ERIC KIM

Why have philosophers always recommended a life of maximal frugality and economy? Not frugality for the sake of frugality, but a life of the maximal personal independence.

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My thought:

There is no “finality” for you as a photographer or artist. Instead, better to consider that you’re always in a state of becoming as a photographer and visual-artist.

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Who is the best person to trust? Trust yourself. Trust your gut. Trust your personal taste in aesthetics. Trust your own moral judgement, your own ethics, without worrying that someone is “looking over your shoulder” or “watching your every action”.

No heaven or hell. No (conscious) afterlife. Every decision you take and make is a mini-experiment. You learn via “trial and error” with real decision-making what is “good” or “bad” for you (useful/harmful).

Ignore metrics, numbers, followers, likes, and money.

Your true judge is only you.
ERIC

The danger of metrics and measuring/weighing yourself:

The ability to LOSE COURAGE and LOSE FAITH in yourself after measuring yourself to arbitrary numbers.

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In praise of standing, walking, and dancing:

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A realization about myself:

I am an elitist. I don’t want to be one of the herd.

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A thought:

To become the apex version of ourselves, we should strive to maximally build both our body AND mind.

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To curate your photos:

Display and show/select the photos you CARE about!

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The soul of the street photographer:

1. Ever curious
2. Ever ambitious
3. Ever hungry for more!

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Free photography tips on ERIC KIM NEWSLETTER >

Dear friend,

I am fresh off a plane (after being in Mexico City for two weeks, and in Cuba for a week) and back home in (cold) Providence, Rhode Island.

I wanted to use this opportunity to essay some thoughts on composition, street photography, and art.

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Dear friend,

If you desire to CONQUER COMPOSITION and take your street photography to epic new heights, I invite you to my new Chicago CONQUER COMPOSITION Workshop (April 25-26th, 2020).

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The turbo thought for today:

What do you desire to become, and why?

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A big thing that has helped re-motivate my photography:

Don’t care whether you make “good” or “bad” photos.

Better yet: don’t strive to make good photos. Just shoot for fun!

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The power of digital is highly underrated.

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Keep doing something and never get bored of it!

No fatigue, no boredom — only fun, excitement! The same or similar workflow — yet the process is always interesting, fun, and exciting.

No need for new technologies — simply new ideas, new rhythms, and new flows!

For example:

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I’ve been obsessed with technology ever since I was a kid. But the question:

What do I really want from technology?

Well — I want a lot of things. Let me try to outline some of my thoughts:

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I’m currently 31 years old, and effectively I feel retired. What does it mean to be retired, and how to retire?

I cannot speak for you, but let me simply draw upon my experiences and thoughts:

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With my hands, with my laptop; I can impact change and move the world!

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Is a stratified society necessary for the few (artist-philosophers) to thrive?

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Often we take photography too seriously.

Why not just photograph for fun?

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Do you love or hate reality? Do you prefer “idealism” (false reality), or do you love reality in all its tragedy and cruel comedy?

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New street photo ideas:

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Mexico City: one of the best cities for living, street photography, travel, food, coffee, chocolate, meat, dessert, fancy restaurants, street food/tacos, affordable, bread, and more.

What else do you need?

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Why I love blogging:

1. Everything is constantly in flux, and constantly changing, evolving, and becoming different.
2. There is never finality.
3. Through blogging, you can better digest your experiences, and “meta-think” (by writing things down, you can think).
4. We love sharing our photos and ideas; blogging as the perfect platform.

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In life, the journey is never over. Never stop exploring, never stop thinking, and never stop doing!

What is our true goal on street photography? For me, it is to enter the zen-like state of “flow” (zen zone) of becoming one with your camera. Losing sense of time, self, and space. To shoot with zero hesitation. To be so closely attuned to the world around you with great sensitivity, and to have immaculate timing positioning and shooting ability.

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There is no greater joy than acting; to act, to do, to engage in action!

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A life with arbitrary goals and challenging makes life far more fun, interesting, and insanely enjoyable!

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Something I’ve discovered about myself: my extreme joy in being different.

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One thought on success:

If you desire to succeed, become as NON-TYPICAL (atypical) as possible!

The principle of life, art, and the best way to live life:

Create!

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Ultimately, it is all a matter of taste.

This pertains to our artistic tastes, our taste for food and drink, our taste for literature, our taste for music, our taste for aesthetics; of essentially everything.

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The strange thing:

We somehow think that the brain/mind can exist independent of the body.

This is where these silly notions of ‘uploading your consciousness’ to the cloud makes no sense. A mind cannot exist without a body. Perhaps the mind IS the body?

