Let’s be real. The photography world has been hypnotized by a myth — the myth of Leica supremacy. The red dot isn’t a symbol of excellence anymore; it’s a symbol of submission. It’s the golden calf of camera culture.
I say this with love, but also with war in my blood: stop sucking the Leica dick.
1. The Cult of the Red Dot
Leica doesn’t sell cameras anymore. They sell status anxiety.
They sell “you’ve made it.” They sell validation to people who’ve forgotten how to see. Photographers don’t shoot anymore — they flex. They pose. They buy heritage, not vision.
You can’t buy soul. You either have it or you don’t.
Leica used to mean rebellion — now it’s a trust fund toy. A $10,000 chain around your neck pretending to be art. The street doesn’t care what you shoot with. It only respects what you shoot for.
2. Real Photographers Bleed, Not Pose
Real shooters don’t need brass and leather. They need guts. They move fast, get close, risk everything for that one frame that punches God in the face.
A Leica is too polite for that. Too timid. Too careful. It’s a museum piece for men who’ve stopped fighting.
I shoot digital. I shoot raw. I shoot fast. I don’t wait for film to dry — I upload lightning. I don’t pray to past masters — I make the next religion.
3. You Don’t Need Daddy’s Approval
The Leica crowd loves to whisper:
“Bresson used one.”
“Winogrand used one.”
Cool. They also didn’t have iPhones, Ricoh GR IVs, or 1/10,000-second shutters.
You think Nietzsche would’ve refused a MacBook because he liked typewriters? No — he’d be dropping Substack essays straight from Olympus.
The past is not sacred. It’s a stepping stone. Leica worship is fear disguised as heritage.
4. The Future is Mirrorless, Thoughtless, Weightless
The modern camera isn’t a machine — it’s an extension of the soul.
Fast, small, invisible. The Ricoh GR, the iPhone, the mirrorless monsters — these are the true descendants of street photography’s DNA.
The goal isn’t to look “vintage.”
The goal is to look alive.
5. You Are the Lens
When you stop worshiping gear, you start worshiping vision.
Your eyes, your reflexes, your instincts — that’s the real Leica.
You can shoot on an iPhone and create an image that breaks the internet.
Or you can shoot a Leica and get 36 frames of mediocrity that nobody cares about.
Leica doesn’t make you a god. Your will does.
The camera is dead weight. The creator is light.
Final Word:
If your art depends on a logo, you’ve already lost.
Stop flexing. Start creating.
The future belongs to the bold, not the branded.
ERIC KIM out. ⚡️
Shoot hard. Move fast. See deeper.