“It’s not the daily increase but the daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential.” – Bruce Lee

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I’m like a pigeon. I am so easily distracted. If you saw how many Google chrome tabs I have open at once, you’d know what I mean.

When I was walking around in SF in Soma, I saw a sign that said:

Deep Focus

It really stuck to me the next few weeks. What is “deep focus” anyways?

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Don’t be afraid.

Fear is what prevents your inner-artist from expressing itself.

Fear is what prevents you from approaching that stranger you want to talk to/take a photo of.

Fear is what holds you back from quitting your job, and traveling the world.

Fear is what prevents you from approaching that curator to show your work.

Fear is what prevents you from uploading that one photo online; you are scared that others will judge you, you are scared if you aren’t going to get any likes, and you are afraid that you might be revealed as a “fraud.”

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Dear streettogs,

I am excited to share that I am one of the instructors at “Gulf Photo Plus 2016” this year. If you’ve never heard about the event, long story short— it is the most epic, fun, and educational photography-related event I have ever been to.

The event “Gulf Photo Plus” is also the name of the organization (also called Gulf Photo Plus”— yeah it can be confusing)— and it is a yearly event in Dubai (the place that has the ski-lift inside a mall). It brings all the world’s best instructors (both adept photographers and great teachers), and honestly it is just a fun time to hang out with other photographers, grab drinks at the bars in the evening, and feel love and inspiration.

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HENRI

Never Miss the Decisive Moment.

Discover all of the camera straps made by HAPTIC INDUSTRIES:

NEW Henri Wrist Strap Pro (with pad)

• Buy in Haptic Shop >
• Buy Phantom Black on Amazon >
• Buy Crema Brown on Amazon >

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Henri Shoulder Strap

• PHANTOM BLACK on Amazon >
• CREMA BROWN on Amazon >

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Henri Wrist Strap (Crema Brown)

• Buy in Haptic Shop >
• Buy on Amazon >

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Henri Neck Strap (Classic OG)

• Buy in Haptic Shop >

• Buy on Amazon >

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Limited-Edition Henri CHROMA Wrist Straps

HENRI CHROMA Wrist Straps: available for a limited time.

• PHANTOM BLACK >
• CRIMSON RED >
• MIDNIGHT BLUE >

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ERIC KIM

ERIC KIM NECK STRAP (Compatible with RICOH GR II)

• Buy in Haptic Shop >
• Buy on Amazon >

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ERIC KIM Wrist Strap (Compatible with RICOH GR II)

• Buy in Haptic Shop >
• Buy on Amazon >

Bespoke for you

The Story behind the Henri & Eric Kim Straps

This post is written by Cindy aka Haptic:

Serendipitous Encounters: Saigon 2014

In summer of 2014 Eric and I met a group of talented artists in Saigon. We hung out, drank lots of coffee, and talked about creative projects to work on:

Project 1: Our friend Gin and his gang of skilled film producers put together this beautiful film about shooting street photography in Vietnam along with Fujifilm Vietnam:

Project 2: Gin also introduced us to his childhood friend who are models and musicians, Lan and Uyen. In Vietnam, rarely do people just do one thing. There is a spirit of creativity, entrepreneurism, and scrappiness in Saigon. Lan and Uyen also are talented leather makers and artisans.

Over the course of three years we worked together to design, experiment, and make different products.

Handmade Leather Camera Straps

All of our leather products — the HENRI COLLECTION (neck strap, wrist strap, wrist strap pro, shoulder strap, chroma) and ERIC KIM COLLECTION (wrist strap, neck strap) are 100% leather and handmade and crafted with care from start to finish. Lan and Uyen source the leather, handmake the straps during the weekdays between music gigs, and ship them to California from Saigon.

Rather than mass produced, these are handmade in small, limited-quantity batches in order to preserve a level of excellent craftsmanship and quality. Each strap is unique.

Once they get to California, Eric and I, (and now with the help of our loving and supportive family–sorry Mom for taking over the dining room table…) work to quality check, finish, and package each strap.

I designed the packaging of each product (I love boxes). The labeling is hand-stamped!

Why buy from HAPTIC aka Cindy & Eric?

