{"id":38065,"date":"2017-02-10T02:00:57","date_gmt":"2017-02-10T10:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/?p=38065"},"modified":"2017-02-03T03:21:39","modified_gmt":"2017-02-03T11:21:39","slug":"what-is-your-mission-in-photography-and-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/2017\/02\/10\/what-is-your-mission-in-photography-and-life\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Your Mission in Photography and Life?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Hoi An, 2017<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dear friend,<\/p>\n

What is your mission in photography and life?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Why are you passionate about photography?<\/h2>\n

You obviously photograph because it is a part of you. It is a part of your soul. If you didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have photography, you might not have a way of expressing yourself.<\/p>\n

As for me, I started to photograph because I couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t draw. Photography was an outlet for my creativity.<\/p>\n

As for my mission, my mission is to create as much \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcopen source\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 information pertaining to photography (and life) \u00e2\u20ac\u201d to share with it openly with others, hoping to empower and uplift others.<\/p>\n

Of course, we all have different missions in photography, and life. What is yours?<\/p>\n

Photography is self-therapy<\/h2>\n

Perhaps your mission in photography is to cure some of your mental stress. Photography might be a way for you to release stress, anxiety, and frustration in life. I know when I used to have a 9-5 office job, I shot street photography as a form of self-therapy.<\/p>\n

There was nothing more therapeutic than going for a walk, when work started to get stressful. I enjoyed the walk, to let my mind wander, and taking photos to make the walk more interesting.<\/p>\n

Inspiring others with your photography<\/h2>\n

Your mission in photography might be to create beautiful images to uplift, encourage, and inspire others.<\/p>\n

If that is the case, you want to share your photos as much as you can with others. But make it a point of only sharing your best photos\u00e2\u20ac\u201d that you think others will truly love.<\/p>\n

Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t share for the sake of sharing. Only share your best.<\/p>\n

Creating photographic communities<\/h2>\n

Your mission in photography might to build a community, whether online or offline.<\/p>\n

Perhaps you can achieve your mission by starting your own photography collective; a way for you to share tips, insights, and motivation with other photographers. I feel we are stronger together, than apart.<\/p>\n

My friend Josh White is a co-founder of a street photography called #wearethestreet – he and many other passionate street photographers have created this beautiful online community of sharing, openness, and inspiration. Not only do the members of the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcWe Are the Street\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 collective share their best work, but they encourage people on Instagram to also share their best street photos with the #wearethestreet hashtag. Then they comb through the submission, and re-post the best photos.<\/p>\n

I know for myself, I loved building local street photography communities, through arranging local meet-ups, as well as teaching workshops. My happiest moment is when I learned that a lot of local street photographers started to meet up (without me). I unfortunately don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t set up roots in one place for too long, so I like to try to spark the fire for community-building.<\/p>\n

I also know that this blog has been a good starting-point for photographers who want to learn about street photography, or just photography as a whole. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been so fortunate to meet so many like-minded people (both online and offline), who share the same mission in life. To empower others, to share love, and to find more purpose and joy in life. Many of us are seeking to be more minimalist, less obsessed with gear, and more focused on making personal and meaningful photos.<\/p>\n

Documenting history through photography<\/h2>\n

Your mission as a photographer might be to be a historian. You might be trying to document your own city or town or neighborhood\u00e2\u20ac\u201d for future generations.<\/p>\n

I know that Cindy<\/a> does history as a form of story-telling, of empowering those without voices, and for also recording her personal family history. She takes photos as a way to document her loved ones, her experiences, and to share this joy with others.<\/p>\n

Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t count numbers<\/h2>\n

Your mission as a photographer should be a self-driven one; for your own intrinsic benefits and beliefs.<\/p>\n

A bad<\/em> mission as a photographer is to gain a million followers. That is a mission that you can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t necessarily control. You can work 24\/7, and be the world\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s best photographer\u00e2\u20ac\u201d but whether you get a million followers or not, is something beyond your control. Not only that, but making a mission in your photography to gain a certain number of likes or followers is pointless. You must have a greater mission or purpose.<\/p>\n

Start now<\/h2>\n

\n \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcThe journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 – Lao Tzu\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In photography and life, your mission might be grand\u00e2\u20ac\u201d but you need to start with the single step.<\/p>\n

When you take the first step, you are (more than) halfway done. You have created the path. You know what your direction and life mission is.<\/p>\n

Many of us don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know what our life mission is. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t necessarily think you need to know what your life mission is; but I know for myself, it has given me more focus, and purpose.<\/p>\n

How to find your mission in life<\/h2>\n

Here are some tips I would give you in terms of finding your life\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mission, or photo mission, based on my personal experiences:<\/p>\n

1. Help others:<\/h3>\n

We are born for one another. I know that I find more purpose in photography and life when I am trying to serve and help others. The more I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve helped others, the more I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve also helped myself.<\/p>\n

2. Disconnect:<\/h3>\n

Another thing that has helped my photography \u00e2\u20ac\u201d disconnecting from social media. Spending less time checking my Instagram comments to crowd-source my self-esteem. By disconnecting, I started to really sit down, meditate, and wonder why<\/em> I made photos, why<\/em> I blogged, and what my greater purpose in life was.<\/p>\n

3. Thinking I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going to die tonight:<\/h3>\n

Death is my best motivator. When I vividly imagine myself dying tonight, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t waste a single minute or hour of my day. I stay focused on doing what is truly important to myself \u00e2\u20ac\u201d which is creating open-source information for others. Therefore I spend most of my time reading, writing, meditating, photographing, teaching, and sharing.<\/p>\n

4. Discovering your #1 strength:<\/h3>\n

For me, my #1 strength is blogging. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been doing it since I was 16 years old, and I can type quickly. I just did a typing test for 60 seconds, and I typed 145 words per minute, with 8 errors, for an \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcadjusted speed\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 of 137 words per minute.<\/p>\n

I spent the last 2 years really meditating what my #1 strength in life was \u00e2\u20ac\u201d and how I could best create the most value for the rest of society. After a lot of reflection, I realized\u00e2\u20ac\u201d it was blogging. Why blogging? Because when I write a blog post, I have the (potential) to reach millions of people. I also alternated between blogging, making YouTube videos, and teaching workshops.<\/p>\n

Among all of these, I started to realize\u00e2\u20ac\u201d blogging was my number 1 skill. Therefore, I started to try to minimize my involvements in other parts of my business. I spent less time on social media, less time traveling, less time teaching workshops, less time making YouTube videos, less time answering emails, or doing business. As a result, my purpose in life became laser-focused. And at the moment, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m creatively flourishing in terms of blogging and being focused.<\/p>\n

No matter who you are, you have a certain talent and skill. Your purpose in life is to discover your talent and skill. And your mission in life is to dedicate each minute of your life to share that gift with others.<\/p>\n

5. Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think too big<\/h3>\n

I think it is good to have a large ambition to help others.<\/p>\n

But it is bad to have too big of a plan, that you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get started.<\/p>\n

For myself, whenever I have told myself: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I should write a photography book\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I never do it.<\/p>\n

Instead, it is easier for me to motivate myself to do something smaller\u00e2\u20ac\u201d like writing a blog post.<\/p>\n

And over time, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve accumulated over 2,000+ blog posts. Which is probably worth several books.<\/p>\n

In our photography, it is hard for us to think: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going to create a phenomenal photo project, that will turn into a book, and sell millions of copies.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d It is easier to think: Today I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going to go out of my apartment and take a few photos.<\/p>\n

Each photo you take is like you taking a step on your thousand-mile journey.<\/p>\n

Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t over-think it. Just start now by taking the first photo.<\/p>\n

And for following your life or photographic mission, don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t delay. Start now.<\/p>\n

Always,
\nEric<\/p>\n

Learn more: Motivation ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear friend, What is your mission in photography and life?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38035,"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-38065","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\/2017\/02\/eric-kim-photography-hoi-an-0004873.jpg?fit=4928%2C3264&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38065","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=38065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}