Dear friend,
I am very excited to share the news of my first online course, “Ultimate Beginner’s Guide To Mastering Photography†on Udemy. First of all, I wanted to share why I made the course, and why enrolling in the course will inspire, motivate, and empower you in your photography!
Dear friend,
An epiphany I had: the best way to stay motivated in your photography is this: make photos that you like looking at!
I am shocked, amazed, impressed, and awe-struck at the same time. SmugMug has acquired Flickr. What does that mean? It means that as photographers, we should NEVER trust the platform of another company/social media network. Why? Because we become ‘digital sharecroppers’, and build our own empire on the land of others, or in other words, we build our own kingdom on quicksand.
Dear friend,
Straight fresh out of the (digital) presses: A new GoPro POV street photography video of me photographing a ‘street portrait’ on the streets of Kyoto, with a very friendly older lady.
Dear friend, to promote my new and exciting course: “Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Mastering Photography“, I want to share with you– why should we take it back to basics in our photography, and why is it good to think like a beginner in our photography?
Dear friend,
A fun technique in street photography to use is to use the ‘fishing technique‘ (pre-frame your photograph composition, and wait for the right person to enter your frame), combined with leading-lines. You can create leading lines by finding architectural lines, and then identify where you want your subject to enter the frame. Then once they’ve entered your frame, you start to make photos.
Also, crouching down low (lower perspective) is a good technique in street photography, because it makes you look less intimidating to your subject, and also it gives you a unique perspective that makes your subjects look larger than life (the ‘superman effect’).
In this video I demonstrate the two techniques in action. Learn more how you can integrate these techniques (in your ‘real life’ street photography) by joining me at one of my upcoming workshops.
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JUST SHOOT IT.
If you’re new to street photography, start here:
Become the best street photographer possible by picking up a copy of Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Mastering Street Photography. This book is full of all my distilled knowledge and wisdom on street photography over the last 10 years, crafted specifically to empower you in street photography.
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Dear friend, if you want to learn how to shoot layers in street photography, I made this new YouTube video demonstrating me shooting layers with a GoPro POV video in the streets of Kyoto.
Dear friend,
A thought: Street Photography is like fishing. Fishing isn’t about catching fish, it is about enjoying the process of preparing your bait and tackle (equipment), relaxing/zenning out by the water, and the eager anticipation of the possibility of catching a fish (not the expectation).
Dear friend,
Ever since my RICOH GR II died (28mm lens), I’ve been shooting with Cindy’s Lumix LX 100 with the 24mm on the streets of Kyoto and been having a ton of fun. I want to share with you some practical tips I’ve learned shooting with a 24mm lens in street photography:
Dear friend,
As a word of encouragement: it doesn’t matter what camera you shoot with. Why? No matter how “good†or “bad†your camera is, you will get used to it (what psychologists call ‘hedonic adaptation’).
Dear friend,
Do you remember the initial passion, enthusiasm, and excitement you had when you started photography? I do, and have been trying really hard to tap back into that mindset; the uninhibited genius of being a beginner photographer, without any preconceived notions or restrictions!
I recently stumbled upon an extremely thought-provoking talk by Jaron Lanier, describing social media as a ‘Behavior Modification Empire‘. This is precisely why it is a good idea for you to #DeleteInstagram — in order for you to not allow Facebook/Instagram/social media to modify your behavior as a photographer, artist, and creative.
Dear friend,
A recent thought I had: in order to empower others, you must (first) be selfish.
In my last article on the Cutoff Technique in Street Photography, I described this process of shooting head-on with a wide angle lens (like a 28mm or 35mm lens), while walking directly in front of people (cutting off their walking movement). I didn’t do a good job explaining the concept, thus I made this new GoPro POV Video for you; of me doing the cutoff technique in real life.
Dear friend,
In a world with so many nay-sayers, negative people and pessimistic people, we should GO OPPOSITE and be the change we wish to see in the world and become YAY SAYERS!
A physics and philosophical principle which can help empower us is this concept of “first principlesâ€â€”a concept leveraged by Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and other visionaries.
Currently super-inspired by Claude Monet, with his use of colors, his compositions, depictions of everyday life, people, nature, and how he was able to show his love of life through his paintings.
Dear friend,
I want to share with you the story of how I became a “location independent” “digital nomad”, why I prefer this lifestyle, and share some practical thoughts with you on how you too can become a digital nomad.
(more…)
Dear friend,
If you want to live a more epic life, my simple suggestion: don’t ask for permission, JUST DO IT! knowing that you might piss off some people or upset other people. To be frank, the worst case scenario is that you might just “mildly annoy†others. And worst worst case scenario, you can always just ask/“beg†for forgiveness (most people will always forgive you, and even if they don’t forgive you, that is OK as well).
