![\"eric](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/eric-kim-photography-hanoi-3-800x530.jpg?resize=800%2C530\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Dear friend,<\/p>\n
I know there are times that we lack confidence in ourselves as photographers and artists; but how can we overcome that lack of confidence?<\/p>\n
![\"eric](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/20161213-PC130098-2eric-kim-street-photography-dalat-800x533.jpg?resize=800%2C533\")
I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going to make this a bit autobiographical if you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mind.<\/p>\n
First of all, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m lucky enough that I was raised by an amazing mother<\/a> who taught me how to have confidence in myself. She never doubted me; and always encouraged my creativity.<\/p>\n When I first started this blog (with the encouragement of Cindy<\/a>) \u00e2\u20ac\u201d I had no idea what it was going to be for. All I know is that when I started street photography, I couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t find any useful information on the internet in terms of how<\/em> to shoot street photography.<\/p>\n I was first hesitant to start the blog. I told Cindy about my lack of confidence, and she told me: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Just start it anyways.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d But I retorted: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153But I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know anything!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d She said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fine \u00e2\u20ac\u201d you are always going to be learning. Just share what you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re learning along the way. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sure there are a lot of people like you out there.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n I said ok.<\/p>\n I then started the blog in around 2011, and had no idea what direction to take it. I was figuring it out as I went. I blogged about practical tips on how to shoot street photography, interviewed other photographers, and shared any \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcsecrets\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 I learned along the way. I kept everything open and free<\/a>, because it felt like the right thing to do.<\/p>\n In the beginning, everyone was encouraging. Everyone pumped me up. But the more traction I got online, I started to get \u00e2\u20ac\u02dchaters\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 who left really nasty anonymous comments online. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not even joking, when I have gotten responses like this:<\/p>\n Honestly, that shit really hurt. It actually made me scared too. A lot of the haters got me to put down my camera for a while. And made me scared to blog; and share my opinions, thoughts, and learnings.<\/p>\n I became paralyzed with fear.<\/p>\n But then\u00e2\u20ac\u201d I started to grow a thick skin from all these haters. If anything, I am grateful for all these mean attacks I got online. Like a good boxer, I was put up against opponents who were stronger than me. I got beaten up. Bruised black and blue. I bled on the digital screen.<\/p>\n But after I bandaged myself up, I got stronger. As time went on, I started to care less about what others thought about me.<\/p>\n I was also lucky that I came across Stoicism<\/a>, the badass (practical) philosophy which taught me how to deal with fear, haters, and how to become invincible (at least mentally).<\/p>\n So now, I have a lot more confidence in myself. Why? Because honestly \u00e2\u20ac\u201d at the end of the day, this is just a blog. Photos are just photos. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re all going to die one day anyways. I used to take myself too seriously. By learning how to take myself less seriously, I became less scared to share what was really on my mind<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Another thing that helped me\u00e2\u20ac\u201d just not reading comments. I know myself best. I am allergic to eating cashews and shellfish. If I eat those two things, my throat swells up, it is hard for me to breathe, and I think I can die. So my analogy is this: if I am allergic to cashew nuts, should I eat them just because I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m curious how they taste? Hell no.<\/p>\n That analogy is the same as reading comments from (potential) haters. I know that I will read something bad that will cause me to get an allergic reaction, and perhaps die. The best thing I did was install the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcShut Up\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Safari extension (disables comments on most websites). I now have a lot more peace of mind. Like Ulysses, I stopped up my ears with beeswax, because I know that I cannot survive the songs of the sirens (that want to kill me).<\/p>\n Another thing that helped me: not seeking anybody\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s approval, but my own approval of myself<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Now this is hard. I still care a lot about what others think of me. But I certainly care a lot less.<\/p>\n I used to always upload photos, wanting to get a lot of likes.<\/p>\n Now, I try to avoid looking at the likes. I only upload photos that I like, and I want to share with others. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t use social media as a barometer to see whether my photos are good or not.<\/p>\n As of late, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m trying to ask myself the question before I share photos:<\/p>\n \n Do I<\/em> like this photo?\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Because if I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t like the photo \u00e2\u20ac\u201d what do I care what others think?<\/p>\n I feel that art, photography is all about self-expression. It is about seeing the world with more appreciation. It is about sharing your ideas with others.<\/p>\n To be an artist and a photographer is to have courage. To have the courage to be judged negatively. To have the courage to be ignored.<\/p>\n I also know there are certain photos that others don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t like, but I still like. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t need to share those photos either. I can let them die on my hard drive. But when I look at the photos, they still bring me joy.<\/p>\n If you want to innovate in your photography, my practical advice is to spend less time on social media. Better yet, take a break from social media for a week, or even a month, or even a year. For me, the biggest innovations in my photography happened when I stopped posting things to social media, and when I started to look at my own photos by myself.<\/p>\n The problem with putting photos on social media too quickly is that you are picking the fruit before it is too ripe. You need to let the fruit grow strong, before you pick it, share it, and eat the sweet nectar.<\/p>\n Great art takes a long time. Great wine tastes better the longer you let it age. The same goes with a nice steak \u00e2\u20ac\u201d you gotta let it marinate.<\/p>\n Some other practical tips: avoid anyone who depowers<\/em> you. People who subtract your energy. Avoid people who have negative energy.<\/p>\n You know those people. They always discourage your ideas. Another tip \u00e2\u20ac\u201d stop sharing your ideas. Just do it, or don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t do it.<\/p>\n For me, the only opinion who matters is Cindy. Even Cindy \u00e2\u20ac\u201d there are times I need to appreciate her feedback and opinion; but I need to stick to my own gut.<\/p>\n I read this thing from Seneca<\/a>, which was interesting\u00e2\u20ac\u201d why is it that in the case of ego, we are selfish, and only care about ourselves more than anybody else. But why do we care what others think about us, more than we think about ourselves? If we thought we were the most important person in the world, shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t we value our own self-opinion above all others?<\/p>\n I have made it a point to subtract negative people from my life. People who gave me bad vibes, and made me feel like shit. Sadly, that was my father. He was just all negative energy, like a dark cloud hanging around me. He prevented me from seeing the light. I still love him, and have forgiven him for all the negative things he did in the past\u00e2\u20ac\u201d but I needed to cut him out of my life, just like a tumor.<\/p>\n And now I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m a lot mentally sane, and healthier. I feel good, creative, and positive.<\/p>\n Also to pump myself up, I listen to a lot of empowering music. I listen to a lot of hip hop music which encourages me to stay strong, such as:<\/p>\n Also getting physically strong helps. I know my biggest boost of self-esteem came from picking up powerlifting. I still remember the first time I deadlifted \u00e2\u20ac\u02dc4 plates\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 (four 45 pound plates on each side of the barbell) \u00e2\u20ac\u201d which was a total of 405 pounds. I never thought it was possible, but one day I finally did it. At that moment, I knew that I had no limits, and nothing could kill me. I also have a practice of listening to hip hop instrumentals (just the beats)<\/a> on loop to help me get in the zone when writing. It helps me fight off some of my fear of really bleeding onto the page.<\/p>\n Another big thing I learned; don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t quote others. Quote yourself<\/strong>. Follow your own opinion. Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t care what the masters said before you in photography. Follow what feels right to you.<\/p>\n Who cares what others said in the past? What do you<\/em> think? What is your<\/em> opinion? What is your<\/em> idea?<\/p>\n To be an artist is just to have courage to stand up for your ideas. Nothing more or less.<\/p>\n Some practical assignments:<\/p>\n Next time you go to the coffee shop, say something ridiculous. Say something like:<\/p>\n \n Hey hows it going? You know me, I always come here. You know what\u00e2\u20ac\u201d today I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m having a really shitty day, and coffee always makes me feel a bit better. I know this is a lot to ask for, but do you mind giving me a coffee today, on the house?\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n It doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t matter whether you get a yes or a no. The point is that you fight your fear of getting rejected.<\/p>\n Another practical tip: shoot street portraits, and keep asking a bunch of people until you get 5 people to say \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcyes\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 and 5 people to say \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcno.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/p>\n This is random; but try to take a cold shower tonight. Start off really hot, and end very cold.<\/p>\n I have made it a practice to take cold showers the last 3 years or so. It has made me tougher. I have less fear. If I can survive an icy-cold shower, in the winter, what can kill me?<\/p>\n Try this as an experiment: uninstall all social media apps from your phone for a week. You can re-install it at the end of the week. This will help you care less what others think of you.<\/p>\n You have only one life. Why live it in fear? Express yourself creatively, with your photography, or whatever.<\/p>\n Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t become the fear of slave. Put on your diamond-plated armor, and know that nothing can harm you.<\/p>\n Drink lots of espresso, do deadlifts, take icy-cold showers, and realize\u00e2\u20ac\u201d nothing can kill you.<\/p>\n Be strong, Learn more: Stoicism ><\/a><\/p>\n Dear friend, I know there are times that we lack confidence in ourselves as photographers and artists; but how can we overcome that lack of confidence? 1. Death threats on the blog I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going \u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41061,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-41043","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\/41043","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=41043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/41043\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Portrait](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/ericVICE.jpg?resize=640%2C390\")
![\"eric](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/eric-kim-street-photography-hanoi-0005180-1-800x1208.jpg?resize=800%2C1208\")
<\/p>\n\n
![\"eric](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/eric-kim-photography-hanoi-0007059-1-800x530.jpg?resize=800%2C530\")
![\"eric](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/eric-kim-photography-2017-hue-0004461-800x530.jpg?resize=800%2C530\")
<\/p>\n2. What do I think of my own photos?<\/h2>\n
![\"tokyo](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/eye-800x530.jpg?resize=800%2C530\")
<\/p>\n![\"tokyo](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/boot-1-800x1208.jpg?resize=800%2C1208\")
<\/p>\n![\"tokyo](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/2-eric-kim-street-photography-tokyo-0000280-800x530.jpg?resize=800%2C530\")
<\/p>\n3. Spend less time on social media<\/h2>\n
![\"eric](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/cafe-800x530.jpg?resize=800%2C530\")
<\/p>\n4. Subtract negative people from your life<\/h2>\n
![\"eric](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/eric-kim-street-photography-hanoi-0003676-4-800x530.jpg?resize=800%2C530\")
<\/p>\n![\"eric](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/eric-kim-photography-hanoi-0007360-1-800x1208.jpg?resize=800%2C1208\")
<\/p>\n5. Pump yourself up with empowering music<\/h2>\n
![\"eric](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/eric-kim-portrait-hanoi-by-cindy-800x530.jpg?resize=800%2C530\")
<\/p>\n\n
![\"eric](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/R0061850-1-800x1208.jpg?resize=800%2C1208\")
<\/p>\n
\n![\"chroma](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Colors-11-800x531.jpg?resize=800%2C531\")
<\/p>\n6. What do you think \/\/ what is your opinion?<\/h2>\n
![\"eric](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/eric-kim-street-photography-sapa-0006247-3-800x1208.jpg?resize=800%2C1208\")
<\/p>\n7. Practical tips how to boost your self-confidence<\/h2>\n
![\"eric](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Medusa-800x628.jpg?resize=800%2C628\")
<\/p>\na. Seek to get rejected<\/h3>\n
![\"eric](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/eric-kim-street-photography-the-city-of-angels-black-and-white-6-eye-shadow-downtown-la-800x530.jpg?resize=800%2C530\")
<\/p>\nb. Take cold showers<\/h3>\n
![\"0-marseille-france_8465559399_o\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/0-marseille-france_8465559399_o-800x531.jpg?resize=800%2C531\")
<\/p>\nc. Uninstall social media from your phone for a week<\/h3>\n
![\"eric](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/eric-kim-street-photography-color-chroma-19-1-800x530.jpg?resize=800%2C530\")
<\/p>\nConclusion<\/h2>\n
![\"eric](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/20170130-E0004960eric-kim-photography--800x1208.jpg?resize=800%2C1208\")
<\/p>\n
\nEric<\/p>\n![\"mother](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/our-lady-of-the-gate-of-dawn-4-1-800x500.jpg?resize=800%2C500\")
<\/p>\nMake more art:<\/h2>\n
\n