Human artist blog / Street photography / Philosophy
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Street photography as courage. Photography philosophy as embodied life. A living archive by ERIC KIM.
Two notions that can help us as photographers: ‘Crowd-sourcing’ and ‘wisdom of the crowds’. But what is missing? A ‘double blind’ component (the primary innovation in arsbeta.com).
A thought while napping today: I believe freedom (control over your life) is more important than ‘happiness’. Let me explain:
Auto photo — making photos automatically, self-motivated, by yourself. No thinking. Just shooting and making.
A thought while at the gym today: What if mental power was physical power? Which means, when we are lacking mental willpower, we are actually lacking physical strength and power. This means, if you …
Cruise experience— great for photography, thinking, creating, meditating, and traveling.
Don’t constrain yourself. All art is good art!
Calligraphy to calm and express your soul.
Some notes from studying James Tompkin’s excellent Computer Vision course at Brown University:
One of my life dreams was to travel, and I’ve been on the road for the last decade+. What have I learned? Some personal reflections, also distilled in TRAVEL NOTES:
There are a trillion forms of self-expression in art. So why do we choose photography?
What’s real? What’s fake? What should we strive towards, and what should we avoid? What’s meaningful? What’s interesting to us? How should we live our lives?
A thought: We can binary categorize human beings into two categories: free or unfree.
Some thoughts: Don’t even waste energy to critique others. Focus on your own self development. Strive to build a mighty mind. War is our business. Self-war to elevate yourself. Struggle as fun. Follow your …
My thought: Let us assume you got another 60 or so years to live on planet earth. What do you desire from reality?
An effective compositional technique in photography: juxtaposition (contrasting two different elements or concepts in a single photograph):
On RICOH GR III, I’ve been shooting a lot of videos (1080p, 60fps) in high contrast black and white. This has been great, as it is another way to experience reality, create art, and …
The biggest problem in photography, art, and modern life: We don’t think the future will be greater, brighter, and more wonderful. Fuck the nihilist thinking. The future is greater than we think!
I’m not so interested in the photos I’ve already shot, I’m more interested in the photos I have yet to photograph. Which means live and shoot/explore on– you still have SO MANY new photos …
Why do you photograph? What do you photograph for?
A life without pain and suffering is undesirable. This means, having pain and suffering in life is BENEFICIAL to life. But the question is– what type of pain is ‘good’ and beneficial to us, …
My worst hell: if I lived my entire life on planet earth (until death) living a basic life. A life without wonder, danger, adventure, radical self-experimentation, and searching for beauty, knowledge, and wisdom. Thus …
The ocean is vast Spread your mast, and spread your wings Let the liquid air take you where you need to be The ocean is free Overwhelming with billows and wind from within Sail …
One of my goals in life: Strive to have maximal energy everyday, and to never weary of my creative pursuits and activities. How is this possible? Some ideas:
To make your photos more artistic, make them more unclear:
I’ve been shooting a lot of videos on my RICOH GR III, but the problem with videos: What should I do with the videos? Videos are a bit difficult to share and publish. But …
Something fun I did while being disconnected on a cruise (without wifi): Experiment with all the post-processing options in Adobe Photoshop to better understand and de-construct your photos.
To photograph your everyday life with zest, gusto, and love: Recognize your life is precious, and strive to extract the maximum from your own life in your own photos. This means, don’t desire any …
How Long Can You Enjoy Things? Something I’ve learned in life: Many things we buy, possess, or experience is pure novelty. We might enjoy it once, or have fun with it for a day …
Besides the obvious, it seems an ideal strategy is whenever possible, never buy new.
If your motive is to make more intimate photos, shoot with a wider-angle lens (21mm, 24mm, 28mm, 35mm lens). The perspective of a wide-angle lens will create more intimacy in your photos, which means …
Currently on a 5-day Carnival cruise from New Orleans to Mexico (day 4), and this is my thought: A cruise ship is the ultimate psuedo-utopia. Let me explain:
You’re brave, what is your duty? If you really knew me, you would know I don’t care much for myself. I don’t think of myself at all. My ego is just a tool. I …
A thought on success: Be insanely different from everyone (in other words, just be you).
Currently on a cruise ship (what I consider a pseudo-utopia). Currently thinking about money: What would be the purpose/function of money in a “post-monetary society”?
The less friction, the better. The more direct approach we take in life, the better.
Travel further with TRAVEL NOTES > A question: Will traveling actually help improve your photography? I think so. Not directly, but this is generally what happens: When you travel, you focus on making photos, …
Low-key: Shooting photos with a lower-exposure (darker).
A fun activity: Take screenshots of photos you’ve already shot! I call this ‘meta-photography’ — using the screenshot tool to photograph your own photos.
If you want to re-spark your passion for photography and travel, pick up a copy of TRAVEL NOTES on Amazon, or here in our HAPTIC SHOP.
Let us assume you are financially independent, location independent, nomadic, rich, and whatever form of success. Now the question is: How should I live my life? How should I direct my life-force-energy? My simple …
A thought: The end goal isn’t happiness, it is artistic ex/outpression, and the witnessing of yourself becoming stronger. Also, helping empower others along the way while you’re still alive! Happiness is a reflection of …
TRAVEL NOTES now live on AMAZON > RICOH GR III is the best travel photography camera. Small, compact, phenomenal sharpness and dynamic price, lightest [even smaller and lighter than RICOH GR II], recharges with …
Extract the Maximum from Reality and Life:
Dare to stare into the depths of your soul and exclaim whatever you want to the real world. DAREDare to care about what you are curious about, to follow your gut, to never second-guess …
Was on the plane and cruise ship without wifi, and instead of blogging in real time, and I used iBooks Author to put together some photos and some thoughts while in transit. Free PDF …
Better to be poorer, with more freedom, and more control over your artwork and life. For example as a musician, better to have a very small and dedicated fanbase [than to have millions of …
You don’t have a duty to help all of mankind. My idea: The goal is for you to create genuine thoughts, ideas, and art-works, and to share them as widely as possible. Even if …
This is the strange thing I notice: We admire things [cars, homes, electronics, stuff] more than we do humans. For example, we find Porsche cars more impressive than great individuals. We find Rolex watches …
One of my life goals: Strive to [everyday] have the maximal feeling of physiological power and self-confidence. To get drunk off Dionysian self-intoxication; to channel my inner powers to creative output.
I don’t think the purpose of a vacation or any activity (sleep, nap, massage) is to “relax”. Better to think of it as recovery and to reinvigorate yourself!
Special thanks to my buddy Kevin and to Cindy for making this happen! Pick up CREATIVE EVERY DAY IN HAPTIC SHOP >
TRAVEL FURTHER WITH TRAVEL NOTES > I think on your road to deepening your personal wisdom about the world, travel is a necessity.
My current thought: The objective of life is for you to advance your artistic innovation, insight, creativity. And how to do this? Optimize your life which prioritizes your artistic evolution and thriving.
EvolveStrive to enthrall yourself with your progress and strengthTo what length can you evolve forth? Is there any chord holding you back? How can you evolve? How can you fly higher, swim further, and …
When you see an interesting scene — keep shooting the scene, change up your composition/framing/orientation — and later when you review your photos on your computer, THEN choose your favorite! Download ZIP of Composition …
Make shotsPhotograph your thoughtsShoot your soul, emotions, and motionsBlack or white, chroma; it’s all dolce and sweet Your photos are your art; why hesitate, why not start? Chart your creative seas, stir it up, …
Photography makes life worth living!
What is the root cause of depression? Why do we feel depressed some days, and uplifted other days? Does depression manifest differently in different people? Is the word “depression” even useful? Let me essay …
BOLD and BRAVE, no Regret or Shame
TRAVEL NOTES by HAPTIC PRESS Why travel? For me, traveling isn’t for the sake of traveling. Instead, traveling as a means or a bridge for self-introspection. When you travel, you finally get the distance …
To promote our newest book, TRAVEL NOTES, I wanted to make a list of everything I’ve learned so far about travel, photography, and life:
Dear friend, Since dropping STREET NOTES, PHOTO JOURNAL, FILM NOTES, and STREET HUNT — we are very excited to share with you our newest creation: TRAVEL NOTES
More options, more stress, more distractions. In praise of “choice minimalism” of living.
In today’s world, assuming you have the means— why would you ever buy a gasoline car?
When you buy something, it requires much of you. You must take care of it, you must maintain it, you must use it. You don’t want to just store it, or have it collect …
A lesson: Generally in life, more and bigger is worse. Let me explain.
Beyond “virtue signalingâ€â€” virtue flexing.
For many of us, we strive to retire, become “financially independent†and “location independentâ€. It seems the modern form of success is to become a “digital nomadâ€. But once you achieve all this — …