Dear friend,
I’ve been philosophizing a lot about AI and studying AI (especially AlphaGo– just watched the Netflix documentary and was super inspired). Anyways, the question I have is this:
What can AI teach us about being human, or how can we better leverage AI to help us become smarter, more intelligent, or “better”?
The biggest problem in photography now: we have TOO MANY photos to look through. We are overwhelmed with our pictures, and we have no idea which of our photos are the best — and we’re uncertain which photos we should share/publish.
Made on iPad Pro 10.5 inch. Studying the work of Leonardo da Vinci and other Renaissance painters:
Basic idea: as a photographer, if you’re shooting street photography (or photographing anything that is moving), you are tracking the movement of the subject. The movement of the subject moving towards you, away from you, or in different directions. But how can we apply this machine learning concept of ‘image tracking’ to our photography? Some ideas:
Tip: Use the VSCO “distoria” filter to check whether your composition is good or not:
Bounding boxes are a fascinating concept for photographers– and a concept that many machine learning folks use to classify images, and detect images.
To curate your photos means to ‘care’ about your photos. So when you’re curating your portfolio; figure out which photos really speak to you — and why they speak to you!
I met a guy named Ryan at ‘Backyard Brew‘ in Palo Alto, and was super inspired by him — he taught me this concept of the ‘straight line’: directly do what you want to do, without getting distracted by money or other kinks in the link.
To be human is to create. Some simple tips to boost your creativity; excerpted from our book, ‘Eternal Return to the Creative Everyday‘ (all custom illustrations made by Annette Kim):
Perfection is Undesirable:
In life, I think it is good to always have the spirit of improvement, however I think we need to be careful of the Cerberus (false ideal) of perfection.
Dear friend,
Something I want to reflect with you is this:
What is image quality, is it important, why is it important, and what is the function of image quality? And is there an objective way to judge image quality– or is it all subjective?
Treat photography as visual experimentation. Have fun with it! And be like a visual scientist; never stop experimenting!
Taking photos is easy; curating your best photos is hard.
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” – Leonardo da Vinci
Dear friend,
A practical idea: in photography, life, and art, strive to keep your work super super simple.
A powerful idea I got from my buddy Nietzsche; in order to grow, we need BOTH pain and pleasure!
How do you know if you’re making progress in your photography? Is it important to make progress in your photography?
In the philosophy of photography and aesthetics, we can categorize photos into a binary categorization: either beautiful or ugly. But what makes a photo beautiful or ugly? Or what makes things beautiful or ugly?
We are in a brave new world of photography; we can leverage machine learning and artificial intelligence to make better photos! Some things I’ve been learning:
Dear friend,
A simple technique we can integrate into our photography — let us draw imaginary red arrows whichever direction our subjects are looking, or the direction they are walking!
Some of my favorite and may best street photography pictures, and why I think they are good:
Dear friend,
One of the most difficult challenges we have as photographers is to find inspiration to shoot new photos. Some practical ideas:
Dear friend,
A realization I’ve had after having a nice conversation with my buddy Christophe Wu: photography (and life) is all about point-of-view (POV); your perspective of the world.
Currently in San Jose, enjoying time with my mom, Annette Kim, Cindy, and loving life. Gonna teach a few workshops here, then off to NYC for another workshop, then Montreal in November (first time), then back in LA in December!
Dear friend,
An aesthetic and life philosophy I strive towards; subtracting the superfluous.
My good friend and former workshop student Martin just made a new YouTube video on 3 practical street photography composition tips. Give the video a watch and subscribe to him here.
Dear friend,
Take your photography seriously — it is your art-work, the expression of your soul, and what gives you the spirit to live!
What I think differentiates a good photographer and a great photographer is this: a great photographer is a better observer of the world around them! But how can we observe better as photographers, and why observe better?
The New ERIC KIM PORTFOLIO BAG: Create, travel, be prepared for every photography adventure EVERYDAY.
Dear friend,
A practical idea for you: if you want to shoot more, don’t baby your gear. Instead, give yourself permission to use and abuse your gear!
What is your personal street photography philosophy? It’s different for everyone; discover it for yourself.
Elevate yourself and your own inner-wealth. Play the cards you’ve been dealt; but be clever and be sly. Don’t be shy, you got great potential, my friend. Self-mend your broken heart; stay bright, today is a fresh new start!
Continuation of PART 1. Battleship Potemkin, an epic film from 1925– apparently Stanley Kubrick would watch the films of Sergei Eisenstein on loop. Watch it here.
Why do we wait to get “discovered” by others? Why not just self-publish, and publish ourselves?
I have a passion for pictures; all pictures! Paintings, photos, illustrations, graphic design, typography, sculpture; any visual art and all art in general!
A realization while at the gym: photography must be fun, or else it isn’t worthwhile.
Personal sketches of Leonardo da Vinci — trying to better analyze and digest his paintings:
Two years ago, Eric and I (Cindy Nguyen) got married and officially launched HAPTIC INDUSTRIES with STREET NOTES and THE CITY OF ANGELS. Now HAPTIC is now in its terrible twos. We’re terribly excited to keep making art, building community, and sharing our love for education. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for the love and inspiration to keep experimenting!
You never know whether you will make a good photo or not before you shoot it. Thus to me it only makes sense that you must just shoot a lot; and the more you shoot, the luckier you will get!
Simple is elegant. Here are some (super) simple street photography tips to integrate into your shooting:
Dear friend,
A very basic idea– what we truly desire as artists is “creative freedom” — to create what we desire without anyone else preventing us from doing it!
Some personal lessons I’ve learned while studying Stanley Kubrick’s early photography collection:
Dear friend,
I believe one of our tasks as humans is to progress. To improve. To advance, and for us to visibly see our own progress, and actually be proud of our progress!
But how do we know we are advancing or progressing in our photography, art, and life? Some personal ideas:
Eric Kim CASE: Always have your RICOH, film, SD cards, and accessories with you. Eric Kim CASE now available in the HAPTIC SHOP in BRONZE LEATHER or PHANTOM BLACK.
Placate yourself, disregard your wealth
Keep careful eye over your health, stay strong and stand tall; don’t stay knelt.
“A backward glance can always lift the heart.” – Dante (The Divine Comedy)
We are often told to “count our blessings” to find more happiness, joy, and satisfaction in life. I would say it’s more effective to “consider all the people who are less fortunate than us, people dying of disease, enduring war, and exile.”
Dear friend,
A realization I had: if it weren’t for my scars and suffering and difficulty in the past, I wouldn’t have become as strong as I am today.
Never stop shooting. No matter how boring or uninteresting you feel like your life is; there’s always something to shoot! Some practical ideas to always stay inspired to shoot:
