Where do we get the will to shoot? And how can we augment this feeling?

I’ve been trying to determine what the best type of living, living mode, lifestyle is ideal for me — and it seems that ‘intermittent living’ is what I aspire towards:

Improve your mood in order to improve your creative productivity:

Make your life a work of (photographic) art:

If you had access to unlimited food, coffee, entertainment, and if you already had a bed to sleep at night– what is the practical utility of money?

Invest in Experiences, Not Equipment:

Philosophical inquiries on life when living on a cruise ship:

Resolutions for my 31st birthday:

Conquer every and each day by using your own extreme resourcefulness to find the maximum benefit of every hour of your day.

A thought:

What is more important, composition or aesthetics in photography? And are the two things totally different– or related?

Practical tips to inspire you:

Franz Kline: my current muse, and one of the most underrated painters and artists of all time:

What we don’t need are new cameras. What we need are NEW eyes— to see reality with a new perspective.

Why do we take drugs, enjoy pleasure, enjoy music, films, travel, and make artwork?

My theory:

To elevate ourselves — to feel super-human/super-natural.

After looking through my older photos, and thinking when I was the most productive as a photographer– it is when I was living the most!

The more you try to possess your photos, the more they possess you.

Practical ideas on how to make great photos.

Don’t worry about quality, focus on substance.

Better to be obscure and misunderstood than than to be totally decipherable and easily understood.

Life is infinitely too short to live it boring:

To ‘curate’ means choosing the photos you care about. To build your strength as a photographer, you must curate your work to only display the photos you care about.

To live the best possible life, perhaps we should strive to live everyday like it were our last– to make every single day perfect in our own eyes:

Photography and life is a stream of images:

Tips of things to photograph:

Make photos because it is your artistic power:

Why you must be you:

Genre doesn’t exist in photography:

What is the root of our dissatisfaction in our photographic artwork?

Why You Must Put Yourself Out There:

Reviewing some photos from last year, some tips:

If you want to be epic in life, you must be brave, take chances, and take epic risks.

An exciting entrepreneurial idea: essentially everything we do is streaming. And the more we stream our artwork, the more powerful we will become!

A ‘better’ photo is a more personal one. A photo you shoot with your soul:

I think if you adopt an ascetic lifestyle, you can live the best life possible, with the least amount of stress, and the maximum amount of personal freedom, joy, and artistic productivity:

Conquer your fears and meet new peers:

• March 7-10: Mexico City / Travel Photography Experience – Feb 15th Early-Bird Discount Deadline
• March 30: San Francisco / Photography Marketing and Branding Workshop – NEW!
• April 6: San Francisco / Conquer Your Fears in Life Workshop – NEW!
• April 24-29: Hanoi to Sapa, Vietnam / Travel Photography Experience 

Why is photography great?

Why idea:

We can transform our “normal” reality into something super-natural — something greater.

Creating your own aesthetic in photography: the camera you use, the focal length you use, whether you shoot with flash or natural light, and how you process your photos (whether RAW or JPEG):

What is the secret to success? We cannot be certain, but stopping and not continuing to hustle seems to a good path to unsuccess.

Live dope with no hope for tomorrow or the day after 

Live today with brave laughter, despite disaster

Why You Must Look at Your Older Photos

Let us take back the means of production and publishing, by owning our own photo publishing platform (our website/blog), instead of just depending on Facebook-Instagram or other social media platforms.

Is it Possible to Be “Happier” or More Happy in Life?

My new life goal: shoot a billion photos before I die.

First of all, recognize the fact that you ARE an artist.

Practical tips and thoughts on making better pictures:

What is “art”? To me, art is a concious activity of creating something that expresses you, your power, your ideas, or your own ideals.

Basic money idea:

Rather than worrying about getting “rich”, better to focus on NOT going broke!

Don’t delay your creating for tomorrow; create TODAY // RIGHT NOW!

What is confidence?

A thought:

In life, do things and consume things which make you stronger. Don’t do anything or consume anything that makes you weaker.

A list of my personal virtues/vices, and personal rules for myself.

My new rule to myself:

I will never hate, nay-say, or criticize anyone else.

If you try to impress or please others with your photos; you will end up making boring photos.

Obsession with optimizing your life will ruin your life:

Sublime function for the minimalist photographer.

Here is a general overview of my Lightroom (desktop) workflow currently looks like:

With material things (phones, laptops, cars, homes, clothes) don’t seek the “perfect” thing. Rather, “satisfice” (satisfy + suffice); seek material things which you consider 80% “good enough” and settle/stick with it!

A lot of people delay their personal happiness until they retire one day. But the question is this:

What do you even want to do with your life once you retire?

When we say we want to “improve” our lives, or to live a “better” life– what does that really mean?

Discovering your style in photography is a constant process:

If your passion is photography, you’re an artist. No need to get approval from others.

Dear friend,

Here are some practical thoughts on how to conquer anxiety in life:

A thought:

The best photos are the ones which bring us joy.

How do we make these types of photos? Simple: shoot photos as if nobody else could see your photos. This will be the ultimate judge of whether you shoot photos for yourself or for others.

A thought I had while at the gym:

If you could never shoot photos or travel ever again– could you live a happy life?

Can you achieve anything epic in life without being assertive?

Why Be Negative?

A question I’ve been grappling with a long time:

Is there an ideal lifestyle for myself?

Dear friend,

Question:

What is it you truly desire in life?

I have this new notion of photography:

What if we saw photography as a tool of empowerment, instead of just making photos?

I call this notion ‘power photography’.

A realization:

If the purpose of photography isn’t to become a better photographer, perhaps we shouldn’t make photography the ultimate aim of our lives.

Instead, we should be seeking to live a better life. And how do we improve our lives and live a better life? By adapting our photography to our life, not adapting our life to our photography.