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.

Get free inspiration on ERIC KIM NEWSLETTER >

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?

We often think that by owning MORE things, and fancier things, we will be “happier”. In fact, I find that my life is WORSENED when I have more things, more liabilities, and more responsibilities.

Envy which inspires, motivates and prompts you to action and greatness — not the petty envy/jealousy which weakens you and makes you small.

For example, I envy Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, Kanye West, and all this great artist-entrepreneurs. My positive envy and admiration for them drives me.

When I see someone at the gym who can squat 4 plates (405+ pounds) with no belt, this positive envy inspires me to work harder to achieve the same!

Envy isn’t a vice. Pettiness is. Harness envy in a positive way, to elevate you to grand heights— where you can delight in the brisk and icy air!

ERIC

The joy of street photography as super simple: the joy of walking, being in public places, love of fresh air, love of being around other people, the joy of walking, the joy of thinking, and the joy of making photos (while you’re out and about!)

My ideal:

To become “power overwhelming” in the triad of physical, mental, and artistic power.

This is what I consider will bring us ultimate happiness, power, and joy in existence!

Success as anti-busyness.

A deeper, a richer, a darker, a more profound reality— this is what I find so beautiful about monochrome:

EXCEL
rise high, nose dive, into the depths and to higher planes

EXCEL
Through the Alice well, into the other side

Glide through life, flaneur it. Walk on the tips of your toes, ballerina and boxer it.

Stick to your path, then break it. You don’t need to fake it, just take it.

Elevate yourself to new heights. Fortune favors the bold, don’t worry — the cold don’t bite!

ERIC

Experiences are metaphysical. You can never have “too many experiences”or totally overwhelm your mental mind with experiences.

It’s possible to hoard physical things, but not experiences.

Lesson: accumulate more experiences in life, and shed more material things which weigh you down!

Why does photography matter?

Art is the great stimulus of life (Nietzsche). When I consume and create art, I create more life, I become more amazed and joyful of life (and being alive), and I want to continue to empower humanity to greater heights!

If you love life, you love photography (the ultimate glorification of life and reality!)

How is photography different than other art forms? We photographers are taking reality and glorifying the real embodied world. Other art forms make fictions from artificial shapes and forms.

How to achieve freedom in a capitalist system: entrepreneurship is the key.

ARSBETA.COM — a true innovation in photography feedback, and the first ‘constructive’ platform that can actually help us IMPROVE as photographers!

Renaissance means “rebirth”. Comes from the older phrase, “renascent”.

The general idea is great: everyday you’re born anew. You got “born again”Christians and the like — but what if we’re being born anew everyday?

Okay at this point this is ridiculous — the iPhone Pro is truly “insanely good”. It is the one device to rule them all. Let me share:

It seems sound (rhythm, tone, music) is the most primal, then perhaps comes the visual (we interpret hand gestures, body symbolism).

I wonder — why do we love images? Is “visual intelligence”real and something to be desired?

Once you’re retired, financially independent, “location independent”, a “digital nomad”, and have achieved all the external measures of success, how do you prevent or conquer existential dread? (Danger of nihilism — that there’s no “purpose”to life)

My simple suggestion and solution:

Become part beast (powerlifter), part philosopher, and part artist.

What works for me:

1. Strive to increase your “one rep max”in deadlifts and squats indefinitely. Constantly seek more physical strength.
2. Continue plumbing the depths of philosophy, poetry, and art. My heroes and inspirations include Kanye West, Seneca, Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, Epicurus, Nietzsche, Goethe, Horace.
3. Never stop making art! Pursue entrepreneurship and take risks.
4. Never stop traveling, exploring and visiting new places, trying new foods, discovering new cultures, learning new languages, learning new dances, and listening to new music.
5. Share your own personal revelations and lessons in life on your own blog or YouTube Channel.
6. Get married, have kids. Genetic lineage. Know your life is short and small in the grand scheme of things. The goal is to instruct future generations!
7. Study the lives and actions of the great individuals and heros of the past, and strive to become great yourself!
8. Never stop reading philosophy and studying great art. Also, never stop writing and creating your own art.

Tested the Apple Watch (new Series 5), and I really don’t like it. Some of my candid thoughts:

Technology which adds complexity to your life, or technology which REMOVES complexity from your life?

The best technology REMOVES complexity from your life and simplifies it. For example, Uber instead of owning a car, or having to find parking when driving. iPhone Pro with simplifying and streamlining the shooting, selecting, processing, and sharing workflow.

Don’t get suckered by buying new technology, toys and gadgets which COMPLICATE your life even more, DISTRACT you even more, and requires for you to maintain more.

Don’t worry too much about the “purpose of your life”. Instead, simply strive to maximally exploit today!

Towards an eternal recurrence in photography:

Why Instagram is bad for your self-esteem, your creativity, your mental well-being-being, your focus, and generally — bad for humanity.

My thoughts:

A thought:

Now that all cameras are good, and that the iPhone Pro (the ultimate equalizer in photography) has arrived — what is the best way to differentiate yourself as a photographer?

Some ideas:

“In art, the best is good enough.”

Voltaire

We are finally at the point in which iPhone Pro is truly good enough for photography: good enough to be your solo camera, your solo photo selector, your sole photo processor, and your creative “all in one”solution.

What we desire for in life which drives our will to power, riches, fame, and influence — the desire for more strength. Physical and physiological strength-health, strength to pursue great aims, strength to create great and powerful art, and the strength to control other people, spaces, and ourselves.

I consider the iPhone Pro x RICOH GR III as the best camera setup. iPhone Pro for everyday photography, and RICOH GR III if you need more power.

iPhone Pro like a quick-draw pistol, RICOH GR III as the heavy artillery (thinking John Wick).

