform your bodily aesthetics into a Greek or Roman statue.

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Turbo thought:

Morality is subjective and doesn’t “exist”, but ethics is what we should really care for. Ethics as the philosophy and approach (technique, art; tekhne) of how to interact with other real human beings in real life.

The best way to save money and get more “bang for the buck”. For example buy a second hand Leica, second hand Leica lens, a used Tesla Model S, or even a used iPhone. Best way to maximize the utility of something while minimizing the cost.

Case in point — buying a 13 inch MacBook Pro Touch Bar maxed out specs in the Apple Refurbished store.