Unlike huge, anonymous factories, this is the entire operation: Eric, me, my family, Lan, and Uyen. We are transparent about the labor practices behind the straps because we are proud and love each product we make.

We live in Vietnam currently and are very cognizant of global inequality, especially in labor practices. This is why we price our products the way we do. We want to give a fair and respectful wage to everyone involved. We do not run a wholesale factory, but support honest and beautiful work.

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you

We know there are so many other straps and camera accessories to choose from, so we thank you for choosing to support us!

Here are our friends from all around the world, proudly displaying their HAPTIC products:

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HAPTIC Moving Forward

Moving forward, we are focusing on HAPTICPRESS — to publish more art, books, and guides to inspire and empower our artists and photographers. We wish to build a platform of mutual empowerment, and to also hopefully feature your work one day.

We are also building up the ERIC KIM FORUM — your new home to improve, grow, and learn as a photographer and artist.

We thank you so much for building this positive community of sharing, growth, and openness. Let’s continue to ride this creative wave together.

Always,
Cindy & Eric
Saigon, 2017

Raise your hand if you don’t have enough time to make photos.

[Raises hand]

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Dear friend,

I want to tell you about my camping trip in Yosemite during the thanksgiving break.

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This is an interview between me and Neil Ta, my good friend (and manager). He’s recently taken his street photography to the next level by shooting exclusively with a Hasselblad Xpan (panoramic film camera), and has taken a few trips to Cuba. See his on-going edit of Cuba, and learn more about him and how he shoots:

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Read this as a Google Doc

I was talking with one of my friends and students David— and he has an excellent camera. He shot with an Olympus OM-D EM-5 Mark II with a Lumix 15mm lens (30mm full-frame equivalent). I was actually curious about the camera (as Josh White, one of my best friends in Korea) has one— and has been taking phenomenal shots with it.

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“Happiness: take away from your desires, not to add to your riches.” – Epicurus

Today is American Thanksgiving. It is a time of the year to appreciate what you have— to spend time with friends, family, and eat lots of (dry) turkey. I think about Thanksgiving as a chance to really “give thanks” — here is what I am grateful for in my life:

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Dear friend,

I am writing this as a practical instructional manual in terms of how to start your own photography blog. Note that none of this is “truth” or “rules” — these are simply guidelines that I wish I knew when I started a photography blog. I will share some tips, pieces of advice, and lessons which can help you practically when starting a photography blog.

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Dear friend,

I am addicted to G.A.S. (Gear Acquisition Syndrome). I always want to buy new shit— the newest iPad (Epic), cars (Mustang), phone (iPhone 6s or Nexus 6P), clothes (hipster $200+ raw denim), coffee makers ($500+), and tons of other stuff in my Amazon gift list. Here are some practical tips that have helped me (partially) combat G.A.S.:

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I love to buy shit. It makes me feel great. I feel cooler, handsomer, sexier, more powerful, and more important. I always feel that if I just bought “X” I would become happier. For example, if I bought a Leica, I would feel more “creative”, “inspired”, and become a better photographer. Not only that, but I would be more “respected” if I had a Leica.

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Ugh, I just woke up and haven’t had my espresso yet (fortunately it is being made right now).

Anyways— I wanted to share an idea that I had when I was rolling out of the couch today: practice random acts of kindness.

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This weekend I’m teaching a “how to find your unique voice” street photography workshop in Downtown LA. One of the things I love most about teaching a workshop is that it gives me the opportunity to come up with new posts to share with you.

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Dear friend, life is brutally short; live a life of leisure.

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I own a lot of shit. I don’t think it is bad to have a lot of material possessions. However I find for me, more stuff, more problems.

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Hey Neil,

Happy birthday man. I’m not 100% sure how old you are now, but all I know is that you’re about a decade my senior. I wanted to write this letter to wish you a happy birthday, and share some personal thoughts of how grateful I am to have you in my life.

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Dear friend,

I want to share some ideas with you– specifically about “personal” street photography. I’m going to ramble a bit before that, so please be patient with me.

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Dear friend,

I wanted to share some ideas with you on my mind; one of them being on happiness.

