ERIC KIM

Some ideas on walking more and shooting more:

What makes a beautiful photo? How do we better increase our chances of making a beautiful photo? What type of camera do we need, and so forth?

To become more successful in life, give more and receive (take less).

Life is too short for ugly photos.

A thought when listening to some hip hop music and looking through my photos:

I strive to make a visual soundtrack.

My photos are a reflection of me. My photos are imbued with my soul.

Surreal photos are more interesting, and more artistic.

The beauty of monochrome, blur, grit, and surreal/abstract photography — that it looks different from reality?

To motivate others literally means to make them move.

What kind of photos do I like to look at? I only like to look at photos which encourage me to move and go out and shoot my own photos!

Great photographers:

• Richard Avedon
• Henri Cartier-Bresson
• Josef Koudelka
• Bruce Davidson
• Jason Eskenazi

Strive to study more photographers who motivate you.

You’re a photographer-artist. Never let anyone talk down on you.

Practical ideas on how to make better photos:

A thought on entrepreneurship and life:

Don’t be led by trying to make money. Instead, work on challenging, interesting, and difficult problems which interest you and which are fun for you!

Practical thoughts on why iPhone is the best camera:

Study compositions from other great photographers you admire, break them down, and aspire to take your own compositions to the next level!

Some inspiration from Garry Winogrand:

You ever have someone tell you:

“Put away the camera, just enjoy this moment!”

But what if to photograph something WAS to experience it deeper, richer, fuller, with more gratitude and joy?

A pre-requisite in life:

Like yourself.

If you don’t like yourself, how do you expect others to like you?

Why do you do photography? Why do you make images? Why do you engage with the visual world? What do you want your viewers to get from your images?

This is the start of visual philosophy/photography philosophy (I call it ‘photolosophy‘).

What makes great artistic photos? Visual poetry.

Composition is endlessly fascinating, has a trillion permutations, and has no right or wrong.

One of my favorite photo books — part of our ongoing HAPTIC PHOTO BOOK CLUB (Summer):

Hey streettogs, super pumped to share that me and Cindy will start a summer book club around photography books.

Check the HAPTIC shop for special summer discounts, as well as the blog for more articles and insights about photo books and publishing! To celebrate our love of books and printing, all print and mobile books in the HAPTIC shop will have new flash sales every week throughout the summer while supplies last.

The primary question of visual philosophy:

What is the worth of an image. And why are visual art works important?

The bitter in life is better than the sweet.

Bitter coffee as superior to sweet coffee.

Bitter experiences toughen you.

Of course, we should still strive towards the “bitter-sweet”— we need BOTH the bitter and the sweet in life in order to thrive, discover more gratitude in life, and have more power.

There are many types of photography out there. And honestly, there isn’t a “superior” genre out there.

Better yet — perhaps we shouldn’t separate photography into different types? However at the same time, studying different photography genres is a good way to discover NEW forms or types of photography you might not yet know you’re interested in.

These are the photography quotes I believe to be the most true, based on my personal life experiences: