Flagship blog / human artist archive

Shoot
Think
Publish

Street photography as courage. Photography philosophy as embodied life. A living archive by ERIC KIM.

Human first
Camera ready
Walk more
Publish raw
Overexposed background shot with a flash on RICOH GR II in P (program) mode. Creates a strong figure to ground because Cindy’s face is well lit, the background is very bright. This picture is strong, because it creates a DYNAMIC CONTRAST between Cindy’s face and the backdrop.
Photo essay / Jul 25, 2018

Photography Composition: Light and Dark

My buddy (the ancient Greek, pre-socratic) philosopher Anaxagoras has some pretty fantastic atomic theories in philosophy. A basic concept is that everything is comprised of dark and light, and other opposites. The reason this …

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Photo essay / Jul 25, 2018

True Happiness in Photography

I believe it is self evident and obvious that all of us as photographers seek “happiness” in our photography. But what does that even mean? How can one achieve happiness in photography? Is happiness …

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Photo essay / Jul 24, 2018

Never Stop Singing! #poetry

Never stop singing And dancing to the melody of life Life is more than pain and strife Its full of hope and smiles Never forget– you’ll probably live long, and be around for a …

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Photo essay / Jul 24, 2018

NOW IS THE TIME TO SHOOT! #photolosophy

Why wait on making photos? You have a camera, yet you don’t take it with you everywhere you go. You don’t have the motivation/inspiration to take photos. You are patiently awaiting the day you …

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Photo essay / Jul 22, 2018

Leica M10 Street Photography Review

It is evident that the new Leica M10 is the best digital rangefinder for street photography. The camera is fantastic. Let me share more of my experiences shooting with the Leica M10 and the …

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Photo essay / Jul 22, 2018

Don’t Mistake Activity for Achievement

I see this sucker mistake being made all the time in modern society; we mistake activity (answering emails, swiping and typing on our phones) for achievement. What we must focus on is effective, meaningful, …

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Cindy mask on face
Photo essay / Jul 22, 2018

Unlearn

Dear friend, A recognition: to seek true happiness, wisdom, and self actualization; focus on unlearning in life, not “learning”.

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Flight from Saigon to Singapore, 2018
Photo essay / Jul 20, 2018

Digital Nomad Photographer

I’ve achieved my dream of living nomadically and pursuing my passion of photography. I want to share a little bit of how this lifestyle is, and why I enjoy this lifestyle.

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Photo essay / Jul 16, 2018

Photograph History, Artistically.

I’m currently studying the photos of Robert Capa, and this is what amazes me about his work: he documented history, with beautiful artistry and composition.

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Selfie Ricoh Boston flash
Photo essay / Jul 16, 2018

What Moves You?

Dear friend, To philosophize a bit on life — let’s ask ourselves the question, “What moves us?” “What is the primary driver, or motivation behind our actions?” “Why live and wake up in the …

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Photo essay / Jul 16, 2018

Push Yourself Beyond Failure!

Dear friend, I wanted to philosophize a bit with you on failure. Namely, the upside of failure — and why pushing your limits until you fail is a good thing. #zenoferic

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Photo essay / Jul 16, 2018

The Joy of Photography

Philosophy means love of wisdom (philos=love) Sophia (wisdom). I then thought as photographers we are also philosographers (lovers of making photos, or loving painting with light)! #photolosophy

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Saigon abstract. Red and blue.
Photo essay / Jul 14, 2018

Chaos Photography

Photography is fun because it is random, chaotic, and unpredictable. Photography would be boring if everything were totally optimized and predictable #inpraiseofrandomness

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Photo essay / Jul 14, 2018

Photo Essay

An essay means (in French), an “attempt”. A photo essay is attempting to tell a story or show a certain perspective of something through photographs!

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Photo essay / Jul 14, 2018

My Top 10 Simple Joys in Life

Insofar much as I know, true “happiness” in life is eliciting more joy, meaning, and purpose in our lives. I don’t have the answer for others, but I know (some) of the answers for …

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Photo essay / Jul 14, 2018

Anti Optimization in Life

In today’s crazy technological world, we are always trying to “optimize” our lives. But what does “optimize” really even mean, and is it actually something desirable, to have the most optimized life?

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Photo essay / Jul 14, 2018

Soul Street Photography

Dear friend, I think what we’re trying to do in street photography is capturing the souls of others, as well as reflecting our own soul in the photos we make.

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Sunset
Photo essay / Jul 13, 2018

Via Negativa Photography

Some practical #photolosophy thoughts— don’t seek to add in your photography, seek to SUBTRACT from your photography, in order to make better photos, be less distracted, and to distill more purpose and meaning into …

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Eric kim eye selfie
Photo essay / Jul 13, 2018

Cultivate Your Own Culture

Dear friend, The cool thing about life: our future is not pre-determined. We have the power to change our own future, by creating our own culture, or even importing parts of culture from other …

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Eye purple
Photo essay / Jul 13, 2018

What Are You Designed to Do?

A philosophical inquiry: what were you designed to do in your life? Or in more precise words, what do you wish to designate yourself to do in life? #zenoferic

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Cindy and flowers. Saigon sniffing
Photo essay / Jul 12, 2018

SAIGON DIARY v4

New batch of photos from Saigon, shot on Lumix G9 RAW (processed with VSCO a6 preset), and some LX100 photos:

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selfie flash mirror green Ricoh
Photo essay / Jul 12, 2018

How to Gain More Willpower

Will power: the power of our will to enact change which we desire to see in reality / the power to create things we desire to create! #entrepeneurship

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Photo essay / Jul 12, 2018

10 Photography Project Tips

To promote my first print photo book, SUITS, I wanted to share some personal lessons and tips on working on your own photography project.

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kyoto ryokan Eric kim selfie Ricoh gr ii
Photo essay / Jul 12, 2018

COURAGE.

Dear friend, I was philosophizing about life, entrepreneurship, and risk-taking with my sister ANNETTE KIM, and I asked her– what keeps potential artists from continuing what they do? Annette told me — perhaps because …

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Photo essay / Jul 12, 2018

Visual Sociology

I shoot photos because for me, it is applied visual sociology; I can use the camera as my research tool to analyze, critique, and hopefully change society.

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Photo essay / Jul 11, 2018

Social Media Treadmill

Dear friend, I think a lot of us fall victim to a “social media treadmill”; we seek to get more and more followers for the sake of it; without really knowing or asking, “Why?”

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