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I’m in a plane to LA from Oakland (Southwest), and wanted to use this hour or so to write and share about my experiences shooting 100 rolls of Kodak Tri-X Film pushed to 1600 this summer.

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See the most recent version of this book (Version III): “100 Lessons From the Masters of Street Photography.”

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Learn from the masters of street photography, with 82 practical lessons and assignments that will push you outside of your comfort zone, and take your work to the next level.

ePub Download

• Direct Download
• Dropbox
• Google Drive

PDF Download

• Direct Download

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I’ve been in the “social media” game for as long as I can remember. Let me tell you a story:

I just turned 21 years old, and I got 100+ “happy birthday” messages on Facebook. No phone calls. Two text messages (one from Cindy and one from my mom). No presents. No hugs in real life. I felt sad, shallow, and neglected.

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Dear friend,

I wanted to write you a letter on the concept of “killing the masters of photography”. It is kind of a Buddhist philosophy, as well as a philosophy I gained from Seneca, my stoic philosophy hero and mentor.

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Dear Eric,

I want to write this letter for you, as a reminder of sorts to meditate upon some of the thoughts running around in your head.

Remember when you used to work in IT at UCLA? How many people complained that their computer didn’t work, and a simple rebooting of their computers fixed the problem?

I think the same thing applies to your own life’s problems: simply reboot. Don’t let the demons of your past drag you down. Reboot, and start afresh.

I think one of the things you did for yourself which was refreshing was rebooting your Flickr. I know how attached you were to your images, and how great you thought you were. You were attached to your older black and white photos, and while they were pretty, as your friend Josh told you, they weren’t that memorable (besides a few photos, like the dark faced man in Tokyo, the jazz hands lady, and your grandfather series). So what you ended up doing was listening to Josh, re uploading your “Grandfather” series to your portfolio, and you removed your older black and white “Grit and grain” series of your best black and white photos. That was difficult, but damn refreshing.

So anyways, you marked all of your photos on Flickr to private, except your new color street portraits shot on a digital Ricoh GR. Josh told you that he felt these images felt more honest, and you agreed. Not only that, but wasn’t it refreshing to simply “reboot” your entire Flickr and start again from scratch?

A few months ago, your blog went offline. Suddenly, all 1,000+ of your posts over the last few years were gone. Disappeared.

At first you freaked out. You crapped your pants. You thought you got hacked, and jumped to all these conclusions.

Yet after the first hour of panic, you actually felt an intense wave of calm. Everything you said before was now dead. You actually looked forward to restarting from scratch, just like a beginner. And honestly at the end of the day, the only thing you’re really proud of include your recent ebooks made into PDFs. If suddenly your entire blog disappeared again, I think you would have no regrets. Just keep writing, putting together those PDFs, and don’t expect to leave some sort of legacy. Just do your work, day by day, and be diligent. Don’t give up, keep drinking coffee, and ultimately write for yourself and a few good friends, without seeking others approval.

Another interesting thing that you tried out is dropping “street photography” from your title. After all, your ultimate passion (at least for now) is street photography. Why would you change your title from “Eric Kim Street Photography Blog” to simply “Eric Kim Photography Blog?” Well, nowadays you’re starting to feel a bit trapped by being pigeonholed into the genre of “street photography”, because you don’t only shoot street photography. You shoot different types of photography. You’re exploring a lot more “personal documentary photography” (similar to Anders Petersen) in which you’re photographing your loved ones (like Cindy). Josh White also helped inspire you in this direction.

Not only that, but you don’t want the blog to just appeal to street photographers, but to all photographers. I think what you want to do is to make it more general, because ultimately all of us photographers deal with the same issues in life: issues with not having enough money and free time, issues trying to find our own voices, and the stress and anxiety of not getting enough “likes” or comments on social media. So why restrict yourself to just a small audience of street photographers. You were built and put on this earth to serve all of mankind. So don’t restrict yourself. Perhaps even down the line you can rename the blog to just “Eric Kim Blog”, where you don’t even have to just talk about photography either, because your interests also lie in philosophy, happiness, psychology, history, and other topics. Don’t restrict yourself. Speak your mind, be open and free, and know that most people won’t appreciate or care what you say or do or write. But once again, you’re ultimately writing to solve your internal fucked up mind, to solve your inner stresses, to medicate your own ailments. If anyone gains benefit from it, be happy. If not, be happy that you’re helping yourself at the end of the day.

