{"id":35220,"date":"2016-12-04T21:28:09","date_gmt":"2016-12-05T05:28:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/?page_id=35220"},"modified":"2016-12-04T21:31:40","modified_gmt":"2016-12-05T05:31:40","slug":"marvel-nothing","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/marvel-nothing\/","title":{"rendered":"Marvel at Nobody But Yourself"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"eric-kim-photography-cindy-project-black-and-white-7-headband-portrait\"
Garden Grove, 2016 #cindyproject<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I remember when I started off in photography, I would be marveled by all these great photographers, with their fancy cameras, and their fancy lifestyles.<\/p>\n

Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t marvel at famous photographers<\/h2>\n

But the more I researched them, the less glamorous I found their lifestyles. Many of these great photographers had horrible personal lives, screwed up family lives, and many of them were miserable. Not only that, but all these fancy and expensive cameras weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t as great as I thought they would be.<\/p>\n

The lesson I learned is this: don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t marvel at anyone else (but yourself). Find inspiration from others, but don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t put these \u00e2\u20ac\u0153masters\u00e2\u20ac\u009d on a pedestal. Treat the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153masters\u00e2\u20ac\u009d as your guide, but not your personal master.<\/p>\n

Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t marvel at fancy gear<\/h2>\n

Not only that, but don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t marvel at expensive or fancy cameras and gear.<\/p>\n

I know for a long time, I lusted to buy a Leica. But once I got it, it just became any other camera, that eventually collected dust on the shelf.<\/p>\n

Regardless of how expensive, exotic, or fancy your camera\u00e2\u20ac\u201d you will eventually get used to it. Psychologists call this \u00e2\u20ac\u0153hedonic adaptation\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u201d the ability for you to adapt, no matter how good (or bad) something is.<\/p>\n

The same goes for buying a big house. Eventually you will get used to it. The same goes for buying a fancy car \u00e2\u20ac\u201d in about 2 weeks, the glamor will wear off. The same thing goes for living in a trendy neighborhood \u00e2\u20ac\u201d eventually everything becomes normalized, boring, and the same.<\/p>\n

My practical suggestion: buy a camera that is basic, affordable, and at your means (or below your means). That might mean using a cheap point and shoot camera (I am a big fan of the digital Ricoh GR II camera), or even using your iPhone\/smartphone. Or just being content with the camera you already have, and not seeking for more.<\/p>\n

Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t marvel at exotic cities or countries<\/h2>\n

Another tip \u00e2\u20ac\u201d don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t marvel at all these \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcexotic\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 cities and countries. Honestly, they are great to visit for the first time, but eventually, it will lose its glamor. Not only that, but you won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make good photos in exotic cities. They will be different and exotic, yes \u00e2\u20ac\u201d but interesting, no.<\/p>\n

My teacher Constantine Manos calls this being \u00e2\u20ac\u0153suckered by the exotic.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Anyone can photograph a geisha in Kyoto, a man with a turban in India, or local Vietnamese with rice-patty hats. They will look \u00e2\u20ac\u0153exotic\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153interesting\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to foreigners \u00e2\u20ac\u201d but what is exotic isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t always a good photograph.<\/p>\n

If anything, being a great photographer is making the most interesting photos in your own (boring) city or town. This is what makes the work of William Eggleston, Lee Friedlander, and Martin Parr so great. They are able to make the boring into something extraordinary.<\/p>\n

When I travel, I often take boring photos of interesting things. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve found the best photos I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve shot are what is personal to me (like photographing Cindy), or documenting my own city.<\/p>\n

Only marvel at yourself<\/h2>\n

The last thing I want to leave you with is this \u00e2\u20ac\u201d marvel at no other human; only marvel at yourself.<\/p>\n

Marvel at the progress you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve made in life. Marvel at your own photos. Find inspiration from others, but don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re any better than you.<\/p>\n

Seek to improve yourself, your photography, and everything else in life will follow.<\/p>\n

Always,
\nEric<\/p>\n

Learn more:\u00c2\u00a0Personal Photography ><\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I remember when I started off in photography, I would be marveled by all these great photographers, with their fancy cameras, and their fancy lifestyles. Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t marvel at famous photographers But the more I researched them, the less glamorous I found their lifestyles. Many of these great photographers had horrible personal lives, screwed up family […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35209,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-35220","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/35220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/35220\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}