Just tested the new AirPods Pro, and I really don’t like them. Why? Not because the technology isn’t good (the technology is great), but more of the philosophical, psychological, and practical implications of them.

Let me explain:

TRAVEL NOTES thought:

Do you employ traveling as a means to spend MORE time with yourself, or to distract yourself from yourself?

Anything you can do to streamline and simplify your life is good!

Let us consider that photography is the ultimate democratic form of art-creation. Then this means that photography is the ultimate visual art.

Currently living in a ‘tiny apartment’ (less than 350 square feet), and I love it. Why? Let me share:

What are the practical and philosophical implications once photography and art-creation has been democratized for the masses?

It means that art-creation becomes a meritocracy, which means — your rank as a photographer-artist is based on your skill, effort, and merit, not how rich you are, or your access to tools and privilege.

What I just realized:

The reason why many individuals and individuals in the art world don’t like photography is because it disrupts art: art production, art publishing, and art in general!

I’m still amazed by the new iPhone Pro image quality (with the new beta OS). It has arrived — it’s truly “good enough”for photography, and can become your sole camera!

Today’s modern gold: the ability to NOT get distracted. Some practical ideas to help you never get distracted (by crap you don’t care for):

My thought:

Google Pixel will never be as good as iPhone, here’s why:

A fun and random idea:

Could you shoot a billion photos before you die?

How to do this:

What if creativity (propensity to create) and motivation were more physiological than mental?

A thought:

When we desire x, y, z, do we want it for what it is, or what it symbolizes?

For example:

1. Do we want that car for what it is, or what it symbolizes? For instance I want the Lamborghini for what it symbolizes: audacity, sexiness, and power. I don’t think I actually want to own the car itself.
2. Much of fashion and luxury is about the notion of elegance, beauty, and grace. We think that by purchasing these things we become more beautiful, graceful, and worthy.
3. When we want to buy that new camera, what we really want is to feel more inspired, creative and happy. But will buying that new camera really have that effect?

I’ve never bought an iPhone in my life, and I never thought the iPhone was “good enough”in my eyes to become my primary computer, or even my primary camera.

But after a week of testing, I can say: the iPhone has arrived.

My thought:

Life is far too long to be bored. Why live your life being bored, enslaved, or chained down — even for a minute?

Inspired by Nassim Taleb: the basic idea is this:

Instead of trying to figure out what drugs, supplements, and things to ADD to your life, experiment by subtracting and pruning away toxic things, in order to become healthier, happier, and stronger.

For example for me:

1. No lactose, cheese, dairy, butter: These all taste phenomenal to me, but my Asian stomach can not handle or process it. I’m much stronger and my digestion is far better after cutting it all.
2. No alcohol: I get easy hangovers. Just cutting alcohol has helped my mind stay strong, focused, and of course — no lost productivity because of headaches related to alcohol.
3. No drugs (cocaine, weed, LSD, shrooms, ecstasy, etc): No moralistic problems with it, the biggest problem is I’m just super suspicious of the negative long term impacts it can have on my brain, neuro chemical, and hormonal signaling.
4. No email, social media, news, blogs, newspapers, TV, Netflix shows: These things all seem to rewire my brain in strange and distracting ways. Difficulty to focus. Also, more feelings of anxiety associated with these types of media and communication.
5. No gluten, bread, rice, starch, carbs, sugar, corn-related products, etc: I’ve been able to be pure keto (lots of fatty meats, eggs, and bitter herbs) with no mental, physical, or emotional downside. In fact, I feel stronger, keener, sharper, more awake, confident, and brazen. Also my body fat percentage has gone down (less fat adipose tissue) which is great for my personal physique. Furthermore less carbs and starch means I can eat more eggs and meat (more protein for muscle building and brain recovery).

In life, to increase happiness, health, and strength, keep experimenting with subtraction in order to become more powerful!

Pragmatic and practical strategies in order to recover from modern life:

1. Eat much meat
2. Detox from coffee and caffeine
3. Lift weights
4. Walk 5+ miles a day
5. Sleep 8-12 hours a night
6. No social media, no news, no Netflix, no email, no phone
7. Intense massage
8. Acupuncture
9. Long hikes in the woods, total panoramic immersion in nature
10. Ice baths or ice showers
11. Hot sauna
12. Dancing at the club or any dancing establishment
13. Fresh air
14. Much sunlight
15. No video games
16. Detox from alcohol and weed

MAKE yourself GREAT State your worth, steer your course, do it first.

Proclaim your greatness far and wide, stateless, you’re a different case.

Never stay still, keep rolling your stone of life. Prometheus unbound, keep your liver hungry for more!

ERIC

Living life on the edge, pushing your limits, living extreme as far more interesting, fun, enjoyable and rewarding in life.

You are never destroyed by anyone else but yourself: the great optimistic and empowering thought in life and existence.

I’m a mean, keen, perpetual photographic machine!

In praise of Vegas:

Something fun I’m experimenting with:

Importing photos I shoot on my RICOH GR III to iPhone via the SD card lightning adapter, selecting my favorite photos, and uploading them directly to my blog from iPhone.

It’s essentially the same as iPad, except iPhone has the benefit of being even smaller and more compact.

iPhone Pro as the most interesting camera right now:

Investing in experiences in life as the best “bang for the buck”— not things, possessions, and ephemeral objects.

Why I believe Apple is leading the way in photography, arts creation, culture, and society:

A thought:

What if much of our impulse to make art, photographs, etc is related to our hormones?

What is one of the best computer hacks you can integrate? Uninstall Chrome and start using Safari instead. Why? Some reasons: