{"id":117360,"date":"2018-11-06T13:36:44","date_gmt":"2018-11-06T21:36:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/?p=117360"},"modified":"2018-11-06T13:43:19","modified_gmt":"2018-11-06T21:43:19","slug":"pessimistic-photography","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/2018\/11\/06\/pessimistic-photography\/","title":{"rendered":"Pessimistic Photography"},"content":{"rendered":"

Can we see optimism in pessimistic photos? I think so!<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/p>\n

This is the strange thing:<\/p>\n

\n I’ve always been drawn to photographing more dark, pessimistic photos–yet, I’m a very optimistic person!\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Which makes me wonder:<\/p>\n

\n Do optimistic people photograph pessimistic photos?\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n

Life is only enjoyable with struggles and difficulties<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I believe life has no savour or delight without bitterness and difficulty.<\/p>\n

For myself, a “comfortable” life in which I never had the opportunity to overcome, to challenge myself, and to fight difficulties would be my hell.<\/p>\n

Empathetic photography<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

To feel empathy for another human being means to feel the feelings of another person. Whenever I photograph another whom I perceive to be suffering or experiencing difficulty, I feel for them. Yet at the same time, I don’t “pity” them.<\/p>\n

Compassion in photography<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Empathy and compassion sound like the same thing, but they’re different.<\/p>\n

Compassion<\/a> literally means to feel the pain of another (com+passion), which means (with+pain).<\/p>\n

It’s difficult for me to literally feel the pain of another person when I’m photographing them, because I’m not suffering like them. I feel empathy for them, but I’m not certain that I feel compassion for them.<\/p>\n

Optimism<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Even though my photos might look and feel pessimistic, they’re ultimate optimistic. Why?<\/p>\n

I believe that enough hard work, hustle, and resourcefulness can change the fate of a human being.<\/strong> This is the ultimate optimism, because it says we have free will. We have the will to put forth more effort and hard work.<\/p>\n

We can control how hard we work. We can’t control the results of our work, but the formula is simple:<\/p>\n

\n The harder you work, the more likely<\/em> you are to succeed.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

Why make photos?<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I believe that every photographer has a personal philosophy behind their photography.<\/p>\n

Every photographer is an individual. Every individual has a personal philosophy on how they see the world.<\/p>\n

Most people are either optimistic or pessimistic. There are different degrees of optimism or pessimism, but I believe that all individuals are either ultimately optimists or pessimists.<\/p>\n

Which are you? Are you an optimist or a pessimist? And do your photos ultimately reveal your personal philosophy<\/a>?<\/p>\n

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Why be optimistic or pessimistic?<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

For myself, I think all pessimism comes from weakness. A stronger philosophy to live life is optimism.<\/p>\n

I’m reading a lot of Nietzsche, and this is his theory:<\/p>\n

\n Tragedy teaches us that regardless of how painful and shitty life is, it is still beautiful and worth living!\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Thus when I shoot street photos, I see a lot of shit in modern society I hate. I hate inequality, I hate racism, sexism, classicism, etc. Yet– I still have hope! I have hope that we can change society for the better– and I also do believe that as photographers, we have the ability to change the world<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Your camera is stronger than the sword, my lord. Make photos that pierce injustice in society, in the knowledge that you can change the minds and souls of your viewers.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

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Conclusion<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Your photos can change the world. You have great strength as a photographer. Don’t ever talk down on yourself as a photographer.<\/p>\n

SHOOT HARD.
\nERIC<\/p>\n

HAPTIC INDUSTRIES: Creative Tools to Empower You ><\/a><\/p>\n

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Can we see optimism in pessimistic photos? I think so!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":117400,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-117360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-posts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/only-in-america-eric-kim-street-photography-color27.jpg?fit=3087%2C2048&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"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=117360"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117360\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":117409,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117360\/revisions\/117409"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}