ERIC KIM ₿

A thought:

Perhaps we should think of the phone less as a camera, more of a productivity device.

Have the phone as a mini mobile computer, and your RICOH GR III as your standalone primary camera.

Whenever I meet people who are “Marxist”, super anti capitalist or anti system, yet watch Netflix, shop at Whole Foods, and order stuff on Amazon, I get super suspicious.

Personal reflections:

One of the cameras which is truly great is the older Leica M9. To me, it’s far more interesting, sexy, and beautiful than the newer Leica M240, and even the newest Leica M10.

Darker, stronger, more solid, simpler, and deeper black monochromes:

Of course you can photograph anything and everything. But here are some practical ideas:

In order to become more productive, maximize your physical and physiological strength.

Shooting for yourself, of yourself.

Feeding your ego is good. Ego literally means “self”. Don’t you respect, admire, and desire to glorify yourself?

Heraclitus notion:

You are always different, and the river is always different!

This means:

1. You can keep repeating the same thing over and over again, and not repeat yourself, because you and the circumstances will always be different.
2. In photography it is impossible to repeat yourself, even if you shoot the same places over and over again. The photons of light will always be different. Even the subjects you photograph, they are always aging (slowly dying), and the molecules of the world, others, and yourself is always changing.

Thus in photography: you never photograph the same thing twice (your subject and yourself is always different!)

At this point, I feel like a mini-master in street photography. Here is the advice I will give you on your personal journey:

My ongoing photography project on AMERICA — my home, my love, my country:

In photography we need a motivation, a spark, a DRIVE to make a photograph.

But what if there isn’t anything interesting to photograph? What if we aren’t motivated to make photos? Should we “force” ourselves to shoot, THEN find inspiration? Or should we just not make photos?

Or should we discover new ways of living in order to make photos? What is the philosophical under-pinnings of NOT being motivated to shoot?

The most important and only person to impress and surpass — yourself.

Seems like the same camera — with cosmetic and UI/UX differences:

My heuristic of whether a good is luxury or not:

If they call it “luxury”, it isn’t luxury.

For example:

Stereotype: a commonly held belief about a certain group of people.

Racism: belief in the inferiority of ability in a certain group or race of people.

For example, “Asian people are good at math” is stereotyping but not racist. “Asian men aren’t as confident as African American men” is racist.

“African American men cannot be as good at math as Asians” is racist. “African American men are good at basketball” is stereotyping but not racist.

Susan Sontag’s “On Photography” is one of the worst texts you can ever assign to an aspiring photographer, photography student, photography beginner, or lover of photography.

My critique:

I think Susan Sontag hates photography.

A realization:

Almost all photography is street photography.

Advice I wish I could have given myself, if I rebooted my entire street photography journey all over again:

The beauty of Tri-X 400 pushed to 1600 with yellow filter:

Photos you didn’t like in the past often get better with time.

To really get to know how you really feel about your photos, let them sit and marinate for a while.

For example some photos (film 35mm) from about 3-4+ years ago, which I didn’t initially like, but I really like now!

Long story short, iPhone Pro and noir is great. No third party apps— just the default iPhone Pro shooting in Noir filter mode, and later with some processing in the built-in Photos app:

Why I love monochrome:

To make more dynamic and interesting street photographs, shoot layers:

Before you travel to a new city for photography, how do you know whether to shoot color or black and white? My practical ideas:

What is your personal street photography philosophy?

I see myself more of a ‘sociologist with a camera’ than a ‘photographer’ or even a ‘street photographer’.

This is another angle in street photography: you’re a sociologist with a camera!

Photograph as if you were to live forever!

Practical ideas:

Yes.

What is the point of photography and art? My thought:

To make sublime (great) photos, which inspire and uplift the souls of future photographers.

Nietzsche was staunchly anti-vegatarian. And I’m sure if he were alive today, he would be (even more) staunchly anti-vegan. An interesting thing he said in one of his books were about philosophers having ignorance when it came to nutrition, history, and physiology.

How come there hasn’t been anyone to create a philosophy of nutrition, or essay the truths about nutrition? This is my attempt:

The word habit comes from the word custom, which comes from the notion of setting your own path or way (suesco in Latin).

Seek LEGEND
Legendary
Tarry your own way

LEGENDARY
You’re on the quest to become yourself
What path have you been dealt?
Which way will you go, when you don’t know which way is right?

The right way is through the fire and strife
The hard way is the better way
Where you can go hard and cray cray, and insane– direct brain.

No such thing as shame or guilt
Go hard in life
Full tilt

ERIC

To build upon FILM 101: I wanted to review Kodak Portra 400, my favorite 35mm color film:

We cannot deny:

Tokyo is one of the apex cities for street photography in the world.

Osaka as also a great place to travel, street photography, and living!

Compared to Kyoto, more “gritty”, more influence of hip hop culture, and the people are more ‘down to earth’ and warmer.

Kyoto is more ‘elegant’, Osaka is more street!

Kyoto — the ultimate city in terms of street photography, aesthetics, food, and living:

In a world where all cameras are good cameras, and we all have the tools of creation — what now?

My vision:

Photography has truly become an even playing field — it’s all about merit (effort+skill)— the perfect photographic meritocracy!

Do we believe in democratic photography — photography for all— photography for the masses? Photography that anyone, regardless of socio-economic class can access?

Fashion as in human clothing for humans as superior than sports cars, luxury cars, fancy homes, etc:

I make my living teaching street photography workshops how to conquer your fears in street photography and life. Why? Because fearlessness is one of the most important traits in life to get what you want.

I’m in a funny position:

I’m maximally happy, but it doesn’t really do anything for me.

I’m hyper healthy, hyper strong, and hyper happy. But it seems that to simply maximize my personal happiness isn’t the ultimate goal in life. For me the ultimate goal in life is to make great art, plumb the depths of truth and discover new knowledge, and to share and empower others and the rest of humanity.

Let me explain:

An inquiry:

Does photography CAUSE us to become happier, or do we shoot photos as a result of our happiness?

A working theory:

Perhaps it is better to focus on our personal happiness (physiological health and strength), THEN start shooting photos as a result of our gratitude for our happiness?

The purpose of photography composition isn’t an end in itself. Meaning, composition is a tool to glorify and honor what you consider beautiful.

For example, I’d prefer a photo with weak composition (and strong emotional content), than a photo with strong composition (and says nothing at all).

Photography composition as a “stim pack” to add more intensity and dynamism to your already meaningful photos. Not composition for the sake of composition!

As photographer-artists we signal what we love and admire by photographing it. Channel your love and admiration by photographing what you love, what you’re impressed by, or what puts a smile on your face!

Pain isn’t bad, it’s one of our wisest and most valuable instruments.

The basic notion; let pain guide you. Pain will help you adjust your form, approach, technique, philosophy, and way of living.

Is there an ideal body proportion? Obviously there are some body proportions which are superior than others, but there probably isn’t an “ultimate”apex of body proportions. Some examinations:

In life, willpower is everything:

Ain’t no upsides without downsides:

It seems this is the best way to live life and become successful in any domain of life:

Only do what you want to do, never do what you don’t want to do.

What triggers us to make a photograph?

My thoughts:

1. Faces
2. Gestures
3. Movement
4. Texture
5. Patterns
6. Action
7. Tones
8. Colors
9. Food
10. Shapes
11. Graphics

I am convinced:

There is no right or wrong way to shoot street photography.

It is ‘all good’!

The goal:

Shoot in accordance with your own personal aesthetics and ethics.

What makes street photography more interesting or challenging than other forms of photography or art?

I’m currently living the best life right now. I don’t recall a time I’ve been happier (I’m even happier and stronger now than I was in Vietnam, which my prior apex).

Some thoughts and meditations:

In life’s action-packed RPG, remember– you’re the hero!

Insomnia: one of the worst afflictions facing us in modern times.

My thought:

I believe that we digital moderns have MORE insomnia than we did in the past.

Why and what is the culprit? Some thoughts:

We glorify and generate athletes and sports players in modern (and ancient) society. Why not give the same due respect and power to artist-athletes?

MAX OUT
LAST OUT

Last inning and no runs on the plate
You’re the last one hitting, nobody else can take over your place

MAX OUT
ASS OUT
Always full effort, never half
Better to go big and fail than tweet that you got a whale

Maximal gains, snails pace
That’s how you beat Achilles in the Zeno tortoise race

Place first every single time
You’re only racing against your last best given time

New PR is the goal
Max out everyday and shake up the world.

ERIC

Simpler compositions are better because:

1. They are stronger
2. They are more adaptable (all good compositions work well on all screen sizes, even smaller screens like phones)

Thus our quest:

Never stop our endless quest to create the ultimate simple and powerful image.

Simplification is the means — to ultimate strength and power.

The best way to change the world:

Determine and identify your #1 greatest strength and skill, then apply maximum force and effort towards it!

Now the tricky thing— how can we identify our greatest strength? Some ideas:

How to effectively organize and compose your frame in photography composition:

Even if you spend your whole life, and thousands of dollars just for one great photo, it is justified.

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When I was 18 years old, and first picked up a camera, it was my personal ambition to travel the world. I had romantic notions of traveling the world like Henri Cartier-Bresson, taking beautiful photographs of everywhere I went.

Dear streettogs,

If you are hungry to empower yourself to go on more epic and daring photographic adventures, I present to you: TRAVEL NOTES Mobile Edition (optimized for all of your devices for your ‘on the go’ lifestyle):

Is perpetual productivity desirable, or even possible?