Never stop augmenting your physical and mental strength:

Street photography as a road to live a more interesting life:

When do you feel maximal physical vigor… And when?

Dear streettogs,

Happy Monday! Every start of the week is a good one. Why?

Think about all the great photos you have YET made.

What seems most difficult for us photographers?

Discovering the motivation to make new photos.

A lot of people were once famous, but we no longer care for them.

Thus perhaps the goal isn’t to become “famous”, but to have others CARE for us, and CARE about us?

I don’t think there is an ultimate purpose in life, but life is certainly more fun and interesting as long as you keep moving: keep walking, keep exploring, keep traveling, keep shooting photos, keep writing, keep thinking, keep lifting, and keep risking more!

The goal:

Not to become a ‘good’ street photographer, but to become a FEARLESS street photographer.

Pratical ideas:

My life-long vision:

That every photographer and individual can thrive to their personal maximum, regardless of their socio-economic class.

Something I think about a lot:

When should we shoot vertical and when should we shoot horizontal? And what visual-psychological effects do either have?

To color or black and white street photography?

What holds us back in photography? Our obsession with trying to make “good” photos.

Instead, my suggestion:

It is better for you to shoot a lot of “bad” photos than to shoot no photos!

A new and change/evolution in my visual aesthetics:

I prefer photos that are more obscure than photos which are too clear.

I am convinced. One of the most important pillars to success is to build our own website. Let me explain:

We delight much in shapes and forms. In photography, we delight in forming our photographs; to form reality into photographs which we consider beautiful.

We also desire beautiful forms by purchasing it. We purchase beautiful formed cars, clothes, accessories, tools, devices, homes, etc in order to augment ourselves. But what if a better goal was to form ourselves; to form our mind (continually develop our mind), and also to constantly form our body (building muscle mass through resistance training, and reducing bodyfat through intermittent fasting and abstinence from sugars and starches).

The goal then is:

First form ourselves (our body and mind), then as an artist we use our will to form to create art-works which bring us delight!

ERIC

What is the point of photographing a thing, a place, or a project if someone has already done it before, and you perceive that you can never make a project as good as it?

My suggestion: do it regardless!

Always the tricky thing:

Should I shoot monochrome or color when I’m shooting travel street photography?

Practical thoughts after shooting Havana, Cuba for a week (having never been there before).

My favorite photos from my Havana week-long trip. Shot on RICOH GR III x ERIC KIM NECK STRAP:

For myself, it seems the primary benefit of traveling, living nomadically, or being abroad is this:

Fewer distractions from back home. More focus on myself, my thoughts, and my creative work and ideas.

Active nihilism: the notion that despite the fact that life has no ultimate meaning, you still are active! You still do things, you still think, you still make art, and you still create. Why? Because you have the power to self-direct your own life, and postulate your own personal aims in life — having no higher authority or judge than yourself.

To extract more joy, wonder, and adventure and excitement in life, see every opportunity of your life and day as a photo opportunity!

After a week in Cuba my thoughts on capitalism vs socialism:

Capitalism is superior to socialism/communism.

My thoughts:

Ever since we were children, we were taught that “reading is good”. Also, that there were “good books” and “bad books”.

But very rarely do we ask: “What’s the purpose of reading?”

My thoughts on the purpose of reading:

The principle problem of Americans: our inability to deal with “free time”. Our fear of free time, an open schedule, and a calendar without appointments.

My real experiences:

A realization:

I think much better when I spend long periods of time offline.

My first trip in Cuba. Free PDF download here:

Currently here in Havana, Cuba. Some thoughts after being offline for about a week:

As photographer-artists, it all comes down to aesthetics (the philosophy of beauty):

The goal of our consumerism: to become more beautiful.

Living philosophy:

Life is more fun when you set arbitrary challenges and goals for yourself and you exert much strength and effort to achieve them!

What do you do once you hit the goals? Easy: set new and more difficult and fun-challenging ones!

Ideas:

1. Physical strength goals (one rep max in power lifting)
2. Your physique aesthetic looks
3. Economic and entrepreneurial goals

A thought: perhaps for optimal health, motivation and inspiration, happiness and joy in life we need both hot AND cold. And perhaps the play between both is what gives birth to creative activity and inspiration-motivation?

“The good is in the absence of the bad.” – St. Augustine

A thought in photography:

Perhaps it is more effective to ditch/delete/remove our “bad” photos, than worry too much about figuring out what our “good” photos are to keep.

Photos from Kyoto— the most aesthetically beautiful and sublime place on the planet:

Once upon a time in Hollywood by Quentin Tarantino— a classic.

We are so insanely futuristic; why are we still producing, purchasing, and driving gasoline cars?

My thought:

Much of how we live our lives SHOULD be directed by our own personal ego, aesthetics, vanity, and pride.

What I’ve been making photos of:

Do you have the great satisfaction or dissatisfaction from life/existence?

Practical photo thoughts:

1. Start an ‘everyday’ photo project using your “standalone digital camera”. Keep your iPhone or smartphone in your backpack or bag, and keep your camera always with you. Anything you might shoot with your iPhone, just shoot it on your standalone digital camera. Stop photographing your food with your iPhone, instead, use your RICOH GR III to photograph your food. Shoot “high quality” photos of your everyday life.
2. When you got nothing to photograph, shoot a selfie, photograph your feet, your hand, or photograph the sky.
3. If you need photo inspiration, just visit the local coffee shop (with your camera around your neck or wrist), have a strong cup of coffee, and just photograph people inside the coffee shop! Also, make photos ON THE WAY to the coffee shop (more ideas in STREET HUNT MOBILE edition in STREET HUNT PRINT edition).
4. Photograph interesting textures, reflections, or shadows you see.
5. Strive to make the most extremely minimalist photos. Pure and clean white or black background with only one subject.
6. Whenever you see the color red, photograph it! Make a “RED” photo project of only red objects and scenes (RED as the color of blood, lust, and desire).
7. For photography composition study ideas, study Henri Cartier-Bresson, Josef Koudelka, and Helmut Newton.

And the ultimate tip:

When in doubt, just shoot it!

ERIC

A big thought:

Use the New Year as an opportunity to truly reflect, meditate, and understand WHY you make photos.

There isn’t any “right” or “wrong” answers. And also realize, this is dynamic— your reasons on why you make photos will continue to change, evolve, and change over time.

Why I make photos

I cannot say what is right for you, but here are my current thoughts:

1. I make photos as a form of artistic expression. When I do not have the opportunity to artistically express myself, I get artistic constipation (the worst pain). Releasing my artistic energy is essential for me.
2. Legacy: Ultimately I don’t live for myself– I live in order to empower and inspire/motivate (current) and future generations of humans. It is my great ambition to drive the culture of photography forward, and hopefully I can be remembered even 300 years from now.
3. The joy of inspiring and motivating others: I know how shitty I felt when I wasn’t inspired and motivated in photography. I remember how it felt being disempowered as a photographer, because I never had ‘good enough’ gear, or because I wanted more fame/influence/money/power in the photo world. I feel a trillion times happier and more enlightened in photography now, and I share my thoughts as if I were helping my old 18-year old self.

Dear friends,

The New Year is just around the corner, and I wanted to use this opportunity to share some practical New Year’s Photo Resolutions you can apply!

1. For all of this year, only shoot with one camera and one lens for the entire year. Practical idea: just shoot only with RICOH GR III for the entire year.
2. Make a photographic e-book with your favorite 40 photos of all-time in Adobe InDesign or Apple iBooks Author (free). Export as PDF, and share on your blog, and email it to friends and family!
3. Embark on at least on photographic road-trip or photographic adventure. You can do a quick day-trip, fly somewhere domestic, or fly somewhere international. For international trips, try to stay in one city for an entire week and devote it only to photography!
4. Start a photographic selfie project. Try to shoot a selfie everyday for a year, and at the end, choose your 12 favorite selfies from the year, and share it on your website/blog.
5. Print a ‘zine’ (magazine) of your favorite photographs. Design it in Adobe InDesign, export as PDF, and send the PDF file to a local printer. Keep it simple– just print in black and white. Print 20 copies, and distribute them to friends and family. Or sell them to your followers for $20 USD a pop.
6. For the entire year, stick to either color or black and white. Treat this as a positive ‘creative constraint’ to help you focus on honing your artistic vision.
7. Stop calling yourself a photographer; call yourself a ‘visual artist’ instead.
8. Start your own photography blog (register on bluehost.com and install wordpress.org), and/or start your own YouTube channel. Blog about your personal thoughts (photo or non-photo related), and register your own domain name (firstnamelastnamephoto.com)
9. Buy yourself a nice photo book once a month (1 book a month, 12 books in the entire year). When you feel the urge to buy a new camera (you don’t need), buy a photo book instead.
10. Make photos you would enjoy privately. Test yourself: “If I didn’t share this photograph with anyone else, would it still bring me joy?”

What do we want from photography, technology, blogging, etc?

To augment our modes of creative expression.

I got the gouda – no shoota

I don’t got a car still go hella far

I got the guac; I’m from Cali

I got the racks and I pay all my tax (early!)

I don’t got the Benz, but I get all the wins.

My personal photography odyssey (thus far):

Badder is better.

My thought:

Better to do something “bad” (poorly) than to not do it at all.

The way to achieve more, do more, and brave more in life.

Photography: chronicle your own (epic) life story.

Don’t do anything “for the culture”; do it for yourself.

We build our cars, we build our wealth, we build companies, and we build external things.

Why not focus on building ourselves?

(more…)

Helmut Newton: One of the photographic greats.

Downloads

Helmut Newton — one of the kings of portrait and fashion/erotic photography:

Perhaps our love for shapes, forms and proportions is rooted in the human body — the most beautiful human body, shape, and form.

It seems the modern pursuit is to accumulate and acquire more. More possessions, more status, more money.

A new goal:

Striving to become more.

Simple thoughts:

Everyone wants to make a billion dollar company. But how come nobody wants to make themselves into a billion-dollar individual?

I’m a sucker for wanting to buy the new new (anything). The new Apple whatever, the new Tesla, the (used) Lamborghini, etc.

But ultimately what do we want? We want the excitement and thrill of innovation.

But perhaps it is more effective for us to innovate ourselves (build new things) than to simply buy it.

In almost every domain in life— bigger and heavier is generally worse. Let me share my thoughts:

Photography lifestyle as a mode of living. A way of living.

In life so much of us play the “waiting game”(or sit in the “waiting room”, as Dr. Seuss said in his ‘ Oh the places you’ll go!’ book).

A thought:

Don’t wait for reality or lady fortune to extend her hand to you. Be the one to do thr happening!

All day photo:

1. Always shooting photos
2. Always looking at your photos
3. Always sharing and publishing your photos
4. Always delighting in photos, art, and more!

You ain’t just an artist or photographer; you’re also a visual scientist.

A thought while walking:

I am so grateful that Ricoh made the GR 3. While there are lots of things I really loved about the GR 2 (embedded flash), the GR III is still superior.

No rules. You can do it everyday, every other day, once a week, once a month, once a year, or maybe even once a decade!

My suggestion:

Follow your gut.

If you don’t feel physically strong enough to review your photos, procrastinate on it as long as possible.

What is the best life? The life with maximal fun, experimentation, and seeing the limits of yourself.