{"id":105581,"date":"2018-07-24T04:06:45","date_gmt":"2018-07-24T11:06:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/?p=105581"},"modified":"2018-07-24T04:06:45","modified_gmt":"2018-07-24T11:06:45","slug":"now-is-the-time-to-shoot-photolosophy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/2018\/07\/24\/now-is-the-time-to-shoot-photolosophy\/","title":{"rendered":"NOW IS THE TIME TO SHOOT! #photolosophy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Why wait on making photos?<\/p>\n

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 can travel, and go on vacation before you feel inspired to make photos.<\/p>\n

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RIGHT NOW IS THE TIME TO SHOOT!<\/h2>\n

I got this idea from my best friend Horace, who said something like:<\/p>\n

\n Don’t wait until the distant future to enjoy life. NOW IS THE TIME TO DRINK!\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is my rationale:<\/p>\n

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  1. Why delay your own happiness and joy? If making photos brings you joy– why wait? Why not shoot today?<\/li>\n
  2. A lot of us don’t shoot on a daily basis, because everything we see is ‘boring’. But this is actually what I think — we don’t shoot “boring” stuff because we are concerned that if we upload that “boring” photo to social media, we will get no likes! <\/li>\n
  3. I encourage instead — everyday take photos! Take photos today, tomorrow, and every day until you die! The simple thing is this: just keep your camera constantly strapped around your neck when you leave the house (wear your camera like a necklace, just how rappers wear gold chains) or wear your camera around your wrist (like a bracelet). My theory is the more we carry our camera with us on a daily basis, the more photos we will shoot! And the more photos we shoot, the happier we will be! #STRAPSBYKIM<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    \n

    Taking a shitty photo is better than taking no photo!<\/h2>\n

    I came to the realization:<\/p>\n

    \n It is better to take a ‘bad’ photo than to take no photo!\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    Why?<\/p>\n

    Well — there is no such thing as a ‘good’ or a ‘bad’ photo. There are photos which spark joy in our hearts and photos that bore us. But the biggest problem is this:<\/p>\n

    \n We self-censor ourselves too much before taking photos.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    If you have your camera, and you see something that even interests you 1% — it is worth photographing!<\/p>\n

    This is why I am also a huge advocate of shooting with your phone. Yeah yeah, the image quality won’t be as good as your “real” camera, but taking a bad photo on a smartphone is better than taking no photo!<\/strong><\/p>\n

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    For me, making photos isn’t about making photos. Rather, it is about exercising our eye– exercising our visual muscles!<\/p>\n

    I remember my tennis coach Greg Lowe who taught me:<\/p>\n

    \n If you practice your tennis serve everyday, you will improve. However, if you miss even one day, you will spend the next day to get back to your base level.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    Therefore, to improve your tennis serve (which is notoriously one of the most difficult things to master in tennis) — you must practice EVERY DAY!<\/p>\n

    I think the same is in photography — we must make photos everyday if we hope to strengthen and improve our visual muscles, and our photography!<\/p>\n

    The same with our muscles– if you want to become stronger or grow your muscles, you must exercise your muscles everyday! A lot of fitness ‘experts’ tell us that we shouldn’t “overtrain” the same muscle everyday. However I’ve discovered in real life when I started to workout everyday (no break days)– everyday chin-ups, and everyday dips, and everyday planches– I got WAYYYY STRONGER! And my muscles got a lot bigger too!<\/p>\n

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    So some practical takeaways:<\/p>\n

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    1. Allow yourself to take shitty photos or bad photos. You must dig up a lot of earth before you find a little bit of gold. Or in the words of Henri Cartier-Bresson, “Sometimes you must milk the cow a lot to get a little bit of cheese.”<\/li>\n
    2. If your camera is too big or bulky, buy a RICOH GR II. Or just shoot with your phone! Shooting ‘poor image quality’ photos is better than taking no photos!<\/li>\n
    3. Recognize if you make 1 good photo a month, you’re doing really well! Don’t put the pressure on yourself to HAVE TO take a good photo everyday!<\/strong> Take it from me — this will cause you to feel depressed and demotivated.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      —<\/p>\n

      A thought experiment:<\/p>\n

      \n What if one night in your sleep, the devil came to you and told you that you would die in your own city\/country at the age of 90, but you would never have the opportunity to leave the country or your city. Could you still live a happy, fulfilling life as a photographer?\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

      A lot of us live on false hopes that we will be happy\/fulfilled once we can start traveling. It ain’t true. Even traveling can become boring and a chore — take it from me, I’ve been on the road for the last 10 years, and been to almost all the big and fancy cities in the world.<\/p>\n

      The true key to happiness as a photographer is this:<\/p>\n

      \n Make the best photos you can in your own city and lifestyle!\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

      Simple!<\/p>\n

      NOW IS THE TIME TO SHOOT!
      \nERIC<\/p>\n

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      PHOTOLOSOPHY ><\/a><\/h1>\n

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      Stay updated for our new course, ‘PHOTOLOSOPHY’ by subscribing to ERIC KIM NEWSLETTER<\/strong><\/a>:<\/p>\n