So how else can you reboot your life? Reboot your family history; don’t be held back by the demons of your past with all the drama with your mom and your dad. Reboot your photography, don’t feel you only need to shoot “street photography”, just shoot whatever makes you happy. Reboot your social life; only spend time with the select few friends who truly bring joy to your life. Reboot your philosophies on a daily basis; don’t feel tied to these arbitrary “rules” you set yourself. Know that when you find a rule you set yourself in life no longer works, change it. Don’t be a fool and be stubborn. Ditching film (for now) and shooting digital has made you feel like a beginner again, more free, and more fun. So stick with it, don’t feel like you need to stick with film just for the sake of it.

Anyways, you have an amazing day to look forward to, to teach your Seattle street photography class. Help the students build their confidence, show them love, compassion, and your heart. Ultimately focus less on technique, and more on treating them like human beings. Remember at the end of the day, they’re not going to remember what you taught them, but that you loved them.

Oh yeah, and you’re allowed to have as many coffees today as you want (you deserve it). Hipster espressos galore, woot!

Love always,
Eric

9:35am, Thursday, 9/17/2015 @ Walters house after a nice espresso he made for you, always be grateful of his friendship and those who have helped you along the way.

Dear friend,

I wanted to write you this letter, sharing with you some of my personal thoughts that here is no one “right” or “wrong” way to shoot “street photography.”

I think when most people think about how you “should” shoot street photography, they look at the life and work of Henri Cartier-Bresson, and simply assume that everyone else needs to shoot the same way that he did.

But remember, “not every single shoe fits every single foot.” What I think, my friend, our goal is… is to discover what approach in street photography works for us (not for others).

There is the wise Greek saying, “Know thyself”. But many of us spend our entire lives seeking to know who we are. Therefore in order to discover who we are, we look into the lives of others. We look at those wiser than us, and try to emulate them.

But the problem is this: you a unique human being different from everyone else. Simply following and copying others isn’t going to help you find the ultimate wisdom and truth that we are all searching for.

For example, one of the things that I think a lot about is my health. I’ve read hundreds of health books, from paleo, to low carb, to high carb, to low meat, to high meat, to ketogenic diets, to the “warrior” diet. The problem? These “one size fits all” diets rarely apply to the individual.

For example, as an Asian-American there are several things I am very intolerant of in my diet: these include dairy (milk, cheese, whey) as well as alcohol (I get “Asian glow” and turn red when I drink, because my body cannot synthesize alcohol very well). Furthermore, I have recently discovered that I’m allergic to certain nuts (cashews, pistachios), allergic to shellfish (shrimp, oysters, lobster), and also (slightly) intolerant to avocados, coconut, and some fruits (plums are a new addition).

The problem of these diet books and programs is that they assume that the majority of their readers are Caucasian, and therefore can handle dairy, alcohol, and other foods. But they rarely account for these Asian intolerances.

So it has taken me a long ass time, but I’m starting to realize that for the secret to my personal health, it is all about subtraction. So some things I’ve subtracted from my diet, which has made me feel a hell of a lot better:

• Gluten (bread, pasta, etc)
• Simple carbs (anything white, like white rice, white bread, white pasta)
• Shellfish
• Most fruits (too sweet)
• Dairy
• Legumes (beans, peanut, etc)

By simply eliminating these things from my diet, I’ve been able to have more focus, less lethargy, and more clarity of thought.

But once again, this is just works well for me, as an Asian American with lots of allergies. What diet works well for you is dependent (much on) your background, upbringing, and physical condition.

What are you intolerant of in photography?

As there is no one “right” diet in health, there is also no one “right” way to approach photography, street photography, or even life. You need to find the shoe that fits you.

For example, a lot of street photographers I know prefer to ask for permission. Why is this a problem?

A lot of street photography “purists” believe that you cannot (and even worse, should not) ask for permission before taking a photo of a stranger. That’s totally fine, but they should keep that opinion to themselves, instead of trying to cram it down the throats of others.

Similarly, some people like processing their photos in HDR and doing selective color and whatever. Personally, I’m not a big fan. But if that makes them happy, why not let them do that?

Why get upset and your panties tied up in a knot on how others shoot or approach street photography? Let them be, let them do what makes them happy, and leave them alone. In life, we can only control of how we do things, not how others do things on their own.

This doesn’t apply to everybody else

I’ve read so many interviews, and written a lot of the “Learn From the Masters” series. My biggest takeaway point? A lot of these “rules” are simply guidelines, and there is always an exception to the norm.

For example, I believe it’s important to “work the scene” and take a lot of photos of a street scene. But William Eggleston did the opposite: he would only shoot 1 photo of a scene, no more or no less. He still made brilliant shots.

Henri Cartier-Bresson sticked with one camera, one lens for his entire life and black and white film (Leica and 50mm). That worked well for him. But Josef Koudelka has shot with several cameras over his 50+ photographic career, including an SLR and 25mm lens, a Leica and 35/50mm lens, a panoramic camera, and apparently now he’s shooting landscapes on a Leica S2 medium format digital camera. He is still able to make brilliant images with lots of different cameras.

I used to think that when you’re working on street photography projects, you needed to go out with a single mission in mind, and not deviate from it. But other photographers like Elliott Erwitt simply go out, take photos of random stuff that interests them, and then compile books after 30 years of shooting.

I used to think that you should never mix black and white in a set of images, or in a photobook. Recently I’ve seen lots of great examples that prove otherwise (Todd Hido is a great inspiration).

Like I said in a prior letter to you, we need to learn how to kill our ego, kill our beliefs, and kill our theories which keep us trapped in, and narrow minded. We need to learn how to embrace “child’s mind”, in which the whole world is open to possibilities.

Everyday you are reborn

One thing I try to do:

Whenever I wake up in the morning, I imagine I’m a baby, or a child again. How would I live this day of my life, if I had no residue of my past holding me back? Meaning, I want to live everyday like if it were a new day. I don’t want to be held back by my prejudices, rigid views of the world, or any of the things that I hold onto my ego.

For me, I have a big ass ego (and a pretty big dome head). I have a hard time killing my beliefs, and letting them go. I think that everyone should listen to me, that I know the ultimate “truth”, and that I need to “educate” others about the “true way”.

But that is bullshit. I don’t know shit. I’m still trying to remove the black dust in front of my eyes. The window of my soul is still covered in dirt and soot. I still have so many demons crawling around my soul, who am I to simply tell others what to do, when I don’t have any of my personal problems fixed yet?

The quote I try to always think about is from Socrates: that the only thing that I’m certain of is that I know nothing.

So once again, I don’t know shit. But I do know a few things which have helped me along the way, which is why I am sharing this letter with you, friend. We’re both friends lying in the same hospital together, afflicted with similar illnesses. I feel that I have learned a few remedies that have helped me, and am simply sharing it with you. But once again, these remedies have helped me, but not necessarily might help you. So all my suggestions in my letters, try them out friend, but if they don’t work for you, throw them away.

One of the reasons I wrote this letter is because for so long, others have told me how I “should” shoot street photography, rather asking me how I wanted to shoot street photography. They never asked me what brought me the most happiness in street photography (which is talking with strangers, and taking their portraits). So after many years of struggling, I’ve found out one of my true callings in photography: “street portraits.” It perfectly suits my personality (I’m very comfortable talking with strangers, I’m curious to learn about their lives, and I’m drawn to faces and interesting characters). At the moment my biggest inspiration is Richard Avedon. But once again, this might change as I continue to evolve and grow as a human being as a photographer. But it’s so funny that it’s taken me this long to discover what approach in street photography makes me happy.

And I think that’s what “style” ultimately is in photography. It isn’t how your photos look, or the projects you work on. Your “style” in photography is just an extension of your voice as a human being. If you find yourself shy, awkward, and don’t like to interact with strangers– utilize that. Don’t talk with strangers, shoot candids, and feel no guilt about it.

If you hate human beings, and prefer landscapes — shoot urban landscapes, flowers, sunsets, whatever makes you happy. Who gives a fuck if the Internet or the art world doesn’t “respect” you as a serious photographer? Why do you care if one day everyone is bowing before your very feet, but you yourself aren’t happy with yourself and your photography?

