We all know that Facebook owns Instagram [bought for $1 Billion dollars], What’s App [$19 Billion dollars], Oculus Virtual Reality systems (like Rift, Quest, etc) [acquired for $2 Billion dollars], Giphy [$400 million dollars] and a lot of other stuff.
Why is this significant? Simple —
(more…)It is not good that one company has a monopoly over externalizing our self-worth (crowd sourcing our self esteem) via their pipelines.
Use the upside of quarantine and the new COVID lifestyle to pick up film, if it interests you!
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Hong Kong photos from around 2013, shot on color Kodak Portra 400 film, Leica M6 and Leica 35mm f/2 Summicron ASPH lens. Some with flash:
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If you’re uber-critical of yourself as a photographer … who benefits? Not you, just your random social media followers. And ultimately your own critique and criticism and low-self esteem only benefits FacebookGram, who runs our lives.
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The goal:
Shoot more dynamic street photos.
Dynamic street photos means:
The ideas:
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Photo, video and life … it is all about constant experimentation, iteration, and fun!
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A life where you could never forget isn’t a life worth living. For example, while I appreciate looking at old photos, I also hate it. It reminds me of embarrassing things in the past, or feelings of inadequacy in the past. Perhaps the best virtue is to forget … and to keep moving forward!
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My new heuristic:
You know you’re doing something right if you start losing followers.
My thoughts:
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The fact of the matter is that capitalism and consumerism has brought much of the world out of poverty, has improved standards of living and hygiene, and quality of life for millions of individuals. But the truth still remains–
Capitalism is (very) cruel.
But then again … real life (embodied reality) ain’t fair. Mother nature is cruel. Nobody cares for our individual happiness. Perhaps once we accept the fact that reality is cruel, then we can truly thrive.
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The idea:
Continuation of my ‘He Who Owns the Media Owns the People‘ essay:
These mega corporations exist in order to distract us to death (in order to maximize their money-earning).
These corporations aren’t evil per-se. They exist in order to maximize their income and profits. And how can they best do that? Own all the media which entertains us, and entraps us.
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In today’s brave new world… let us not get fooled:
Don’t get suckered by the news and media.
Why? It is in the best interest of the news to maximize their advertising dollars.
Also, let us be concerned and wary how Disney owns pretty much all the media— which indoctrinates us, our children, etc:
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I am convinced — the Lumix G9 (and the Leica-Lumix 12mm f/1.4 lens) in JPEG (intelligent auto mode, iA mode) is the best food camera. Why?
I am convinced at the moment, in terms of hybrid photo and video … Lumix is king.
Note:
My thought:
I believe if countries and individuals were ‘allowed’ or tolerated to be more nationalistic … then perhaps we would be less racist.
My thoughts:
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My theory:
With black and white, you gotta use your brain and imagination to ‘fill in the gaps’.
Color makes it too obvious what you are looking at. With monochrome, it is more mysterious.
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You cannot get a certain message to spread or stick without propaganda:
The basic thoughts:
What is propaganda? It is simple:
To propagate (send forth) a message.
‘Propago‘ in Latin: to extend, enlarge, or increase. From proto-indo-european ‘pegh‘ which literally means “to attach”.
Thus if we think about Propaganda in a modern sense– it is just attaching a certain message to a certain medium (let us say a blog post, a movie, a film, a photo, image, whatever) and to send it forth, to have the idea or concept augment itself, grow, and extend, or increase itself.
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A new concept from my friend Jeffrey Lam:
Mind Space.
What is mind – space?
My thought:
(more…)A zen–taoist notion … we need empty mind space in order to give birth and genesis to new thoughts ideas and innovations.
Getting a 6-pack is actually quite easy. The secret:
Increase abdominal muscle mass (through exercises like planche, chin-ups with your legs up, squats, deadlifts) and also through reducing your body fat percentage (you need to be around at least 10% body fat).
The best way to reduce body fat:
Also — cut things which LOWER your testosterone. For example:
From the get-go, I have always been passionate about both street photography and architecture. Why? My thoughts:
New Haven (and Yale campus) actually really good for street photography! Why?
What is true difficulty?
My thought:
(more…)True difficulty is experienced deep fear, and somehow being baptized through the fire to become stronger than you were before.
To me true innovation is doing new things, creating new things, or re-arranging things in novel ways.
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Facts. If you’re poor, working class, always busy … you don’t really have the chance or opportunity to even feel depressed, anxious or worried. Certainly basic stuff like stress and anxiety about paying the rent and stuff. But the poor working class feel anxiety about money, but don’t feel “depressedâ€.
