The more photos you produce and make, the happier you will become:

Why productive photography?

To be a productive photographer simply means that you produce many photos. In modern day life, when we think about productivity, we tend to just think of people who are really good at sending emails and being responsive. This is not real productivity. Real productivity is actually creating and producing things, not to simply respond and be responsive to others.

Muscle and Photography

I have an interesting theory; I believe there is actually a deep link between muscle and photography. That, the more I build muscle, the more muscular I become, and the stronger I become, I also become a happier and more productive photographer.

Delete Instagram

The best way to become more motivated in your photography is to delete your Instagram. Also, just upload all your photos to your own website blog.

No metrics

Metrics are bad. Metrics mediocritizes. That means, the more you add metrics to something, the more mediocre you become.

Why do we feel this pressure to always add metrics to everything? My theory is because the modern-day man has no self-esteem, and feels that in order to justify himself, or feel mighty and strong, he must tie his self-esteem and his self ego to a number, or metrics.

However, how is this bad? Numbers are a slave mentality.

There is no such thing as progress

“Progress” is a modern notion, and also a bad notion.

When you think about “progress“, typically it is tied to numbers. That when you see the number go up, it is a good thing. And when you see the numbers go down, it is a bad thing.

However, numbers are a funny thing because sometimes when a number goes up it is good, and sometimes when the number goes down it is good. And sometimes when the number goes up it is bad, and sometimes when the number goes down it is bad. It is highly context dependent.

For example, increasing your fat and adipose tissue and seeing the number go up is bad. To see your body fat percentage, and your adipose fat tissue going down is a good thing.

The fewer followers, the better.

The basic thought we have as photographers is that the more likes, comments, and the more followers we get, the better. But should this really be the goal? Maybe not. For example, assuming that we are the new Spartans, maybe it is better to see the numbers go down. Rather than having 1 million Persian slaves, better to have the elite spartan 300.

Also a funny thing, when you see certain numbers go up, for example, enrollment numbers at a University of California university, it is typically seen as a bad thing. Better to be a Harvard or a Brown University, in which, the enrollment is actually very very low. To become more prestigious is actually to have fewer people.

Or, let us consider a party. If you’re having a rich and famous Hollywood party, what is better, to have a single Kim Kardashian attend your party, or 1 million nobodies?

Or with fashion, is it better to on 1000 articles of H&M clothing, or a handful of Balenciaga clothes?

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See the world from a child’s eyes

What is the best way to see and experience the world? The purity of a child’s eyes. Child’s mind, child’s eyes.

Spend more time with kids.

For example, spending more time with my niece and nephew Benjamin and Amelia. Amelia is now seven years old, and she still has fresh eyes. Even more pure is Benjamin, who is only four years old.

Even something I have discovered is that once kids enter school, they lose some purity of their mind. They fall more victim to trying to fit in, and their own true individual preferences become overshadowed by peer pressure, and trying to fit in.

I really think that the traditional K-12 education, even the modern-day university system is bad for individuality and creativity. Even for myself, the last decade, I’ve been trying my best to unlearn, and desocialize myself from past biases.

Kill our masters

I believe a really big advance for our own creativity is to kill our past masters in photography. This means, disregard what our masters have said in the past, and we must start afresh. Start anew.

What does master even mean? Master means maestro, teacher. At a certain point, we must become the teacher, we must become the master.

Create your own new photographic mode of existence

How to become your own master in photography:

Realize and recognize that now, you are your own independent thinker, photographer, and you become the teacher.

How can you teach photography? Simple — on your own blog, your own email newsletter, your own YouTube channel, your own podcast, etc.

For example if we think about the Matrix, Morpheus was initially the teacher of Neo. But there’s a certain point in which Neo becomes the new master.

Carte blanche it all.

Carte blanche means blank slate. A fresh new piece of paper. A new fresh beginning, wiping the slate clean.

Disregard all of the past bias in photography, and start new.

ERIC

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Have a fresh new start in your photographic life

Become a new photographer:

1. Conquer your fears in Boston March 25
2. Conquer innovation in Berkeley April 15
3. Empty your mind in HADONG SOUTH KOREA June 19-23rd

New Tools

HAPTIC TOOLS to conquer it all:

1. ERIC KIM NECK STRAP MARK II
2. ERIC KIM WRIST STRAP MARK II
3. MUSE BY KIM

HAPTIC PHOTO SUPPLY >

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Random News, things on my mind

1. The Decisive Decade — National Defense Authorization — apparently President Biden just signed a new defense treaty, which is nearly $1 trillion. My practical thought is really at this point, money is just a fiction. Where did this $800 billion come from? Some nerd at a computer pressing a button. My long-term thought is this will continue to devalue the US dollar, and fiat currency in general. Maybe this is actually a good sign for crypto and Bitcoin. Money seems fake. I say now is a good time to start buying and hoarding more Bitcoin.
2. How to think infinite
3. Just hit the 705 pound squat lift atlas hold — feeling god mode.
4. Infinite potential — the beauty of America and free enterprise is that technically, and entrepreneurially thinking, we have no limits.

Moar EK BLOG

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Get real feedback on your photos

Upload them to arsbeta.com

Think deeper

Have a Chat with WHY APP?

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Photo Assignments

1. On your standalone digital camera, whether it be a Ricoh, a Leica, Fuji, etc., shoot everything that you eat and drink. I think this is a good strategy if you want to stop eating sugar, and other things that make you fat.
2. Buy a GoPro, or the new GoPro mini, and just shoot it Ultra Wide mode, and record yourself lifting at the gym. Funny enough, I find that watching videos of myself working out is more motivating than watching other videos of other people working out.
3. Stop using Lightroom. Just switch to Apple photos, and I also recommend getting an iPad Pro, the 11 inch, and using it to review all your photos. Also just shoot JPEG, the best way.

More ideas

1. Masters
2. Street Hunt
3. Modern Photographer

HAPTIC PRESS

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“Better to make a bad photo that no photo.”

EK

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EK PHOTO TURBO NEWSLETTER MOTIVATION

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Biden just pumped $800 billion dollars, around 1 trillion dollars into the Defense.gov US Military.

Funny enough, this is a bad sign for fiat currency. Why? The more that the US government prints fake money to pump up the US military, assigned that somewhere, this system makes no sense.

In order to build a demigod body, some simple thoughts and strategies:

1. First of all, intermittent fasting. This means no breakfast no lunch, only one massive dinner, one insanely massive and epic meal a day. And I also encourage a 100% carnivore diet, only exceptions include eating dark leafy greens, kale collard greens, or kimchi with no sugar added.
2. For food, beef neckbones is really good, also lots of collagen, beef ribs, and also beef organ meats. Beef liver, beef hard, beef small intestines.
3. At the gym, I recommend working out at least once a day. Ideally twice a day. This is the new modern luxury to be able to work out twice a day. Lately I’ve been working out twice a day, lifting weights at the gym, and also doing yoga with Cindy at CorePower. I really like the yoga sculpt class, which is essentially a hybrid class in between weightlifting and yoga. Or the C2 class, which is just a normal yoga class. The reason why I like both weightlifting and yoga is that I have discovered superficially the better I get at yoga, flexibility, poses etc., the stronger I become at the gym. Currently speaking, this is the strongest I’ve ever been in my life. My spine is also 1000 times stronger, I feel like my spine is made out of adamantine.

Why demigod bod?

There are certain things which are in our control, and certain things which are not in our control. One thing which is not in our control is how rich or famous we will become. However, one thing we do have the power of is how to craft and build our bodies.

The body is democratic. All human beings, assuming that you have a normal bodily physiology, is more or less the same. I don’t believe in “genetics“, this is essentially the new racism 2.0.

I truly believe that any human being, regardless of male or female can build a demigod body. Women should strive to become demigoddesses, and men should strive to become demigods.

For men — Achilles is the goal. Or Hercules.

For women — Athena, or Pallas Athene.

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No supplements

No protein powder, no creatine, no pre-workout powder, no steroids, no testosterone, no synthol, etc.

All you need is beef. Don’t eat chicken. Chicken is not meat, and not beef.

Don’t eat fruits or vegetables. Fruit is just candy with a good conscience, and vegetables are just pretentious starch. I have never witnessed a vegan or vegetarian who looked like a demigod.

Insanely epic hypelifting

Rack pull, atlas lift, one rep max style:

MUSCLE BY KIM:

1. 150 POUND DUMBBELL DEADLIFT // MUSCLE HYPELIFTING BY KIM
   The Art of Hypelifting
2. How Did ERIC KIM Get So Strong?
3. ERIC KIM DEADLIFT PR (250KG, 551 POUNDS)
4. ERIC KIM 255 KG (562 POUNDS) DEADLIFT ATTEMPT
5. VLOG: WHAT I LEARNED AFTER DEADLIFTING 3.3X MY BODY WEIGHT (540 POUNDS)
6. ERIC KIM 4 PLATE SQUAT
7. MUSCLES ARE THE ULTIMATE WEALTH
8. ERIC KIM GYM GOPRO POV
9. *BEYOND* MAINTENANCE.
10. HOW TO GET BIGGER ARMS
11. THE BEAST KETTLEBELL WORKOUT (48 KG, 105 POUNDS)
12. NOT WHO IS RICHER OR MORE SUCCESSFUL, BUT WHO CAN DEADLIFT MORE?
13. KETTLEBELL HOME WORKOUT (48 KILOGRAM, 105 POUND): 1 HANDED CLEAN AND SQUAT
14. The Philosophy of Fitness
15. Menacing Body
16. Hyper Nourishment
17. One Man, One Kettlebell
18. STRENGTH OVER SIZE
    Minimum Viable Workout (MVM)
19. Movement is Art: ERIC KIM WARMUP
20. ENJOY THE MOVEMENT.
21. Strengthening or Weakening?
22. Muscular Motivation
23. Limit Your Reps, Maximize Your Power Output
24. Love of the Body
25. The mind is overrated; the body is king.
26. BENCH PRESS GYM
27. How to Squat
28. SUMO DEADLIFT GYM
29. ADRENALINE.

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Why build your body?

Your own body as a work of art!

In Praise of Building Your Body

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My Muscle Philosophy:

Treat your body as sculpture.

This is not my body

The first thing:

I don’t see my body as belonging to me. I look at my body like it belongs to someone else.

When I look at the Lamborghini of someone else, I admire it. When I see the muscles and physiques of anyone else, I admire it. Then I had the epiphany:

Why not transform my own body into a Lambo, and admire my own body instead?

The logic

The great logic:

1. It is far cheaper to get buff than to buy a Lambo.
2. The human body is the apex beauty. This means your personal goal in life should be to beautify your own personal body to the maximum (without plastic surgery, steroids, etc).
3. Ultimate democratic approach: Genetics doesn’t matter. Sex doesn’t matter. Racial ethnicity doesn’t matter. Anyone can both add muscle mass and subtract fat.
4. It doesn’t cost much to get ripped. Just intermittent fast [no breakfast, no lunch], one big ass meal a day, and mostly a ‘ketogenic’ diet.
5. Your body is always with you. Why not beautify your body to inspire yourself?

The joy of sculpting your own body

To sculpt your own body is insanely fun. Why? You can see the change over time!

Once again, the goal is simple:

Never stop adding muscle mass, and never stop reducing body fat, or keeping it low (around 10%).

Muscle and your body is highly practical.

The more muscle you have, the more energy you got. The more power you got to make art-work, and live with gratitude, joy, and hyper-vigor.

Strengthen on, and flex on!

ERIC

MUSCLE 101

1. DUMBBELL SHOULDER OVERHEAD PRESS (1 ARM)
2. What is the Ideal Male Form?
3. How to Workout Quickly from Home
4. How to Augment Your Muscle Mass
5. Fat (Adipose Tissue) not ‘Health’
6. To Be Happier, Just Workout at the Park
7. ERIC KIM GOPRO POV WORKOUT VIDEO
8. Why Become More Muscular?
9. How to Get a 6 Pack
10. Greedy for the Gains
11. Simple Home Workout
12. LAMB
13. ERIC KIM FLEXES HIS MUSCLE
14. ERIC KIM WORKS OUT AT HOME GYM
15. More Muscle, More Productivity
16. How to Increase Your Muscle Mass
17. Extreme Vanity
18. There is No Proper Form
19. Why I Love Working Out
20. Better to Powerlift and Deadlift Heavy One Rep Max Attempts than
21. Drive Fast Cars and Motorcycles
22. Why I Love Working Out at the Park
23. RICOH WORKOUT
24. YOUR BODY *IS* YOUR BANK ACCOUNT
25. In Praise of Ghetto Workouts
26. Rock Workout
27. How to Workout
28. Dynamic Warmup
29. My Fitness Motivation Hacks
30. Why Make Workout Videos?
31. ERIC KIM FITNESS
32. How to Lift Weights
33. ERIC KIM WORKS OUT
34. ERIC KIM ROCK PARK WORKOUT
35. My Body is a Work of Art!
36. Park Workout Ideas
37. The Physiological Joy of Working Out
38. Anti Body Body Shaming
39. How to Workout at Home With Only a Barbell
40. 11 Tips How to Use Photography to Get More Fit
41. How to Lose Fat Fast
42. Become More Creative With Your (Limited) Home Gym Workouts
43. Flexibility is “Micro Strength”
44. NEVER STOP GAINING MUSCLE
45. ERIC KIM PARK LIFE
46. How I Workout at my Home Gym
47. In Praise of Pistol One Legged Squats
48. Powerlifting Style Workouts at the Park
49. The Philosophy of Bodybuilding
50. YOUR BODY IS YOUR BANK ACCOUNT
51. WHY I WORKOUT AT THE PARK
52. How to Strengthen Your Rotator Cuff
53. In Praise of Rings Workout
54. How to Workout at the Park
55. Why I Don’t Eat Breakfast or Lunch (In Praise of One Huge Dinner Meal a Day)
56. HOW TO LOVE YOUR BODY
57. Is Working Out at the Park Superior to Working Out at the Gym?
58. Why I Workout
59. WHY PHOTOGRAPHERS SHOULD WORKOUT
60. How to Increase Your Testosterone
61. My Workout Philosophy
62. How Appearance Matters
63. How I Workout at Home
64. My Philosophy of Food
65. The Best Park Workouts
66. How to Quit Sugar
67. How to Workout in the Streets and Park
68. How Much Meat Can You Eat in a Day?
69. APEX MALE MASCULINITY
70. HOW I WORKOUT AT THE PARK
71. How to Lose Fat
72. How I Became Stronger and Buffer and More Swole During and After Quarantine
73. What is Skinny-Fat?
74. In Praise of Working Out at the Park
75. Why Meat is Good
76. Flesh over Metal
77. Why Lower Your Bodyfat?
78. How to Augment Your Recovery
79. Increase Intensity, not Reps
80. My Park Workout
81. How to Fast
82. HOW I WORKOUT FROM THE PARK
83. How I Got So Swole
84. Pure Power or Sculpture?
85. How to Workout in the Streets
86. How to Workout At Home With No Equipment
87. Super Saiyan is the Goal
88. MY POWERLIFTING PHILOSOPHY
89. MY EXERCISE/WORKOUT PHILOSOPHY
90. What if Mood Originates in the Stomach and Gut? Digestion Health
91. Why I Don’t Consume Protein Powder or Supplements
92. Real vs Fake // Natural vs Unnatural
93. You Can’t Fake Strength
94. How to Grow Your Muscles
95. How to Add Muscle and Subtract Fat at the Same Time
96. ERIC KIM BODY MUSCLE FLEX
97. Don’t Build Muscle, Build Strength.
98. Visual Kinesthesia: Muscles and Art
99. How to Maximize Muscle Growth and Fat Loss

EK DEMIGOD BOD

Towards a new concept — the Atlas Lift:

What is the concept?

The concept is simple:

Load up the barbell on a squat rack, and just see the maximal heavy weight you can lift up and hold on your shoulders, then put it back.

Benefits

1. Towards building a demigod body

Become more social, become happier, stronger, and more!

PODCAST VIDEO

It is my personal thought in today’s world, to be social is a virtue. If you think about it, all success stems from the social.

For example, much success is to be had when you network, meet investors, build business connections, etc.

Also, assuming that you want to become a personality, start a YouTube channel or blog, etc., being more social is better than being less social.

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Experience this

1. YouTube video vlog
2. Blog post

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What holds us back?

I think a lot of people are held back by the fear of making other people feel uncomfortable. However let us note, if somebody is uncomfortable by your behavior, that is their problem, not yours. I think it is better to attempt to be insanely friendly, and make somebody feel uncomfortable, rather than not to attempt it at all.

Pragmatic exercises

A very very simple thought is if you want to become more social, one of the best places to go to is the gym. Or you could go to yoga, just sign up for a CorePower membership.

When you’re at the gym, don’t work out with headphones or AirPods on. This will give you the opportunity to talk to more people, and also let other people have the opportunity to talk to you.

Much of our social life is held back by the fact that our social sensors, a.k.a. our eyes in our ears are blocked. Our eyes are blocked by our phones, and our ears are blocked by our headphones or AirPods. If you want to be more social, just keep your phone in your backpack, and also don’t bring headphones to the gym, and also don’t work out with headphones on.

Get loud

Something funny that I have discovered is as I have become more loud, hypelifting at the gym, yelling loud, I attract a lot of attention. And as a result, a lot of people actually come up to me and just start chatting with me. Thus ironically enough, to open up more avenues of social life, get louder.

Also, when you see somebody that you like, somebody you want to talk to, or somebody who is just wearing a cool outfit or accessories, compliment them. Just approach them and compliment them on their clothes, shoes, accessories, look, etc. This can open up an opportunity for you to have a conversation with them.

Joke around

And the reason why I am so social is that I am like a big kid. I like to joke, have fun, be an entertainer and joker. I think a lot of people want to “look cool“, but in fact, that is just a signal of insecurity and lack of self-confidence.

Street confidence

A lot of street photography is confidence in the context of strangers on the streets. There is a silly bias in street photography that you’re not allowed to talk to people. I say it doesn’t matter whether you shoot it with permission or without, it just depends on the situation, what type of photo you want to make, and your mood.

In fact, I believe it actually takes more courage to approach a stranger and ask for permission to make a portrait of them, than to shoot a candid photo of them.

A very very simple way to approach a stranger and ask to make a portrait of them is to approach them, and say, excuse me sir, or excuse me miss, I love your look. Do you mind if I make a portrait of you?

A simple way to build your confidence is approach a bunch of strangers and try to intentionally get rejected 10 times. The STREET NOTES approach // digital.

Only talk to people you are genuinely interested in

A simple thought is let your natural enthusiasm drive you. That means only interact and talk to people and socialize with people that you’re interested in. For example, if you get the sense that somebody has good vibes, just approach them and start talking to them. Tell them that you like their good vibes. I think it is a good idea to wear your heart on your sleeve.

Ask people for their first and last name

If you frequent the gym a lot, or go to yoga, or some other regular fitness activity like CrossFit, etc., get to know peoples names. Ideally their full first and last name. I also find that in order to remember someone’s name, I ask them whether they know somebody famous with the same first name. This just adds a little bit more friction to help you force to remember their name.

Let us remember that there is no sweeter sound than the sound of our own name.

Even my friend Timothy Flanagan tells me, after being a teacher for over 30 years, kids get easily offended if you don’t remember their name, yet they do not realize that a new teacher needs to remember at least 100 names.

Even when I teach workshops, I have actually found that the number one critical thing to build a relationship with your student is to strive with all your strength to remember their name. Ideally their first and last.

Go out.

It is hard to be social if you just stay at home all day. Yet a lot of people want to stay home in order to “save money“. I say, maybe it is a good idea to eat out, go to restaurants, go to the local all you can eat Korean barbecue place in order to socialize with people you can socialize with — waitresses waiters and anybody else you encounter.

Practice

To be social as a practice. I say practice being social every day, all day. Better to make small talk, than to make no talk.

Ask deep questions

Surprisingly enough, one of the best ways to quickly build a rapport with somebody is to ask deep questions. Ask them about their life passions, life goals, etc. 99.9% of the time people will tell you honestly. Go big.

No such thing as failure

Better to attempt to be social, and get strange stares, to be laughed at or ignored than not to attempt it at all!

ERIC

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Conquer your fears and meet new peers

What can you become this new year?

1. BOSTON
2. BERKELEY
3. HADONG SOUTH KOREA

EK WORK

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New year, new photos

Become more prolific this year!

1. Creative everyday // print
2. 30 days to jumpstart your photography
3. Embark on your own photography adventure workflow

More in HAPTIC SHOP

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New year, new confidence.

Shed the old leaves. Become a new, better you!

ERIC

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Confidence thoughts

1. How to become more confident
2. How to become more confident in yourself
3. Become more confident through stoicism.
4. How to become a demigod vlog // direct video link

Share the confidence!

Feeling more confident? Feel free to forward this to a friend needing a quick pump!

EK NEWS

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“That which doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” – Nietzsche

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When atlas squat hold lifting 700 pounds with my sleeves rolled up sleeveless, the bar was so heavy that it digged into my shoulders and rubbed off some skin. Lesson — tshirt is good because it covers your shoulders a bit, better for squats!

Second lesson —

Don’t buy or use cutoff or sleeveless shirts when lifting insanely heavy weights at the gym — whether squats or rack pulls and beyond.

Glorify yourself: