{"id":26467,"date":"2016-01-07T14:41:51","date_gmt":"2016-01-07T22:41:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/?p=26467"},"modified":"2016-08-05T11:15:00","modified_gmt":"2016-08-05T18:15:00","slug":"why-do-you-take-photos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/2016\/01\/07\/why-do-you-take-photos\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Do You Take Photos?"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_26493\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-26493\" style=\"width: 1500px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"26493\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/2016\/01\/07\/why-do-you-take-photos\/r0001766-2\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/R0001766-1.jpg?fit=1500%2C994&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1500,994\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;2.8&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;GR II&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1452104123&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;18.3&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;1600&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.025&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"R0001766\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;SF, 2016 #cindyproject with the &amp;#8220;Eric Kim Tri-X 1600 v8&amp;#8221; preset&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/R0001766-1.jpg?fit=1500%2C994&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"size-full wp-image-26493\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/R0001766-1.jpg?resize=1180%2C782\" alt=\"SF, 2016 #cindyproject\" width=\"1180\" height=\"782\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/R0001766-1.jpg?w=1500&amp;ssl=1 1500w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/R0001766-1.jpg?resize=660%2C437&amp;ssl=1 660w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/R0001766-1.jpg?resize=768%2C509&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1180px) 100vw, 1180px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-26493\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">SF, 2016 #cindyproject<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Dear friend,<\/p>\n<p>I wanted to share an idea I had with you in regards to philosophy, life, photography, physics, and Elon Musk from Tesla.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>I am highly inspired by Elon Musk. Here is a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153mere mortal\u00e2\u20ac\u009d who has revolutionized many industries: electronic payments (Paypal), transportation (Tesla), energy (Solar City), and space travel (Space X).<\/p>\n<p>To be frank; I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ever want to be like him or have a life like his. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen recent interviews with him, and man\u00e2\u20ac\u201d he looks horrible. He probably hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t got much sleep, is constantly stressed, answering emails 24\/7, and barely has time to see his kids or family.<\/p>\n<p>Regardless, he is a truly innovative thinker who inspires me deeply. He throws a middle-finger to convention, and starts off with what is called \u00e2\u20ac\u0153<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=NV3sBlRgzTI\" target=\"_blank\">first principle<\/a>\u00e2\u20ac\u009d thinking:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/NV3sBlRgzTI\" width=\"1000\" height=\"563\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Rather than following convention, he approaches the problem like a beginner and tries to start from scratch.<\/p>\n<p>For example, when he started Telsa, rather than hiring a bunch of people from other car companies\u00e2\u20ac\u201d he started the entire company from scratch. All their manufacturing methods and their concept of what a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153car\u00e2\u20ac\u009d should be was based on fresh new ideas, that were challenged, rather than blindly following what others did.<\/p>\n<p>Another example; everyone said that batteries are super-expensive, and will always be. Elon challenged that and wondered to himself, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Why is that?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d And by studying what a battery exactly is\u00e2\u20ac\u201d he was able to deconstruct the costs and have a totally novel way to approach electric vehicles.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, with Space X he was able to recently successfully have a ship take off, and re-dock (the total procedure only costs 2% of what a traditional space take-off took). Why is this so innovative? Well, everyone has always thought (at least at NASA) that you \u00e2\u20ac\u0153had\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to have a traditional rocket: where you took off, the boosters would eject parts into the atmosphere, and then go to outer space, and then crash-land back to Earth. Elon was able to figure out that by re-docking and re-using the spaceships would mean huge savings.<\/p>\n<h2>Be a beginner<\/h2>\n<p>In Zen Buddhism they have a similar concept called \u00e2\u20ac\u0153beginner\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mind\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u201d that you approach the world like a newborn child, without any \u00e2\u20ac\u0153knowledge\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153theories\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153ideas\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and certainly no \u00e2\u20ac\u0153pre-conceived notions.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>The great thing about being a beginner or a child is that you explore the world first-hand. You don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ask others for their opinion; you experience the world directly.<\/p>\n<p>For example, learning photography by myself (with a little Canon point-and-shoot camera when I was 18 years old) was the most fun and exciting thing. I never attended a photography class, and learned all the basics in terms of how to use the camera by trial-and-error. And for this, I am grateful. Because a lot of people I know who went to photography school or formally studied photography end up following these rigid \u00e2\u20ac\u0153theories\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153styles\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in photography\u00e2\u20ac\u201d which prevents them from finding their own voice, for breaking new ground, and innovating.<\/p>\n<p>Even now, my biggest problem is that I have too much knowledge about photography. I want to be a beginner again\u00e2\u20ac\u201d and to have that childlike curiosity.<\/p>\n<p>So if we applied this concept of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153first principle\u00e2\u20ac\u009d thinking to photography\u00e2\u20ac\u201d what are some common \u00e2\u20ac\u0153truths\u00e2\u20ac\u009d that people talk about, which might not necessarily be true?<\/p>\n<p>For example, are these statements (generally understood) really true?<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>If you want to be a better photographer, buy a more expensive camera<\/li>\n<li>If you want to take better photos, travel more<\/li>\n<li>If you want to be more creative, buy more lenses<\/li>\n<li>If you want to gain recognition for your photography, share them on as many social media sites as possible<\/li>\n<li>You need to live somewhere interesting or be an interesting person to make interesting photos<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>These are \u00e2\u20ac\u0153common\u00e2\u20ac\u009d truths that I have discovered on the internet just based on my personal experiences, and also by talking to other photographers.<\/p>\n<p>But let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s do a thought experiment\u00e2\u20ac\u201d what if today you were born without any theory or knowledge about photography, and if you had no access to the internet. Imagine that someone just gave you a point-and-shoot camera (or let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s say an iPhone)\u00e2\u20ac\u201d how would you shoot photos differently?<\/p>\n<h2>What is photography?<\/h2>\n<p>As for me, let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s consider this common idea:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\n  You must buy an expensive camera to take better photos.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Marketing, consumerism, advertising, and the internet all tell us that if we want to truly unlock our creativity, and take \u00e2\u20ac\u0153better\u00e2\u20ac\u009d photos, we need to buy \u00e2\u20ac\u0153better\u00e2\u20ac\u009d cameras.<\/p>\n<p>But how true is that?<\/p>\n<p>Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s start from the beginning. What is a photograph?<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\n  A photograph is an image that is recorded that the human eye can perceive.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>What is needed to take a photograph? A camera.<\/p>\n<p>But what is a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153camera\u00e2\u20ac\u009d?<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\n  A camera is a device that captures light and records it into an \u00e2\u20ac\u0153image\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and saves it.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>What is \u00e2\u20ac\u0153light\u00e2\u20ac\u009d?<\/p>\n<p>To be frank, I have no idea what \u00e2\u20ac\u0153light\u00e2\u20ac\u009d truly is\u00e2\u20ac\u201d but I know it comes from the sun, and there are some crazy metaphysics that is behind it. But even without knowing what \u00e2\u20ac\u0153light\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is\u00e2\u20ac\u201d it is the most important thing of photography; <strong>capturing light<\/strong>. Apparently the latin derivation of the word \u00e2\u20ac\u0153photography\u00e2\u20ac\u009d means \u00e2\u20ac\u0153<em>painting with light<\/em>.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>I know we often get caught up in the discussion of whether film or digital is better, what camera or lens to use, and what makes a great photograph.<\/p>\n<p>But to take it back to basics\u00e2\u20ac\u201d photography is just capturing light.<\/p>\n<p>So what makes a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153good\u00e2\u20ac\u009d photograph? Well, to be honest\u00e2\u20ac\u201d you can never objectively say what makes a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153good\u00e2\u20ac\u009d photograph\u00e2\u20ac\u201d because a photograph is just capturing light. And there is no such thing as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153good\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153bad\u00e2\u20ac\u009d light (regardless of what photography schools say). Light is light\u00e2\u20ac\u201d darkness is not necessarily a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153bad\u00e2\u20ac\u009d thing, and a photograph doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t necessarily have \u00e2\u20ac\u0153poor\u00e2\u20ac\u009d exposure\u00e2\u20ac\u201d it is just a <em>different<\/em> type of exposure.<\/p>\n<p>I think it all comes down to what kind of images you want to make.<\/p>\n<p>Without even considering what makes a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153good\u00e2\u20ac\u009d photograph\u00e2\u20ac\u201d let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ask a more fundamental question: <em>Why do we take photographs<\/em>?<\/p>\n<h2>Why do we take photographs?<\/h2>\n<p>So taking everything from the beginning and working backwards\u00e2\u20ac\u201d let us discuss <em>why<\/em> we take photographs, not <em>how<\/em> we take photographs, or <em>what we use<\/em> to take photographs.<\/p>\n<p>So ask yourself,<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\n  \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Why do I take photographs?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>To jump in a time machine, when I was 18 years old, I took photographs because I had a terrible memory, and taking photos was an intimate way for me to document my memories of my loved ones, experiences, friends, and life.<\/p>\n<p>It was only when I started to learn more about photography that I wanted to take \u00e2\u20ac\u0153better\u00e2\u20ac\u009d photos.<\/p>\n<p>But once again, what exactly makes a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153better\u00e2\u20ac\u009d photograph? It is all subjective at the end of the day. A better question would be, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153<em>What kind of photographs make you happy and satisfied<\/em>?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>I have been espousing the importance of making your photography personal, and not caring about what others think about your work. After all, <em>if you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t love your own photos, why do you care whether others love your photos or not<\/em>?<\/p>\n<p>It is kind of like life\u00e2\u20ac\u201d if you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t love yourself, why do you care about what others think about you?<\/p>\n<p>Anyways\u00e2\u20ac\u201d currently I take photos because I want to document my love for Cindy, the love of my life. I hope to share that love with my friends, family, and you, and the rest of the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153internet\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00e2\u20ac\u201d in the hope that others will also value their loved ones, and also document and photograph their loved ones with much intent.<\/p>\n<p>So to take it back\u00e2\u20ac\u201d I take photos to document my loved ones and personal experiences. So why does it matter what camera I use? Well, it technically doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t.<\/p>\n<p>I just know that for me, the bigger my camera is, the less likely I am to carry it with me wherever I go, and the less likely I am to take photographs.<\/p>\n<p>So the logical conclusion is that I should <em>not<\/em> use a big and cumbersome camera.<\/p>\n<p>Another debate I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been having with myself about digital versus film. I prefer the convenience and cheaper cost of digital, but I prefer the aesthetics and the process of shooting film.<\/p>\n<p>However if my true purpose of taking photos is to document my memories and photograph my loved ones (my main purpose isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t to take super high-definition, super-sharp, and super high-quality images), then the tool doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t matter so much). Yet at the same time, I tend <em>not<\/em> to like taking photos with my phone. Why not? I like using the flash quite a bit, and the flash on a smartphone is generally under-powered and is a bit too slow. However at the end of the day, I have no problem taking photos on my phone (especially if it is going to be taking a selfie and sending it quickly to a friend via text message).<\/p>\n<h2>Challenge conventions<\/h2>\n<p>So friend, challenge your own assumptions and &#8220;convention.&#8221; Ask yourself, &#8220;Why do I take photos?&#8221;, and work backwards from there.<\/p>\n<p>I think one of the great ideas in photography is to <em>avoid<\/em> the wrong questions. So please don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t start off with these questions:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What camera should I buy?<\/li>\n<li>What lens should I buy?<\/li>\n<li>Where should I travel to take good photos?<\/li>\n<li>Which photographers should I study?<\/li>\n<li>How do I use the technical settings on my camera?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Rather, ask these questions:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Why do I take photos?<\/li>\n<li>What kind of photos do I hate?<\/li>\n<li>What kind of photos do I love?<\/li>\n<li>How do I like to have photos shared with me, and how do I plan on sharing my photos with others?<\/li>\n<li>Do I want to leave behind a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153legacy\u00e2\u20ac\u009d with my photography\u00e2\u20ac\u201d and does this really matter?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Ask the right questions, and life becomes a lot simpler.<\/p>\n<p>Disregard \u00e2\u20ac\u0153common knowledge\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in photography\u00e2\u20ac\u201d discover the truths yourself, and always challenge convention.<\/p>\n<p>Always,<br \/>\nEric<\/p>\n<p><em>Thursday, 2:21pm, @ Paris Baguette Coffee, Jan 7th, 2016 in Berkeley<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dear friend, I wanted to share an idea I had with you in regards to philosophy, life, photography, physics, and Elon Musk from Tesla.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26471,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_ek_photo_artist_note":"","_ek_photo_thesis":"","_ek_photo_camera":"","_ek_photo_place":"","_ek_photo_human_moment":"","_ek_photo_sequence":"","_ek_photo_question":"","_ek_photo_canonical_claim":"","_ek_photo_ai_summary":"","_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-posts"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/R0001766.jpg?fit=1500%2C994&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26467","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=26467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26467\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}