Dear friend,
A technique I learned from my good friend Charlie Kirk in street photography: what he calls the ‘cutoff technique’.
Dear friend,
An epiphany I had: NEVER STOP EVOLVING! Life is about evolution, constant experimenting, constantly learning, constant iteration. There is no point where you wish or desire to achieve ‘perfection’. Rather, treat life as always in a state of FLUX; in every moment you are in a ‘state of becoming‘ — becoming a greater version of yourself, and evolving into a higher form of yourself!
If you’re curious more about how to “work the scene” in street photography, download my full-resolution contact sheets for your own self-education and learning with the links below:
Dear friend,
A secret of entrepreneurial and personal thriving in life: seek to first please yourself, and whenever possible, spurn (scorn/reject) pleasing others.
Dear friend,
A thought: The productive photographer (the photographer who shoots and publishes a lot) is the happiest photographer!
Just arrived in Kyoto from Osaka, got a new apartment, and loving simple everyday living:
My RICOH GR II died a few days ago, and I’ve been shooting with the Lumix LX100 for the last few days, and actually found out that I quite like it for street photography!
Dear friend,
A philosophical idea: what if you lived life like a video game? Would life be more fun, exciting, challenging, and interesting?
GRIT AND GRAIN: photos shot in 2015 on Leica MP, Leica 35mm f/2 Summicron ASPH, Yellow B+W Filter, Kodak Tri-X 400 pushed to 1600, some photos shot on Leica SF 24D flash:
Lumix LX100 + GoPro Street Photography POV in Osaka:
Dear friend,
How do you live a fulfilling life? Easy: make the best of today– make today count!
My simple luxuries in life, which aren’t expensive yet bring me a lot of joy. Feel free to experiment with any of these simple luxuries, which might brighten your mood, and add more simple joy to your life:
Dear friend,
A recent thought: let us seek to make photography a stimulus in our lives. Let us become “hyper photographers” — to urge and impel ourselves higher in life.
To promote our new book, 30 DAYS TO JUMPSTART YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY Mobile Edition, here are some practical tips to break through your photographers block:
Shot on Lumix LX100, with GoPro POV on top:
Before I was going to invest in an iPad Pro 10.5 inch, I was curious — how is the camera?
Shot on Lumix LX100, processed with VSCO A6 (1/2 strength) Mobile Preset JPEG preset.
Dear friend,
A mini epiphany I had: anything that encourages you to MOVE and be active is a good thing.
Dear friend,
If Instagram causes your mood to fluctuate, if you feel addicted to it (in a negative way), and you want to invest in yourself and your own platform (not into Facebook), I recommend you to do something crazy: delete instagram.
Dear friend,
A fun thought: what if we didn’t see life as some sort of painful duty, but rather, seeing our lives as a fun opportunity to experiment, play, and have fun?
Why shoot street photography? For whom should you shoot street photography? What are the ethics behind street photography?
Dear friend,
The world is full of pain and suffering — we all know that. But in spite of the pain, sorrow, and despair in the world — can you still see pure light, opportunity, joy, and reasons to rejoice?
The sad thing is that I think a lot of our lives is wasted, trying to “prove†ourselves to others. But this is silly: I think we should instead focus on working hard to prove ourselves, only to ourselves.
Dear friend,
A word of encouragement: realize that you’re already a photographer, and you don’t have anything to “prove†to anybody else, but yourself.
Dear friend,
One question I’ve been curious about the last 10 years of my life: what is the “ideal†lifestyle, and how do I achieve it, in order to be maximally “happy�
Dear friend,
Have you ever seen a scene that you wanted to shoot, but hesitated and didn’t take the photo, and later regretted not shooting the scene?
What is the purpose of photography? To me, the purpose of photography is documenting the joy in our lives, and sharing that joy with others.
Dear friend,
As photographers, we are life-affirmers. Whenever we decide to click the shutter and make a photo, we are saying:
Life is beautiful, this photograph is proof!
This is my theory: the more often we shoot, the happier we are. But, a lot of us don’t or cannot shoot everyday, thus, we end up feeling depressed or demotivated in our photography.
What is the solution to this problem?
As photographers, the less friction we have in our photography workflow, the better.
Why do we lose motivation to make photos, and how can we re-inspire or motivate ourselves when we feel in a creative slump?
30 DAYS TO JUMPSTART YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY is your personal daily photography journal to encourage you to photograph every day, appreciate your life, and see new photography opportunities.
Dear friend,
A philosophical idea I got when reading Kant’s “The Critique of Pure Reason”: Photography can be simplified into two variables: Space and Time.
Dear friend,
To succeed as a photography entrepreneur, you must gain more exposure for your work and photography.
Dear friend,
A thought: to be happier in your photography and life, seek to shoot MORE photos, not “better” photos.