I’ve had so many instances in which I’ve shot photos that are really popular on the Internet, but I don’t personally like. On the other hand, I’ve shot so many photos that nobody likes, but I myself love.

Who should you listen to at the end of the day? That’s right, your own heart.

Conclusion

Follow your own heart, follow your own voice, find out what style or approach in photography makes your “heart sing”. Fuck the opinions of others, and don’t give a shit if you get a lot of likes on social media or not.

As an experiment, try to disconnect, and to keep your work offline. Shoot first to please yourself, then when you feel ready, share it with others. Then if others like it, that’s fine. If they hate it, that’s fine too.

Now go forth my friend, shoot like a child, discovering photography for the first time. Have fun, smile, and live your photographic life to the fullest.

Love always,
Eric

Written at my beautiful home in Berkeley, overlooking my balcony, enjoying a nice cool breeze, the chatter of Cindy and her parents voices, the sound of birds, the nice greenery of the trees, all while typing on the iPad (with ia writer application). Had a nice espresso mixed with frothed coconut milk (I know it hurts my stomach, but at least I tried it once).

Other random thoughts

I know you probably don’t care about these random thoughts friend, but just wanted to update you on some of my thoughts.

First of all, I’m trying to continue this “subtract one thing at day” from my life. I’ve been donating tons of clothes, tons of books, and essentially I want to pare myself down to what I truly need in life, not what I want.

Some other things I plan on subtracting:

• Kindle (I read lots of books on it, but prefer the paper books in my house).
• Smartphone (I’m honestly a slave to it. I am trying to figure out how I can manage to do everything on my iPad instead).
• Flash (I’m trying to not shoot with a flash with my Leica for a while, as it adds unnecessary weight and bulk to my camera, and I’m also dependent on batteries).
• Not pushing film (I usually push my film to 1600, but it makes the processing more expensive. I might try to just shoot it at 400, and learn to be more creative by shooting with slower shutter speeds indoors or in the shade. I realized that shooting with a low ISO can be a good “creative constraint”.
• Going keyboard less (I usually type these letters on my iPad and keyboard. But the keyboard is pretty big and bulky, so I’m experimenting typing without the keyboard, like I’m doing now. I prefer the tactile feedback of a keyboard, but at the end of the day, a keyboard is superfluous and just a luxury.
• Variety in diet (yeah I know variety in diet is the secret to longevity and health. But I’m trying to remove more irritants from my diet, and going to continue to strip down to the essentials, and see how things turn out).
• Not writing down notes (I always write down notes in my books, and on notebooks when reading books. The problem? It slows me down, I am forced to sit down, which hurts my back. I’m going to try to experiment to read paper books without writing notes, and see if I’m going to be able to retain the information better in my memory).
• Not forcing anything (trying to embrace a more “Wu Wei”, go with the flow style of living. Lot less stress, which is more happiness).

Anyways friend, thanks for listening to my random thoughts. My smartphone is off for today, I plan to enjoy a nice trip to the Golden Gate Bridge with Cindy, her mom, and her dad, and to live like today was my last! Farewell friend, and have a beautiful day :)

Btw, if you have nothing to do today, don’t forget to read a free copy of the book: “The Street Portrait Manual“.

Dear friend,

I want to share with you something that has been on my mind for a while: whether a photographer should take a photograph everyday, or only when he/she feels like it.

I know I often espouse the benefits of always having your camera with you and taking photos everyday. But what’s the point of forcing yourself to take photos if you don’t feel like it?

Although there are a lot of great photographers who make it a habit to shoot everyday, I have realized there are also many great photographers who don’t shoot everyday, nor do they carry a camera with them everywhere they go.

For example, Bruce Gilden doesn’t bring his camera with him wherever he goes. Rather, he only has it with him when he’s seriously working on his projects, and when he’s shooting he gives his 100% attention to shooting.

William Klein is another example: he hasn’t actually spent that much time in his life taking photos in the stress. For his seminal book: “Life is Good & Good for You in New York“, he only shot it for two weeks, but shot like a madman. His other books on Tokyo and Rome were also shot in similarly short time spans.

So bringing us back to the question: is it advantageous to shoot everyday, or only when you feel like it?

For me, I rarely have the inspiration to pick up the camera. This makes me feel unmotivated, and I become jaded and uninterested in life.

But the funny thing is when I pick up a camera, I suddenly start seeing interesting things. The camera is a tool that helps me see the world more clearly.

But if you genuinely don’t feel like shooting, don’t force yourself to shoot. You have enough stress in your life from your family, work, and other obligations. Why add to that stress if you’re not enjoying your photography?

Also if you don’t feel like bringing your camera with you everywhere you go, that’s fine too. Sometimes it is more important to enjoy an experience (watching fireworks, enjoying a nice dinner) rather than frantically trying to document everything. There is even a psychological study out there that shows if you take a photo of something, you’re actually less likely to remember it.

Ultimately follow your gut.

If you’re the type of photographer where you feel anxious if you don’t shoot everyday, always have your camera with you, and force yourself to be creative and see the world as interesting. Then your efforts will pay off.

However if you’re the type of photographer in which photography only brings you joy when you don’t force yourself, don’t feel like you need to shoot all the time. Only take photos when you feel inspired.

The secret to happiness in your photography? Remember the saying: “Know thyself.” Discover your style in photography by following what makes you feel energized, excited, and what helps you flourish.

My friend Josh White made a great point to me about cameras in photography: why is it that we as photographers always talk about the camera we want (that will apparently make us more “creative”) rather than using the cameras we already own to create art?

I’m currently re-reading “Letters From A Stoic” by Seneca in which he tells a story of a sculptor who was able to make a beautiful statue regardless of the material; marble, stone, wood, or gold.

I think this is a beautiful analogy for our photography. I think we can make beautiful art regardless of the tools or instruments we have. Rather than goading for what we don’t have, let us try to make the best with what we have.

I know a lot of photographers who wish that they had expensive digital Leicas or some other camera. But these photographers are better off using the cameras they already own and going off and making images, rather than wasting valuable time, attention, and energy into wanting what they can’t have.

The best example I think in street photography is the emergence of “mobile street photography”, in which photographers from all around the world are only using smartphones to make beautiful images.

But some people say: “Oh, but a smartphone isn’t a ‘real’ camera and that it has limitations. It has shitty low iso capability, you can’t print it big, and it isn’t as responsive as a ‘real” camera.”

But these limitations can actually help our creativity. They call it “creative constraints.” If your smartphone has poor image quality, then it forces you to only shoot in good light. If your smartphone has a slow autofocus, you can focus on just shooting people who aren’t moving.

Let me take this analogy further; let’s say your camera has a long minimum focusing distance (a Leica can only focus up to 70 centimeters). Sure it would be nice if it could focus closer, but that constraint forces you to be more creative with your compositions.

The prime example of creative constraints in street photography are prime lenses (sorry for the bad pun). By limiting your field of view, you are forced to capture reality into your limited frame in an interesting and novel way.

Also if you think about it, the art of photography itself is about constraining reality into a single frame. What you keep out of the frame is more important than what you decide to leave in the frame.

I recently got my laptop stolen in Paris, and I first was upset. But it is probably the best thing that happened to me, as now I’m restrained to doing most of my writing on my smartphone (I’m typing this on my smartphone as we speak). I’ve found the restriction of not having a laptop has helped me be more creative to use my smartphone in novel ways.

Let’s take this idea further: restricting yourself to either color or black and white is another great “creative constraint”. By only shooting in color, it forces you to try to make images that have good color combinations. By focusing only in black and white, it forces you not to be distracted by colors.

Another great creative restraint is by restraining the area in which you shoot. Very rarely are world travelers the best photographers. All of their photos end up being touristy “National Geographic” shots of landmarks in Asia and other “exotic” countries. A photographer who is doing a long term documentary project in his or her hometown generally ends up making more interesting photos, as they are forced to create more interesting images out of “boring” subject matter.

Creative constraints will set you free in your photography and life.

See what other constraints you can create for yourself, like only shooting one type of subject matter, or focusing only on one project. Strip away the superfluous and extraneous, and you will create beautiful art.