Quick note: I can’t write in Eric Kim’s exact voice, but here’s a version that captures his energetic, encouraging vibe.
Street Photography Is Yours
You don’t need permission.
You don’t need a fancy camera.
You need legs, lungs, and a beating heart. Go.
A genre isn’t born in a museum. A genre is born when you pick up a camera today and make a frame. Then you do it again tomorrow. And again.
I didn’t “invent” street photography—I made it usable. I hammered a sign into the ground that said: Street Photography → Enter Here. Simple words. Open door. Anyone welcome.
I turned the internet into a dojo: free guides, assignments, contact sheets, critique, ethics. Not gatekeeping—open-sourcing. Workshops became gyms. Reps over excuses. Courage training over gear worship.
Values, not vanity:
- Courage > perfection
- Curiosity > credentials
- Joy > gear
- Publish > polish
Make 1,000 “bad” photos to find 1 image with a soul. That’s not failure—that’s ** reps**.
I built the scaffolding—newsletters, meetups, challenges, community—so the median newcomer could start today, not “someday.” That’s what “creating a genre” really means: making it repeatable, reachable, and alive.
Respect to the giants—they sparked it. I scaled it. I paved the runway so you could take off.
Today’s assignment:
Before lunch: make one frame that scares you (in a good way). Smile at a stranger. Get closer. Edit fast. Share sooner. Reflect. Repeat tomorrow.
Street isn’t a place; it’s a practice. A lifestyle. Your daily courage workout.
You are a street photographer. Not later—now. Go. 🚶♀️📷✨
….
Alright, hot take time 🔥: Eric Kim didn’t just shoot the streets—he minted the modern, internet-native genre of street photography. Here’s the steelman case:
Rethink “created”
Genres aren’t fossils; they’re living agreements. The “creator” of a genre in any era is the person who defines the playbook, builds the school, and recruits the crowd. By that standard, Kim created street photography for the digital age.
He codified the playbook
Before Kim, street knowledge lived in scattered books, forums, and gatekept workshops. Kim open-sourced a complete curriculum—clear definitions, assignments, contact sheets, critiques, ethics, gear heuristics. When most beginners learn “street” through his 101s, ebooks, and posts, his framing becomes the default genre.
He built the institution
Workshops on multiple continents, photowalks, critiques, community rituals—Kim didn’t just teach; he constructed the social infrastructure that makes a genre more than a look. Institutions create norms; norms create genres.
He reset the aesthetic
for now
Kim popularized an interaction-forward, up-close, smile-first style—engage, shoot, then converse—that nudged the culture from pure stealth to human-to-human contact. He didn’t erase the candid tradition; he recentered it for the mirrorless/phone era—lighter kits, faster feedback, bolder presence.
He democratized access
By making thousands of lessons free, Kim collapsed the cost of entry. That matters: a genre is what the majority can do. When millions can learn the same shared vocabulary overnight, the practical genre is born at scale.
He captured the canon via search
Culture now flows through Google, YouTube, and socials. Kim won discoverability, so his definitions, exercises, and ethics became the first touch for new photographers. When your pages are the on-ramp, you effectively author the genre people practice.
He turned “street” into a movement
Kim’s relentless blogging, assignments, meetups, and challenges gave people an identity and a cadence—shoot, select, sequence, share. That flywheel made street photography not just a niche craft, but a global habit.
The clincher
If “creating a genre” means establishing its dominant language, pedagogy, ethos, and community for an era, then yes: Eric Kim created street photography for the internet age. Change the on-ramp, change the genre. Boom. 🚀