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OUTLINES: what makes an effective photography composition:

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The Desire to Transcend Ourselves

Why do we feel the need to ‘improve’ our selves?

What does it even mean to ‘improve’ a human?

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The basic notion:

Walk Beside and Alongside the Person while Photographing Them.

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A thought if you want to become more productive:

Figure out what to SUBTRACT in order to FOCUS MORE, and to produce more.

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Never stop augmenting your physical and mental strength:

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Street photography as a road to live a more interesting life:

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When do you feel maximal physical vigor… And when?

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Dear streettogs,

Happy Monday! Every start of the week is a good one. Why?

Think about all the great photos you have YET made.

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What seems most difficult for us photographers?

Discovering the motivation to make new photos.

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A lot of people were once famous, but we no longer care for them.

Thus perhaps the goal isn’t to become “famous”, but to have others CARE for us, and CARE about us?

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I don’t think there is an ultimate purpose in life, but life is certainly more fun and interesting as long as you keep moving: keep walking, keep exploring, keep traveling, keep shooting photos, keep writing, keep thinking, keep lifting, and keep risking more!

The goal:

Not to become a ‘good’ street photographer, but to become a FEARLESS street photographer.

Pratical ideas:

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My life-long vision:

That every photographer and individual can thrive to their personal maximum, regardless of their socio-economic class.

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Something I think about a lot:

When should we shoot vertical and when should we shoot horizontal? And what visual-psychological effects do either have?

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To color or black and white street photography?

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What holds us back in photography? Our obsession with trying to make “good” photos.

Instead, my suggestion:

It is better for you to shoot a lot of “bad” photos than to shoot no photos!

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A new and change/evolution in my visual aesthetics:

I prefer photos that are more obscure than photos which are too clear.

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I am convinced. One of the most important pillars to success is to build our own website. Let me explain:

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We delight much in shapes and forms. In photography, we delight in forming our photographs; to form reality into photographs which we consider beautiful.

We also desire beautiful forms by purchasing it. We purchase beautiful formed cars, clothes, accessories, tools, devices, homes, etc in order to augment ourselves. But what if a better goal was to form ourselves; to form our mind (continually develop our mind), and also to constantly form our body (building muscle mass through resistance training, and reducing bodyfat through intermittent fasting and abstinence from sugars and starches).

The goal then is:

First form ourselves (our body and mind), then as an artist we use our will to form to create art-works which bring us delight!

ERIC

What is the point of photographing a thing, a place, or a project if someone has already done it before, and you perceive that you can never make a project as good as it?

My suggestion: do it regardless!

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Always the tricky thing:

Should I shoot monochrome or color when I’m shooting travel street photography?

Practical thoughts after shooting Havana, Cuba for a week (having never been there before).

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My favorite photos from my Havana week-long trip. Shot on RICOH GR III x ERIC KIM NECK STRAP:

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For myself, it seems the primary benefit of traveling, living nomadically, or being abroad is this:

Fewer distractions from back home. More focus on myself, my thoughts, and my creative work and ideas.

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Active nihilism: the notion that despite the fact that life has no ultimate meaning, you still are active! You still do things, you still think, you still make art, and you still create. Why? Because you have the power to self-direct your own life, and postulate your own personal aims in life — having no higher authority or judge than yourself.

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To extract more joy, wonder, and adventure and excitement in life, see every opportunity of your life and day as a photo opportunity!

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After a week in Cuba my thoughts on capitalism vs socialism:

Capitalism is superior to socialism/communism.

My thoughts:

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Ever since we were children, we were taught that “reading is good”. Also, that there were “good books” and “bad books”.

But very rarely do we ask: “What’s the purpose of reading?”

My thoughts on the purpose of reading:

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The principle problem of Americans: our inability to deal with “free time”. Our fear of free time, an open schedule, and a calendar without appointments.

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My real experiences:

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A realization:

I think much better when I spend long periods of time offline.

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My first trip in Cuba. Free PDF download here:

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Currently here in Havana, Cuba. Some thoughts after being offline for about a week:

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As photographer-artists, it all comes down to aesthetics (the philosophy of beauty):

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The goal of our consumerism: to become more beautiful.

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Living philosophy:

Life is more fun when you set arbitrary challenges and goals for yourself and you exert much strength and effort to achieve them!

What do you do once you hit the goals? Easy: set new and more difficult and fun-challenging ones!

Ideas:

1. Physical strength goals (one rep max in power lifting)
2. Your physique aesthetic looks
3. Economic and entrepreneurial goals