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.
We all want to make good, great, or “better” photos. But a lot of us lack the inspiration to shoot every day, or we lack the motivation to shoot every day. Or perhaps we …
I think it is good to have idols and role models who inspire you, and people which motivate you to greatness. A thought: Perhaps we should strive to BECOME GREATER than those who came …
Similar to the notion of “purposeful procrastination” comes my new notion of “delightful delay”: Don’t feel rushed to adopt new technologies. Don’t be an “early adopter”. Delight in delaying trivial decisions! For example, Delight …
Photography must be fun, or else it isn’t worthwhile. Here are some fun photography tips for you:
Ever since being a fat kid (hot pocket diet as a child), I have always been curious about physical exercise, diet, and health. But when people talk about “health” — things/foods/lifestyles which are “healthy” …
There is no “ideal” body shape. Just strive to look the way you want to look:
I’ve been quite religiously following a quite strict intermittent fasting schedule the last 2 years (no breakfast or lunch, only a massive dinner), and here are some practical tips and intermittent fasting hacks which …
A question that arose in my mind this morning: Is entertainment ‘bad’? Furthermore: When we say ‘entertainment’ — what do we really mean?
I think more important than image quality of a camera is ergonomics (size, feel of the camera in your hand, UI/UX of menu and button system, responsiveness, haptic feedback, build quality, and weight/compactness).
How should you live your life? A thought: Focusing our lives on our artistic and intellectual output/growth.
Freedom of time, freedom over your schedule, health (physiological vigor), and motivation and power to create your own artwork.
A thought while shooting on a phone today: What is “Image Quality” when we talk about it in photography? Are there objective measures 9r “image quality”? And when we say “image quality”, what do …
I love democracy, open-access, and I like the idea that no matter how rich or poor you are, you can gain access to the same tools. This stems from the fact that I grew …
The more things you own, the more things own you.
Never stop being curious in your photography:
One of the sentiments I hate in photography at the moment: Everyone thinks they’re a photographer now. But the truth is everyone has already been a photographer! Why this pretentious nonsense of trying to …
Photography is kind of like Pokémon: The ultimate telos (purpose) is to catch all of the Pokémon which exist. So I wonder for us as photographers– is our purpose to capture as many photographic …
A little bit ago I watched the classic Arnold Schwarzenegger documentary “Pumping Iron” on Netflix, and loved it. But a thing that I found very curious or strange: None of these super strong and …
A thought: In today’s sedentary society, it seems that the ultimate luxury is (one of the most basic human needs): the ability to walk!
After shooting with the Leica Q2 for about a week (having shot crop APS-C sensors and digital medium format) — I was thinking: Is full-frame overrated or underrated?
Making photos as a way to augment your memory (looking at old photos to more vividly remember lovely memories!)
Flash opens up the world, changes the world, and creates so many new photo opportunities!
This is a super basic idea, but I think an important one: Do you enjoy looking at your own photos? Moreover: Would you pursue photography as an art-creation form, even if you couldn’t share …
One of the biggest inspirations behind the idea of ARS: Recognizing that your artwork and life is always in beta (testing) mode.
Ibarionex Perello: When I began teaching photography, a photographer noted that I described my process as making rather than taking photographs. It had never been a conscious thing, but rather a natural assessment of …
A philosophical idea: Perhaps to live the best possible life, we should treat every and each day like a mini-lifetime (as if we were going to die tonight). This is why I think this: …
A true friend: someone who wants what is best for you, is friends with you because they want to help empower you (giver).
Shots from Leica Q2, shot on JPEG, max contrast, saturation, and sharpness in the “ vivid†filter:
I love this notion of “tabula rasa†(clean slate philosophy).
Publish and things in progress, because your art (ars) is always in beta mode (arsbeta.com)
My thoughts of today (reading “The Genealogy of Morals†by Nietzsche) at the Potrero Hill Library in SF: The point of life isn’t to minimize pain. Why anesthesia yourself? What if pain was a …
Shoot based on your gut, choose your photos based on your gut, and process and share your photos based on your gut.
Focus progressing in your own life according to your own ideals.
A thought — When you have the opportunity, never buy anything brand-new.
Make more, own less.
What is technology? My definition: The power to do more with less.
Oliver Byrne — made Euclid’s “Elements†book into color — to aid learning. Learn more here, or access more below: Download PDF link (holybooks.com) Digitized PDF (Jemmy Button) Digital Math Archive
A thought: It seems now, we all can afford the same great tools (in terms of functionality). However there are still “luxury” tools (iPhones, Leica Cameras) as opposed to ‘Democratic’ tools (OnePlus Android phones, …
When I see the work of Kline, I see his soul through his brush strokes, and I also “see facesâ€:
It seems what I love in life (from an economic/innovation/technology/life perspective) is value.
A thought: Life is too short to be prudent and to “plan” for the future. Perhaps to live a happier life we should live more recklessly, dangerously, and take more epic risks in things …
What I’m digging right now (Nike Labs, Panerai, Rolex, Honda, Y3, Balenciaga, Louis Vuitton):
A thought: Perhaps to maximize our creativity, we should cycle. Cycle between the cameras we use, cycle with our different focal lengths, cycle with our aesthetic (color or monochrome, or post-processing style) and cycle …
Currently testing the new Leica Q2– and I think it is an ultimate camera. Let me share my thoughts:
A simple idea: Perhaps instead of striving to become “better” photographers or making “better” photos, we should strive to simply make photography more fun!
It seems we are all obsessed with ‘photography projects’, or ‘art projects’. It seems the bias is that if we are ‘serious’ photographers or aspire to become more ‘serious’ in photography, we need to …
Huge fan of the new Leica Q2. Some quick thoughts:
Thanks to my friend Anthony for letting me play with his new RICOH GR III— with the ERIC KIM WRIST STRAP and ERIC KIM CASE.
I think we photographers desire to always be inspired/motivated to make photos which give us deep joy. And in order to do that– we of course need a camera. But is there a perfect …
A fun idea: What if you only shot with your camera or phone in JPEG (with a certain filter/preset in-camera), and you didn’t allow you to further post-process your photos afterwards?
Simple photo project to pursue: Shoot textures.
Some fun experiments of shooting flash and no flash:
To better understand images, composition, design — almost anything — deconstruct it (take it apart, dissect it, then figure out why you like it):
I just tested the new iPhone XS (Max) camera for photography — and a huge fan. Here are my thoughts as compared to my prior iPhone XS (normal) review.
I’m no longer high off the social-media opium dream; I’m empowering myself and building my own self-esteem.
The iPad Pro (10.5 inch) is what I currently have, as well as the Touchbar MacBook Pro (13 inch) and I can say I enjoy looking at my own photos at least 5x more …
My freshest batch of my YouTube Videos (from Mexico City and beyond):
Go super hard during the day, and super relax to recover as effectively as possible.
The flaneur — to walk aimlessly, elegantly, slowly, poised — and to photograph anything you find interesting.
ARS; the best (recent) innovation for photographers seeking true feedback/critique on their photographs:
Motivation literally means “to move”. We need to move and act to do anything; we need to move our fingers to type, we need to move our feet to shoot photos, we need to …
It seems the best place to get visual inspiration for me as of late is luxury goods:
