ERIC KIM
PHOTO

When you design things, you impute your personal aesthetics, ethics, and philosophy into your designs:

The best life is the self-centered life.

A thought: Don’t worry too much about how “good” you are as a photographer (comparing yourself to others). Instead, just focus on making your own photos. Less interest in the photos of others (even …

Trust physique more than “health”:

As a photographer you’re a visual experimenter. Your camera is the visual hammer — hammering out, and sculpting reality to your own desires!

A thought: Many of us desire fancy things like fancy sports cars, fancy clothes, fancy homes, fancy watches, accessories, cameras, devices, etc. But what if instead of desiring these objects (totems of power), we …

A thought: We must think in terms of possibility (physics, first principles) not probability (being “realistic”). Anyone can live a basic, comfortable, and mediocre life by simply following orders, being industrious, and listening to …

What does it mean to become BEYOND healthy?

Make yourself:

Never stop making new photos:

I think “skill”in photography is a bit overrated. More fun and interesting to keep going out to shoot, experimenting, and letting randomness, chance, and chaos work in your favor!

I’ve religiously been intermittent fasting the last 2+ years (no breakfast and lunch, only dinner) with great success. A new level of energy, focus, and strength has been unlocked within myself. Also a new …

It ain’t a matter of being a “good” or “bad” photographer; it’s a matter of having fun in photography! Some practical tips to help motivate you in your photography:

When studying the etymology for the word “beautiful”, it essentially means “good”.

An essay about morals and ethics in street photography. Essentially my point is this: To think too much about morals and ethics in street photography is counter-productive.

Indefinite (slow, steady) growth is pure joy:

Inspiration after looking at the “skateboard” skeleton frame of Tesla: The beauty of emptiness and negative space.

After grappling a long time with philosophy, I’ve discovered that art and philosophy is perhaps the supreme fields of study. Furthermore for us to not worry about living a “moral” or “ethical” life, but …

Something fun I’ve been doing: Select monochrome photos I like then turn them into abstract illustration-images. What is the benefit of this? I discover the compositional and visual “gist” of an image. Fun activity …

Something I’ve realized about photos, art, images, and design: What is most important is the dynamic energy the image sparks! My current muses: Car design Animal design (sharks, Eagles, leopards, and other apex predators).

Why be “healthy”? What does that even mean? How do you measure “health”?

Perhaps this should be our adage as photographers: Shoot it or lose it. This means that our fitness as photographers relies on us shooting on a daily basis. Like exercising on a daily basis, …

Shoot in black and white, select a photo you like, apply extreme contrast (curves), inverse the image, Gaussian blur it, inverse it some more, then fill in and paint in the image:

I move, I groove to my own tune I’m the first mover, the air cleaver, the movement needer. I love to dance. I’ve light feet. Protein heavy, fed with meat. Smile and greet, soft …

To better understand growth, biology, life, composition, and energy — perhaps we should study fractals, science, math, and physics.

Something to think about when it comes to aesthetics: Does it weaken you or strengthen you?

You’re the best advantage in your life, not your phone.

If we think that happiness (eudaimonia according to Aristotle) is legitimate (happiness as human thriving), perhaps our happiness as photographer-artists is “photographic thriving”. This means: Extreme optimism, joy, and fun in making new photos …

More impressive saving money… or more impressive getting more bang for the buck.

Why move?

We got hyper cars; why not hyper humans?

To produce and make stuff as 1000x more fun than simply consuming, being passive, being “entertained”, and buying new things.

Just finished reading “The Poetics” by Aristotle (loved it) and came across this idea from him regarding poetry and art. He states that poets attempt the following in their stories (in terms of their …

A simple idea: Perhaps to live a better life, we should never do the same thing two days in a row? For example: Don’t eat the same foods or meals today as you did …

Towards a philosophy of aesthetics in photography: do you strive to capture the world as more beautiful, the same, or worse in your photos? In other words: Do you strive to make your photos …

My thought: The best photos are simple, direct, and don’t need much detail. What’s important? A compositional gesture and movement, strong subject, and strong contrast.

Motivation means to “set into motion”. My questions: How do we set ourselves into motion — to literally move more? How can we set ourselves into artistic motion — to move our feet to …

What if your impulsive behaviors were the correct behaviors?

Visual Experiment: Keep on Increasing Contrast, Gaussian Blur, and Inversing the Photo A fun experiment I’ve been doing in Procreate on my iPad: Choose a photo I like, then keep adding contrast, Gaussian blur, …

BEZERK, know your worthGo crazy, get lit Bleed your creative will, no fear of the ripsCrank out the hits, blips and tips Don’t slacken the pace, your feet are lightZen zone, focus dark. Zen …

In praise of pride in your own things. 

Photography is a highly physical activity: walking, running, squatting, lunging, walking up stairs, moving our bodies, moving our hands, arms, eyes. Why has nobody pursued a philosophy towards the physiology of photography yet?

Create and consume artwork which stirs you — which agitates you, solicits a response from you, and moves you (quite literally inspires you to move!)

Do you live a hard life out of guilt, or because you find a harder life more fun?

The Purely Selfish Person would Never Criticize anyone Else To criticize others less, become more selfish:

Don’t let the actions and behaviors of others affect your self-ego.

To have more fun with photography, shoot ultra-wide! (21mm, 24mm or even wider!):

My current goal — mastering my own metabolism. What does this mean? For me to have hyperabundant energy and thriving power all day. These are some things I’ve learned thus far:

I often feel nostalgia for the past. But what if this is a sign of degeneration? Or perhaps when I long for my nostalgic past, I’m bored of myself, or I don’t have much …

The wrong bias— thinking that our soul (mental) is superior and more important than our body. My belief: the soul is the body.

Practical composition ideas for street photography:

We want sports cars to stir and pump up our adrenaline — but why not: Powerlift Socially daring interaction (talk and dare to interact with strangers). Street photography (with or without permission). All these …

Why do we care so much for productivity? One of the insane points of modern society: We are so hyper-focused on productivity (for the sake of it). But why? What are the downsides to …

To make better photos means to make photos with energy, movement, levity, and power. Some simple ideas:

With iPhone, iPhone Pro, and smartphone cameras, the future of art (and society) is photography!

Is this what we are striving towards as artists — creative rapture? To be awed by the sublimeness of our own artistic works — which acts as our own intoxicant which brings us immense …

Why own different or rare stuff? To continue asking yourself philosophical questions, have a quick chat with my new Zen of Eric Chat Bot (Facebook messenger, currently only available in the States, soon to …

Life is boring when you’re standing still. Life is far more fun when you never stop going beyond yourself, and never stop surpassing yourself. And I learned from the students from my last Berlin …

What makes great design? Things which are designed which races your heart. Ferrari, Lamborghini, and other cars which are insanely dynamic and aggressive in the design, audacious, and of course — fast.

Once you realize you got the best stuff, is it liberating or depressing?

I tested the new iPhone Pro today (wondering if it could replace RICOH GR III as my camera), but alas– I rate the RICOH GR III still at least 10x better than the iPhone …

It seems to own a smartphone is better than to not own one, but the effect on buying a new phone on your personal happiness and productivity is insanely overrated.

I love mininalism and strive to consfnsly simplify my life more and in order to maximize my own personal creative power and strength. But what I feel we must avoid is this: becoming minimalist …

A zen-capitalist and minimalist consumer approach: You can admire much consumer goods and design without actually needing to buy or own it. For example I love Lamborghini design, but I don’t know if I …

Lift yourself by your heels Screeching tires, hot wheels Stand Stand up for what you see as true You knew it was right, truth through the strife Cut through the ignorance with a knife …

I often feel a bit depressed when I feel like I’m not “impacting” others to a degree I find satisfying. Then came the thought: what if instead, the best person I should strive to …

Why photography? Because in modern life we NEED more danger, excitement, aimless exploration, and thrilling adventure!

The more I use RICOH GR III and look at the images (on iPad Pro), the more I’m blown away. How can a camera be this good?

In praise of extreme hope, joy, and optimism in photography art: