Dear friends, thinking about this new year, let us focus on a new year of photographic growth. How does one grow as a photographer? Some ideas:<\/p>\n
I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve noticed that when it comes to photography, there are certain things which trigger my impulse to photograph.<\/p>\n
For example, people, hand gestures, textures, shafts of light, shapes and forms and geometry.\u00ef\u00bf\u00bc\u00ef\u00bf\u00bc\u00ef\u00bf\u00bc\u00ef\u00bf\u00bc\u00ef\u00bf\u00bc<\/p>\n
And I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve discovered that one of the best ways that I can progress my photography is to better identify this photo triggers, and obey them.<\/p>\n
For example, sometimes we have a certain trigger to photograph, yet we censor ourselves, because the fear that we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve already shot a similar photo before, or the fear that it may be a clich\u00c3\u00a9.<\/p>\n
But truth be told, clich\u00c3\u00a9 is not a big deal. I think the notion of a clich\u00c3\u00a9 is just this pretentious French notion of trying to put down other artists.\u00ef\u00bf\u00bc\u00ef\u00bf\u00bc<\/p>\n
In other words, allow yourself to shoot clich\u00c3\u00a9s, and maybe it is a good idea to shoot more<\/em> clich\u00c3\u00a9s.\u00ef\u00bf\u00bc Even Daido Moriyama<\/a> once said, to not shoot a clich\u00c3\u00a9 is a clich\u00c3\u00a9 in itself.\u00ef\u00bf\u00bc<\/p>\n \u00ef\u00bf\u00bcI believe in the practical philosophy regarding human physiology. In other words, how does one grow muscle mass? Simple: increased physical exertion, which causes your body to secrete growth hormones, and then being able to eat more meat and highly dense nutrition in order to augment your muscle mass.\u00ef\u00bf\u00bc<\/p>\n When it comes to photography, perhaps we can take a similar concept to practice. In order to become a greater photographer, we need to focus on our nutrition. Both practical and philosophical.<\/p>\n For example, when to photographic motivational material, to only consume the finest photos of history. And also, in terms of our practical health, to become more strict with our diet, and our food and fluid intake.<\/p>\n A very simple via Negativa health advice is this: quit carbs, quit sugars, quit sweeteners, and quit the notion of three meals a day. Towards a more Paleo and ketogenic approach, intermittent fasting with one massive meal a day.\u00ef\u00bf\u00bc\u00ef\u00bf\u00bc\u00ef\u00bf\u00bc\u00ef\u00bf\u00bc Fewer intoxicants, like alcohol and weed.\u00ef\u00bf\u00bc<\/p>\n For us photographers, what is the most important muscle in our body? Our legs. I have a simple idea that in order to grow as a photographer, you must grow your leg muscles. Things that I have been doing: striving to walk at least 30,000 steps a day, and doing heavy leg exercises with my 105 pound kettle bell.<\/p>\n If you have the ability, go to the gym and focus on doing very heavy powerlifting style workouts for your legs. Sumo deadlifts, and squat. One rep max attempts, once a week.<\/p>\n Simple experiment in thought: if you grow your leg muscles, want that motivate you to move and walk more, which will result in you shooting more? And the more you shoot, the more likely you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re to practice your photography, and improve your photography.<\/p>\n Something I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been thinking a lot about is aesthetics. The philosophy of aesthetics means what you consider beautiful and not beautiful.<\/p>\n As photographers, we are artists who drive to make beautiful photographs. But everyone\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s definition of beautiful is different, especially in photography. For your goal is to cultivate your own mistakes, and to determine what you consider beautiful.<\/p>\n Upon thinking a lot about the notion of what it means to make \u00e2\u20ac\u0153better\u00e2\u20ac\u0153 photos, I think better photos are simpler and stronger. This means, the compositions are more simple, yet elicit a stronger emotional or aesthetic response.<\/p>\n For example, more extreme black-and-white contrast, and using the small thumbnail test<\/a> to know whether your photos are good or not as small compositions.\u00ef\u00bf\u00bc\u00ef\u00bf\u00bc\u00ef\u00bf\u00bc\u00ef\u00bf\u00bc Think much on how to improve your photos and photography. Focus on your own self growth and development as a photographer.<\/p>\n Allow yourself to cross-pollinate<\/a> widely in your photography, allow yourself to cross-genres<\/a> of photography, to seek inspiration and motivation everywhere, and just treat it like a kaizen<\/a> approach:<\/p>\n Strive to improve your photography 3% daily.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n ERIC KIM<\/p>\n HAPTIC<\/a> creative tools to empower you to grow in your photography:<\/p>\n Discover more in HAPTIC SHOP ><\/a><\/p>\n More on blog ><\/a><\/p>\n To track your growth as a photographer, share your best photos on arsbeta.com<\/a><\/p>\n If you’re new, start here<\/a>:<\/p>\n Also discover all books<\/a>.<\/p>\n2. Improved nutrition<\/h2>\n
3. Stronger photographic fitness<\/h2>\n
4. The philosophy of aesthetics<\/h2>\n
5. Stronger and more simple?<\/h2>\n
\n\u00ef\u00bf\u00bc\u00ef\u00bf\u00bc\u00ef\u00bf\u00bc\u00ef\u00bf\u00bc\u00ef\u00bf\u00bc\u00ef\u00bf\u00bc\u00ef\u00bf\u00bc\u00ef\u00bf\u00bc<\/p>\n6. Improve your photos<\/h2>\n
\nHAPTIC INDUSTRIES<\/a><\/h2>\n
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\nCreative thoughts to get you going<\/h2>\n
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\nShare your best photos to arsbeta.com<\/a><\/h2>\n
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