ERIC KIM ₿

A life of perfect ease and satisfaction … how would we be any different than happy cows?

(more…)

A personal essay on how I appreciate cops so much (especially coach Greg Lowe, former Oakland PD head), and in defense of cops in general:

(more…)

What gets us moving and what motivates us to move, act, do, create and challenge things? My thought: perhaps dissatisfaction is good. If we were perfectly satisfied with everything, what motivation or motive would we have to do anything?

I am a very curious case. On one hand, I am very anti consumerist and capitalist. On the other hand, I am very pro-capitalism and pro-consumerism in other contexts and domains. This is the tricky thing:

There are times when buying stuff (merino wool clothing, happy lamps at home, workout equipment and weights for home) is legitimately a good use of money. And there are other times when money is a huuuuge waste like buying expensive sneakers, expensive watches, expensive cars, etc.

Then I suppose the pragmatic goal we have is this:

When is capitalism-consumerism bad, and when is it good?

So the ‘when‘ question needs to be addressed!

Hack your environment:

(more…)

Going from a 300 square foot “luxury” minimalist studio apartment to a 1,700 square foot 2 bedroom, 2 bath, enclosed garage, three floors— I will easily say:

The smaller more high quality (well designed space in a “luxury” apartment complex) space is superior.

Why? Some reasons:

(more…)

Insane goals are the best and only goals worth pursuing in life!

Like Big Sean said: “The city is metabolic and my metropolis”.

The city as more dynamic, alive, and metabolic. A greater form of society. More energy, force. The beauty of a concrete paradise.

Regret will help you make superior decisions in the future!

(more…)

No aesthetics, no beauty.

Why beauty? Beauty is the great physiological joy of humankind. And we as artists… aesthetics is all we care for. Beauty and only beauty — we hate the ugly!

Then the goal is this:

To surround ourselves with only the beautiful, and to strive to create beautiful things, and to become *MORE* beautiful ourselves.

To focus on our own self-beautification.

A life only focused on utility — a slave-like existence.

If we want a better camera, just use or get a RICOH GR III. For most people, the difference between 4G won’t really change your life in any meaningful way. In fact perhaps 5G will cause more people to waste time streaming these empty TV shows and Netflix movies.

Better investment to use money on body building, weight lifting, travel, or arts creation.

The only regrets I have in life are when I betray my gut, my emotional preferences and aesthetic preferences. Lesson:

It doesn’t matter how much “money you save”, or how “rational” something is.

Emotions, gut preferences are supreme. Lesson:

Moving forward in life, you don’t need to “explain” your emotional preferences. Just obey yourself, and your own gut!

Emotions will rule the future!

Also moving forward, become *MORE* staunch on your personal preferences in life, and never kowtow what you truly care for. Having the courage to upset others. Never make a decision just to please someone else or to make someone else “happy”— as you often will make yourself miserable!

(more…)

There are a trillion photographers out there. How do you make a name for yourself and differentiate yourself from the billion of other photographers out there?

Some ideas:

(more…)

The photography market is vast, wide, and deep. Given our image conscious society, and our visual sociology, the photography market is the biggest (ever expanding) pie to take advantage of!

I get bored very easily. Perhaps this is my great advantage in life. As a consequence to conquer my boredom, I go out, I do things, I strive to be more active, and to affect and effect the world.

Boredom is a useful tool to be harnessed to your advantage!

You’re not in school anymore. Now is your turn and time to direct your own self development, your own self learning. No homework, no due dates, no deadlines and no grading. You’re the teacher and professor of yourself. Don’t delay; lead yourself!

In this game of life, the point ain’t to become someone else or emulate someone else. The point is for you to become yourself, become more of yourself. To invent yourself.

Despite all the pain and drudgery of life, what’s our salvation? Photography!

(more…)

The ideal state: not freedom from pain and suffering, but the ideal is a state of maximal engagement; maximal engagement with my mind, body, soul, other humans, and the world?

Photograph the brave new covid world in which we live in!

(more…)

It seems the principle of life is growth. But for us photographers, what does ‘growth’ mean?

(more…)

The best form of stimulation is social stimulation.

Why am I such a great critic, judge and sociologist of America and American society? Simple: I was born and raised here!

Also as a Korean-American, I have one foot in American society and one foot out which means I can better analyze and critique it than a typical Caucasian American (what some basic people call “white”).

Hybrid-Americans as better critics and judges of American society, especially when they’re born here in the states.

Photography is and should be maximally democratic and open for all. Phone photography is great, but ultimately if you got a choice (and the money), RICOH GR III is a far superior choice (perhaps by 100x). Why? Superior ergonomics for Ricoh to turn it on and off, superior ergonomics to hit the shutter, 100x better image quality, sharpness, resolution and aesthetics, and it is only nominally larger than a phone. Also at $899 the Ricoh GR III is still $100 cheaper than a new iPhone Pro!

(more…)

I am one of the most motivated people I know. How do I do it? Some thoughts:

1. Go for a walk. Once you walk, *THEN* you get creative ideas. When in doubt, go for a walk.
2. Music.
3. Lots of black coffee.
4. Cold showers
5. Quick pump: Go to the park and workout, lift weights at home, do body weight exercises at home, or go to the gym and do some heavy ‘one rep max’ deadlifts or squats. To motivate your legs is the best form of motivation. Or in other words, when in doubt, always workout your legs (instead of your upper body). Assuming ‘motivation’ means to ‘move’ (literally to walk and move your legs), then your legs reign supreme.

What is motivation? Moving people.

PODCAST

Or why the sociologist is the most keen marketer:

(more…)

What is the end towards all our human activities? The social!

Or why Donald Trump is the most entertaining man of all-time:

(more…)

The mistake that marketers and ‘content creators’ make:

They optimize for machines, algorithms and Google Search (SEO) instead of optimizing for real human beings!

(more…)

Get the people going and moving:

(more…)

Street photography as an ethos, approach, and lifestyle.

(more…)

Street photography; one of my greatest joys and fun-things in life!

(more…)

What is pure bliss and joy? Being in the zone. A creative zone where you can focus, think, and create like a stream of water, with no delay or pause.

(more…)

Rather than see clothing as vanity luxury items, better to see it as functional, utilitarian battle armor (like the gleaming bronze armor of the ancient Greeks in Homer’s Iliad). Note Hector and Achilles.

To continually find inspiration as a photographer and visual artist: look at your own old photos to serve as your own visual stimulus!

(more…)

When studying the recent presidential debate, the question:

What is the philosophy of a ‘fact’ vs a ‘lie’?

(more…)

The root and foundation to study all fields of knowledge.

(more…)

When watching the debate between Biden and Trump I realized:

The left (Democrats) often use anti-rich rhetoric to gain support and votes.

But the thing is this:

Americans don’t resent the rich. In fact, Americans *ASPIRE* to become the rich.

What is it that Americans hate? Unfair bailouts of big corporate CEO’s. Americans seem to resent guys who work on Wall Street, but actual billionaires and rich people … Americans *aspire* to become rich, wealthy, and billionaires themselves.

To grow your mind, your erudition, your BS detector, your physical body (grow your muscles), grow your audience, and keep growing. Because if one isn’t continually growing (over the long term), one is dying and decaying (Bob Dylan quote).

Or why Biden probably won’t win the election:

(more…)

Surprisingly, flying during COVID-19 isn’t that big of a deal:

(more…)

Was on a Southwest flight yesterday and (finally) had the chance to watch the new JOKER film. And holy moly — was blown away. The film is unusually good, even considering it was made in 2019 (typically modern films are no good). Some thoughts:

(more…)

Color is great, but if you seek maximal clarity with your photos, monochrome is the way:

(more…)

SHABU SHABU (all you can eat in Orange Country) is unusually fun and good. Perhaps not as good as All You Can Eat Korean BBQ, but equally worthy nonetheless.

(more…)

Good photos encapsulate high energy. Immortalizes energy. Takes the energy power of a (real life) scene, and solidifies it into a photograph.

(more…)

Discipline for whom and towards what ends?

(more…)

What does it mean to “listen” or to be a ‘good’ “listener”?

Some thoughts:

(more…)

To write great:

To write with blood.

To write about your own life experiences. To write with brazen fury. To not censor yourself. To share your thoughts, undiluted … thoughts which even scare you. Or thoughts which make you feel uncomfortable. Ideas which are ‘unsavory’ — interesting ideas you truly believe in, that you don’t want to admit to yourself.

Bad writers: to just commentate on the lives of others, rather than write about yourself.

This is what you were made for:

(more…)

Let us not fool ourselves:

You cannot become relevant unless you know how to effectively market yourself as a photographer.

Real thoughts:

(more…)

There are a quadrillion people out there; how can you stand out? Simple: stark differentiation. Rather than seeking to become more similar to others, strive to become more *DISSIMILAR* to others!

(more…)

The builder ethos:

(more…)