ERIC KIM

Even though at times we may feel there is nothing to photograph:

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If you want the best and happiest life, perhaps hiking must be a part of your lifestyle regimen:

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Why travel? A good way to reset. Reset the way you do things, your daily routine, how you see and interact with the world.

Don’t buy it for the flashy aesthetics because you will sooner or later bore of it.

Also anti perfection notions in aesthetics. All aesthetic ideals are trends. Even wabi sabi.

Force expression either in physical strength, or force of ideas.

As an artist, our desire to discharge our creative energy and force via our art works!

What do you do once you get the perfect body and physique, the perfect car, perfect kid and wife, perfect camera, perfect lifestyle, etc?

Simple —

We must strive to go BEYOND “perfect”.

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Why is that we photographers have so low self-esteem?

For example:

We don’t like to call ourselves ‘photographers’ when introducing ourselves, because we don’t make a living from it.

Or,

When we say photography is our passion, we don’t call ourselves ‘artists’. We see artists as painters, and photographers as a lesser-being.

But what if we saw photography as superior to painting, and other forms of artwork?

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Something I realized after much thinking and study: it seems that photographers see painters as superior to them. Thus the desire is the photographer is to become a painter, because the history of painting is longer and more legitimate than that of photography.

But perhaps the best is for the photographer to think of himself or herself as superior to the painter?

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Traditionally we have been taught that consistency in artwork is good. for example, we are taught that once you have discovered your definitive style, you should just stick with it until your death.

But perhaps this conviction is bad and a prison.

So then what is “consistency“? my thought:

When you are pursuing a certain idea or concept, you continue working on it because it continues to fascinate you. But once it no longer fascinates you, you must abandon it and move on.

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To have too strong of a conviction towards one thing is bad. Why? We will live too long to be trapped by one idea or concept.

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The great thing about art: you don’t need to justify your art or your aesthetic taste to anybody else. You merely assert it.

Thus don’t feel like you need to justify or explain your art or your aesthetic taste to anybody else. Just make it, and publish it.

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Nowadays there seems to be a bias towards single origin, or 100% pure things. but what if a hybrid model, a blended model, or a crossover design was actually better?

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What types of photos make me feel the most fulfilled? Photos that bring a smile my own face. Photos of my loved ones, people those who I care for, and photos which I interpret as my artwork (Street photography, abstract photography).

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So many more opportunities to shoot if you embrace abstract photography!

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What is the best life? The life in which we have the opportunity to express or test our courage. therefore, let us not waste time on things which don’t require our courage.

For example, it doesn’t take courage to buy something. It doesn’t take courage to buy a certain car, buy certain clothing, or buy certain objects. what does take some courage is speculative investing, and ultimate courage: speculation in Yourself.

Self speculation.

We love Tesla cars, and all the innovation behind Tesla and the genius behind Elon Musk and his grand vision. but rather than just buying a Tesla, why not just use the money to create your own ideal vision of the future, to create your own Tesla?

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Nietzsche once said, “I am dynamite!“ it seems that this sentiment is quite true. We love explosions. We love explosions in movies and films, we love when people explode with power, and with movies we love it when the main characters explode with rage.

But in today’s soft world, we are no longer allowed to express anger and passionate emotion. We are told to restrain our emotions and not express them.

But why brings us the most joy? I think it is this explosion, whether it is coitus, or metaphorical explosions when it comes to artistic and thought matter.

Maybe this is why we really love loud cars, sing space take offs, and other displays of immense power. Personally one of my greatest joys is watching other powerlifters hype themselves up before a one rep max powerlifting attempt.

Lesson: Figure out how we could better harnesses explosive energy, to express more of our explosive power.

In photography, make the best of what you got.

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But how long do we want them to last?

For cars, perhaps at least 30 years, or at least 200,000 miles.

For phones, at least 4 years.

For laptops, at least 6 years.

For digital cameras, at least 3 years.

For films, great films will be good for 50 years.

For philosophers, at least 100 years is sufficient.

For human life, at least 70 years is sufficient (according to Nietzsche). I would prefer 120 years, but 92 years will also do (when my grandfather passed).

Why low key Photography, black and white, low key all black clothing, etc?

The upside of being more stealth and ghost-like. To go everywhere like a phantom, not being recognized.

The genius of the Wachowskis for staying outside of the public eye, so they can go out in public without being noticed or harassed. Consider the misery of famous people who cannot even take their family to a restaurant without being assaulted by paparazzi.

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In the past, especially in more martial times when we were at war, courage was on the battlefield. But now in today’s relatively modern and safe world, how does one exhibit courage in every day modern day life?

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Maybe being easily bored is a virtue. Why? If you are easily bored, and have a high threshold for fun and play, then maybe it is the boredom which motivates us to move and do things.

What makes a certain artist “good” or “bad”? My thought:

Depressing art and depressive artists are bad, affirmative and life-affirming artists are good.

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What if we just optimized our lives for fun? Is this what the ancient Greeks did?

Question: in today’s Uber technological world, why buy a manual transmission car?

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What if the purpose of life is just to optimize for your walking? That is, no more thoughts on “happiness”, but simply salience and desire and capacity to walk long distances with no pain and boredom?

Also, the best approach to photography is to just walk more. Also, perhaps the secret to living the happiest life is living in a society and environment which encourages and allows for maximal walking.

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To do more, to make more — this is what efficiency is.

To make more photos and to provoke more emotional effects with your photography.

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When is it useful to be “off the grid”, and when is it useful to be *on* the grid?

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What are we lacking the most in today’s word? Pride. Pride in our photography, pride in ourselves, pride in our artwork.

But how do we gain more pride in our photography? Some thoughts:

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To maximize our photographic impact, with less.

More impactful compositions = simpler, but evoking stronger emotions.

More contrast. Smaller file sizes. More JPEG. Black and white. Macro photos (getting close, focusing on the details). Stronger ‘figure to ground‘.

Even the “bad”. Harness it all for your own personal profit and benefit.

A thought:

In today’s world, we strive for these awesome material possessions. We want the Lamborghini, we want the Tesla, we want the Porsche, we want Ferrari, we want the Bentley, we want the Maserati, we want the Rolls Royce, we want the Rolex, we want the Panerai, the Leica camera, and the newest iPhone pro everything.

But perhaps, rather than desiring these luxury goods, maybe it is better for us to transform ourselves into a luxury object. to transform ourselves into a rare classic. For ourselves to be truly one of a kind.

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I cannot speak for you, but this is what I personally seek. To have infinite enthusiasm, motivation and energy to do what I love to do, and have the power to produce create and share.

Thus, a simple optimization is towards this. Thus I think the focus is focusing on your bodily health, physiology, sleep, sun exposure, being outdoors, and walking much.

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What does the artist desire? To enrapture and intoxicate themselves with aesthetic experiences.

Maybe this is the power of great cinema to rapture you and transport you into a different world (the matrix, dune). The same thing with great literature, poetry. also to some extent nowadays, virtual reality. Also anime as a hyper reality (in praise of animatrix, akira, etc).

The desire to make humans different than they are — why?

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If we liken photography with fitness and powerlifting — the goal isn’t to compete with others. Instead, seeking your own new “personal beats” or your own “PR’s” (personal records):

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Thought on innovation:

You don’t always need to innovate carte blanche (blank slate). Much innovation can be done by taking classics, and applying modern innovations on top of them.

For example with sneakers, take the classic Nike Air Force 1 and use the “Flyknit” material to make lighter shoes. Or taking the classic Nissan Z and innovating it with new modern technologies.

Let us not be fooled — reality is cruel. So the question:

Given the cruelty of reality … and in spite of it, how can we thrive?

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A thought:

Harness all “good” and “bad” things to your benefit.

For example, are you exhausted? Just take a nap, and find new appreciation in your newfound strength.

Bored? Channel that boredom to read more interesting and challenging texts to level up your mind.

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The gift of photography:

You can express yourself very much creatively with photography because it takes minimum effort to make photos, but the visual impact you get from photography is great.

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The foolish thought — thinking that out there … somewhere … a utopia exists.

But what if the truth were this:

This ugly dystopia in which we live in … is all we got … and is in fact a utopia.

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Not all pain is alike. There is good pain (the good pain of growth, overcoming, fun challenge) and then there is bad pain (injury, toxic people, etc). Then a simple way to live life:

Don’t do anything which causes you (or has once caused you) bad pain.

Then this means we should be grateful that we were endowed with pain, because it instructs us what is beneficial to us and what is harmful and bad for us.

Ignore convention, societal expectations and traditional morality and ethics. Avoid the bad pain (physical and psychological) which is subjective and specific to you.

ERIC

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It seems the human goal is towards infinite, renewable energy — not causing environmental damage. But… towards what ends?

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A thought: the reason why I don’t like to buy things brand new is that it takes no skill.

For example, if you wanna buy something brand new, the only “skill“ you display is your taste. but having a certain taste doesn’t mean skill.

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A simple thought: your personal health is worth 1 trillion times more than your productivity. in fact, if you prioritize and optimize for your health, productivity will come naturally. However if you sacrifice your health for more productivity, you will fail.

So for example, if you’re exhausted, just take a nap. Don’t force for yourself more coffee in order to become more productive. and never let guilt ever motivate your productivity either.

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Like Kanye said, you don’t want to be soft like bread.

And in terms of getting your juices flowing, it seems that the hard core is preferable to the soft core. then the goal is to become more hard, or do become more hard-core, but how does one do this?

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When you have a choice and option, opt for the extreme and nontraditional. Life is too short to be boring.

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What is the mean to become a better photographer, how does one actually become a better photographer? Some thoughts:

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