Just went to New Haven and Yale for the first time… and I really love it! Some thoughts:
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If your goal is to succeed long term, open and free will always win (in the uber-long term).
And of course, lift heavy weights. Aim for very difficult body weight exercises (dips, planche, muscle up, 1 legged pistol). Aim for a ‘one rep max‘ style workout, not boring reps.
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To speed up and simplify your photographic workflow, just shoot small JPEG. Don’t shoot RAW. Use a nice JPEG filter you like!
My thought:
A lot of people are disgusted with themselves and hate themselves because of reasons x, y, z.
And a lot of people are looking for the reason *WHY* they feel this way. And once they think they’ve figured out some reason why they feel this way… they feel the need to scape-goat this in order to hate themselves less, and feel disgusted with themselves less.
Okay let us think — what better gift to humanity than the Chromebook? Yeah yeah we all know Google is taking over our lives, whatever. But real talk — if you got a Chromebook, you can technically do almost everything. Big thing — it is just soooo cheap.
My only critique of Chromebooks is the difficulty for kids to program on it. Perhaps the next big innovation will be allowing Chromebooks to program (Computer Science) in a similar gist like what a MacBook laptop can.
But in terms of price, convenience, longevity — Chromebooks are great.
Our focus as street photographers:
Create photos which commentate on, critique, and judge (with love) society, people, and the world.
Optimize for the now, not the future. The future is uncertain and unreal, the present and now is real, tangible, empirical, and can be articulated, changed and modified.
For myself and my past self:
Interesting thought:
The meritocracy of a 6-pack and physical body physiology — it don’t matter how rich or poor you are, technically any human being can get a 6-pack.
Perhaps this is why rich people prefer to buy expensive sports cars and stuff… to flex their masculinity via material purchases, because they despise their bodies?
Street photography is just applied sociology — with a camera. A visual sociology.
Street Sociology.
Question:
Is our goal and desire to *understand* human nature or to (artificially) change it?
It seems we sociologists desire to understand human nature without any spiteful judgement, whereas philosophers, political scientists, “behavioral economists†and short-sighted radicals desire to change human nature … often for the worse.
Why do we think meat is bad for us? Simple —
We conflate (confuse) the difference between dietary fat in meat and the fat on our stomach (adipose tissue).
Thus the simple thought:
Eating red meats and meats high in saturated fats will lead me to gain more bodily fat (adipose tissue).
This is not true.
Or I hate you because I am no match for you.
As Nietzsche says … has any men ever admitted to this?
My theory:
When we hate people, we hate them because we are actually envious or jealous of them… because deep down, we want to be like them and act like them, but we would feel guilty or bad if we did so.
For example … perhaps everyone hates JAY Z because they wish they were as rich and successful as him. They hate Kanye West because he is married to Kim Kardashian, and they hate Kanye because he is now a billionaire, so successful, so musical, so creative, and so outspoken. Perhaps people wanna be like Kanye and speak their mind… but they lack the courage, are too cowardly, or perhaps secretly they wanna *act* like Kanye, but society or their morals-ethics have taught them that to do so is immoral?
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Of course my body will physically die (I strive to live to be 140 years old in hyper health), but my memory and legacy shall remain, and live on!
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Very rarely are people actually coerced to do something against their own free will, forcibly. Typically the coercion is more insidious, sneaky and low-key: fear tactics include potential loss of income, blackmailing personal family information, or other forms of coercion.
Why does this difference matter? Well, realize most people will not coerce you to do something against your own free will in your face; they will do it against you in far more sneaky and hidden ways. Thus when you are pressured to do something or make a decision take a step back, pause and delay. Wait at least 48 hours before making the (potentially irreversible) decision.
My belief:
Unless you are a practitioner, one should not critique, judge, or commentate.
Why? You don’t got real-life (experienced, empirical) experience. Better:
Only talk about your real life experiences and talk about what you’ve actually done or not.
For example:
With anything in life, just keep practicing the motion and you’ll get better at it! Even weight lifting and powerlifting — it’s all about practicing the motion.
If we took all the time we “grind†in video games and took that energy to real life and embodied reality … how much more could we achieve?
My turbo thought when walking around:
Certainly free will exists. However this is the caveat —
Some people have *MORE* free will than others. Also, free will can be cultivated like a muscle.
It don’t matter how ‘genetically gifted you are’ (I am not), but with enough time, training, and meat consumption … any human being can become incredibly strong and muscular. For me, I am Korean-American and around 5 foot 10 inches, with no remarkable physical traits (my dad is a typical ‘skinny fat‘ degenerate). I have relatively small hands and wrists. Yet I was able to train to get a 1-rep max (sumo) deadlift of 455 pounds (4 plates and a 25 on each side), with no belt, no steroids, no protein powder, no straps, no weird stuff. And while fasted!
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How does the economy work? Simple: the movement of money and human beings (flesh-based bodies):
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A random entrepreneurial and YouTube SEO idea:
In the description part of your YouTube videos, add a lot of information (as if they are mini blog posts).
Ironically enough I make a lot of YouTube videos, but I never watch videos. In fact, I prefer reading transcripts over listening to interviews (reading is 100x faster than listening).
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Fresh from the ERIC KIM NEWSLETTER >
Dear friends,
Sending you lots of love from sunny Providence Rhode Island. Feeling pretty good, and have a good caffeine buzz from my light-roast blonde coffee (Wink Coffee from Amazon), and had some turbo photo thoughts to share with you:
A list:
Simple photo assignment:
Photograph your own hand.
Make it as artsy-fartsy as you want. Use high contrast monochrome, or color. Use a flash or natural light. Experiment with different angles, or your different hands. Then upload your #1 best photo to arsbeta.com to get (and give) feedback.
Have fun and go shoot!
ERIC
You can subscribe to ERIC KIM Newsletter Here (or subscribe with a new email).
The joy of going out, getting good sunshine, talking to strangers, being out and about in town, exploring new things.
A life with street photography is the best life!
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“That which is, grows and that which is not, becomes.†– Galen on the Natural Faculties
Or in other words:
If you already exist, you grow. If you don’t exist yet, your genesis is a process of “becomingâ€.
Thus perhaps:
The camera is the ultimate truth, and photos and videos are irrefutable proof, according to the new world religion of today, Silicon Valley, data, and social media.
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Sooner or later, every human being on planet earth (all several billion of us) will have a smartphone, which is just a camera with an internet connection. This will mean:
All human beings will be photographers.
Even look at the modern marketing — the new iPhone Pro and new Samsung and new Google Pixel is all about the camera! Camera is god.
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Before asking others whether something is ethical or not, first go on a long walk and ask yourself:
Do *I* think this is ethical? Yes or no?
If anything best to NEVER ask others whether your actions are ethical or not. My heuristic:
If you’re asking others whether something you did was ethical or not, if probably wasn’t (this is why it is hounding your conscience).
Thus the maximally robust position in life: never do anything (no matter how others threaten or guilt you) which is contrary to your own personal code of morals and ethics.
ERIC
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What I have realized:
Even if I were a quadrillionaire, I don’t like to own things.
Why? More stress, more liabilities, and more crap to maintain. The nouveau riche of today’s age is minimalism, simplicity and having the privilege *NOT* to own anything which weighs you down.
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In life, foods, and almost everything in life … bitter is better. For example coffee is sweet and enjoyful to us because it is bitter (small dose of poison, hormesis). Also, bitter greens (kale, collard greens) are only “healthy†to us because it is bitter (bitter substances stimulate our body’s physiological response).
Similar in real life, it is the bitter experiences which make us better and improve us. A life with no bitterness, sadness, sorrow, pain or suffering isn’t a life worth living.
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Talk about others as if you were talking to their face, or if they could hear you in real time. Because sometimes the truth will leak out, or they actually might be in the room with you, or behind your back, unbeknownst to you.
To talk shit is fine— everyone does it. But the question:
If you say x, y, z …. would you actually say it to the face of another human being?
For example before you say anything sexist, racist, classist, or whatever … would you actually say it to that person in real life, to their face?
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Yes, we have self control. We can decide whether to do something or not to do something. Free will is:
I am pressured to do x, y, z or NOT to do x, y, z .. but I still have the ultimate choice to choose.
Let us say all the hoaxes, conspiracy theories or whatever is true. Then what? Like Andy Warhol said:
Whenever I was criticized in life, I would just ask myself: “So what?†This fixed a lot of things.
This is my point of interest. Let us say all the isms which exist in America and beyond are true and irrefutable. Then the question comes:
(more…)So what are you gonna do about it?
In times of extreme stress are the best opportunities for you to thrive:
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The epiphany:
More important to have control over yourself, your life, your thoughts, and your body and your own company than to ‘sell out’ to a company for $100 Billion Dollars.
Notta bene:
Thus the lesson:
Build your company as if you can (or never *WOULD*) sell it!
ERIC
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Instagram — the worst thing you can do for your self esteem, focus, or creativity. The best “via negativa†approach — just delete it.
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