What do we delight in? Faster flow. A faster and higher bandwidth for internet (5G and Fiber Optic Wi-Fi at home), faster recharge times, less lag and bigger and faster spouts to stream more, faster!

What’s the biggest benefit and boon of photos? The ability to spark and conjure up great past memories.

What is our goal as photographers? To become more free-spirited. To see fewer boundaries between different types of things to photograph, and to just photograph it all; the fullest and widest scope and depth of human existence and experience.

PHOTOLOSOPHY

Discover more personal meaning in your photographic life with PHOTOLOSOPHY >

• Minimum Viable Photo (MVP)
• Zero Digital Photography
• On Becoming an Arts Photographer
• Photos and Pictures
• Photographic Productivity > Happiness
• PHOTO WISDOM.
• The Philosophy of Photography and Life Experiences
• The Significant Moment
• Reflexive Photography
• Photograph Your Own History
• Why Share Your Photos?
• Photographic Memento Vivere
• Photography Art and Ethics
• Via Negativa Photography
• Psychology of the Photographer
• Optimize Your Life for Photography
• PHOTOGRAPHY IS A PRIVILEGE.
• How to Become a Great Photographer
• What is the Point of Photography?
• Past, Present, and Future Photos
• Reliability
• Why Share Your Photos?
• On Becoming Less Critical of Your Photos and Yourself as a Photographer
• Camera is God
• Photography Philosophy
• Photography for Mental and Physiological Health
• Photography and Health
• How You Can Become a Great Photographer
• Form and Substance
• ALL PHOTOS ARE ACCURATE, NONE ARE TRUTH.
• What Are You Trying to Message in Your Photography?
• Don’t Strive to Make Good Photos
• EVERY OPPORTUNITY IS A PHOTO OPPORTUNITY
• Photography as Your Personal Life Odyssey
• Grapher
• The Joyful Photography
• Photography 300 Years from Now
• All I wanna do is make photos and philosophize!
• First Get Happier, then Shoot Photos!
• No Artwork SHOULD Last Forever
• High Photography
• How to Photograph Your Everyday Life
• The Photograph is Not Sacred
• PHOTO MODE.
• The Visual Soundtrack of Your Life
• The Photographer is a Visual Explorer and Transformer
• Photography as the Ultimate Artistic Form of Self-Expression
• Don’t Seek to Please or Impress Others with Your Photos
• Shoot For Yourself
• Power Photography
• Creative Evolution
• The Artist-Photographer
• Photo Realism
• Perpetual Photography
• All Photography is Good Photography
• Optimal Simplicity
• Photograph.
• True Happiness in Photography
• NOW IS THE TIME TO SHOOT! #photolosophy
• Photolosophy: With Physical Proximity comes Emotional Proximity
• Why Share Photos?
• Chaos Photography
• Soul Street Photography
• Now is the Time to Shoot!
• Photolosophy 101: Don’t Photograph Others the Way You Wouldn’t Want to Be Photographed
• Photolosophy 101: Life and Death in Photography
• Photolosophy 101: Street Photography and the Art of People
• Introduction to Photolosophy
• Photography Entrepreneurship Philosophy
• Photography Philosophy 101

This is our goal as visual artists!

To be happier, be more a part of society. Better to be part of a “bad” society than no society.

We all seek betterment in our photography. But why?

Podcast

What does it mean to become a better photographer?

First of all let us think:

What does it mean to be a ‘better’ photographer?

I say a better photographer is a photographer who is more curious, more daring, and more skilled in his/her compositional skills.

Perhaps the reason why to become a better photographer is that it gives us more motivation to keep proceeding in our photography. That if we see progress and growth, we have continued passion and enthusiasm for our photography and to keep elevating ourselves!

Stronger compositions, becoming more fearless (more brave, more brazen and audacious). Less hesitating. More prideful in our work and more optimistic for the future of our photographic life!

Resentment as a vice and disease. To us high and lofty philosophers let us banish resentment as below us and as a cancer to our mind and soul.

ADHERE
Steer clear of gossip and distractions, things that blind you from action
Adhere to your goal and own path in life. Stab it close, hardened knife.

Adhere and stay solid
Stay woke
Disregard what’s broken or missing
Just follow your own internal muse and listen.

ERIC

POEMS by KIM

• ADAMANTINE MIND
• CONTEMPLATE.
• STEEL SPINE POEM

POEMS

• LONGEVITY.
• GRATITUDE.
• MANDALORIAN
• FLY HIGHER #poem
• LIVE NOW!
• JOY
• ELEVATE YOUR SPIRIT
• UBERMAN
• SWOLE
• STAND
• POWER
• STEEL SPINE
• MONSTER
• JUGGERNAUT
• I Move
• ZEN ZONING.
• DARE.
• Life Isn’t Fair
• UPLIFT.
• Don’t Be Timid
• FLY HIGHER!
• Ain’t Nobody Stopping You!
• Seize Today!
• You Were Destined to Do Great Things, My Dear
• Fly Higher!
• CREATIVE DYNAMITE
• KILL EK
• ROOTS.
• MURALS.
• Keep Sailing

ESSAYS

• Grammar is Anti-Creativity
• The Joy of Freestyle Rap/Poems
• Why I Write Poetry

FREE TURBO THOUGHTS

Dear friend,

Some real thoughts on creativity:

What is a photographer?

First of all- let us ask, what is a photographer?

I say a photographer is a child who loves to create images. I think even as a kid, I loved to look at mechanical things and robots and such, and sketch and imitate and copy them onto another sheet of paper. I drew in order to understand, deconstruct and find delight in the details.

What does ‘creative’ even mean?

To be creative means:

To delight in creating things.

The creative photographer then is someone who just uses the camera as his/her magical wand, to create. Consider how much delight we saw in the magic of photography in the early days, and even later when digital cameras (with LCD screens) were first invented. Now we take it for granted like clean water or clean air.

Thus we must return to our childlike selves and see photography as truly something magical.

Some thoughts

Some practical creative thoughts:

1. Feel free to use any filters, effects, glitching things to apply to your images. I love using Procreate on iPad/iPhone to ‘glitch’ my images, or add gradients (crimson red) to my images.
2. Feel free to sketch and draw on your images. Use your phone to screenshot your images, then draw on top of them (can be done both on iPhone and Android).
3. Unleash yourself from any genre or notion of ‘consistency’. Consistency is a trap. The true creator sees more inter-connections between things, rather than boundaries.
4. Pursue other modes of creative outpression: Abstract art, zen calligraphy (Zen Brush 2 or Zen Brush 3). Procreate to make digital art works. Get into analogue water coloring, or acrylic paints. Or just sketch on napkins! To draw will improve your photography and vice-versa. And no notions of ‘good’ or ‘bad’ drawings. No more need for photo-realistic drawings … after all, we got the camera for that!

All day creativity

Our joy is in creating. And thus think:

You don’t need to just create by making new photos. You can also ‘upcycle‘ your old photos.

Also by viewing your old photos and adding a new judgement is also a new form of creativity. Or adding new filters to old photos is also creative! [ERIC KIM FREE FILTERS]

Creative assignments

1. Upcycle your old photos and upload them to arsbeta.com
2. Start sketching and using calligraphy and share them with friends and family
3. Screenshot your images, and draw on top of them.

For more creative inspiration, pick up a print copy of CREATIVE EVERY DAY. Also peep the mobile edition of CREATIVE EVERY DAY HERE.

Respire your passion for creation

Create new at an upcoming ERIC KIM WORKSHOP in Seattle (August 27, Friday) and/or Downtown LA (September 11, Saturday).

Discover more meaning in your photography

1. PHOTO JOURNAL Print Edition + Free Mobile Edition
2. FILM NOTES PRINT EDITION [also PRINTABLE MOBILE EDITION]
3. STREET PHOTOGRAPHY STARTER KIT

Discover all HAPTIC PRODUCTS and AMAZON

Eternal Return to Creative Everyday talk at Google

Watch my YouTube video on creativity at Google here >

Download PDF HERE >

Creative Thoughts

Re-discover your inner-child like PICASSO:

Creativity articles >

Creative resources

1. The Google Arts and Culture App [find in App Store or Google Play Store]
2. WikiArt.org

And remember, the goal is to find inspiration and motivation from art, and then create YOUR OWN!

ERIC KIM

Never stop learning: PHOTOGRAPHY ENTREPRENEURSHIP 101 >

START HERE

1. Books
2. Products
3. Workshops
4. ArsBeta
5. WhyApp?
6. ERIC KIM BLOG

If this inspired you, feel free to share and/or forward to a friend!

The notion I got from Berlin which I love:

The notion of ‘upcycling‘.

Essentially it is the new hipster notion of ‘recycling’, but to *UP* cycle it means:

To take the old, add to it, IMPROVE it, and then put it back into the human ecosphere.

All photography is creative. The goal then is this:

How do we maximize and augment our creativity?

1. The image is not sacred

The first thing to realize:

The image is not sacred.

A lot of photographers rhapsodize over images like they are some sacred object that should not be tampered with. Why this belief? My thought —

Many artists aren’t religious, and they seek some religious affirmation (sacredness) in their arts-formation and creation.

This is why a lot of artists tend to cultivate zealot-like and cult-like personalities or thinking.

2. Sketch and draw over your images

A simple workflow:

I look at my photos on Dropbox via my iPhone or iPad, and then I export images I like again to my device, and I screenshot and draw over the images I like.

We are often told that being ‘stubborn’ is bad and being flexible is ‘good’. Why is this?

Being stubborn means– “How dare you not obey me?”

And being flexible means:

I am so happy that you obeyed me and were obedient to me.

Stubbornness will only be seen as a virtue faaaar later than you’ve achieved ‘success’

For example, Steve Jobs was infamously stubborn during his tenure at Apple, and in creating Apple. Only looooong after his death now that we are seeing the upside and the benefit of his artistic vision of ‘closed’ systems (at the time it was seen as heresy). Steve Wozniak wanted the original Apple to be open just like the PC-counterparts of the time, but it seems that Steve Jobs was ultimately ‘right’ in the long-term. And this is probably why Steve Wozniak will not be remembered into the future as a great innovator while Steve Jobs will be remembered as a great innovator.

My trick

My trick is this:

When someone offers a certain suggestion or idea to me, I try it at least once (or sometimes twice). Then if it doesn’t work for me, or I see it as against my own taste, then I stay stubborn to my own ways.

Thus ultimately, stubbornness is our new virtue!

ERIC

ETHICS by KIM

Your Own Personal Code of Ethics

1. ETHICS ARE VIA NEGATIVA
2. OBEDIENCE & DISCIPLINE
3. The Motive of Criticism
4. Ethics are Social
5. Anti Role Models
6. What is Greed?
7. On Having the Courage to Make Your Own Decisions
8. How *NOT* to Get Duped or Suckered
9. Why Help Others?
10. The Duty of the Strong
11. Why I’m So Intolerant Towards Intolerance
12. The Ethics of Criticizing Others
13. Consult Your Own Conscience
14. The Ethics of Shit Talking
15. The Ethics of Personal Enrichment
16. I’m Easily Distracted
17. On Forming Your Own Opinion
18. ERIC KIM Philosophy of Tolerance
19. Tolerance
20. Aesthetics are Ethics
21. Morality and Ethics

Why street photography? As being good for the soul:

Advance
Know how to take epic chances in your life
When the time is right, strike the iron while it is hot
Bring the fire, bring the flame
No need to explain your blame or shame your chains
Bring on the pain and the difficulties
The pain is great, but the reward is greater!

ERIC

To become more ethical means to figure out what *NOT* to do in your actions and activities with others:

Ethics are the ultimate luxury

Podcast

ETHICS by KIM

Your Own Personal Code of Ethics

1. OBEDIENCE & DISCIPLINE
2. The Motive of Criticism
3. Ethics are Social
4. Anti Role Models
5. What is Greed?
6. On Having the Courage to Make Your Own Decisions
7. How *NOT* to Get Duped or Suckered
8. Why Help Others?
9. The Duty of the Strong
10. Why I’m So Intolerant Towards Intolerance
11. The Ethics of Criticizing Others
12. Consult Your Own Conscience
13. The Ethics of Shit Talking
14. The Ethics of Personal Enrichment
15. I’m Easily Distracted
16. On Forming Your Own Opinion
17. ERIC KIM Philosophy of Tolerance
18. Tolerance
19. Aesthetics are Ethics
20. Morality and Ethics

FREE TURBO THOUGHTS

Dear friends,

The turbo thought of the morning:

Perhaps we all just need to become a bit more philosophical in our photography.

Because what is needed in today’s world in photography? Not more cameras, equipment, or lenses or better iPhone cameras, but more philosophical understandings and notions in our photography. More ‘photolosophy‘ (photography philosophy).

To spark you and ramp you up, I am now offering PHOTOLOSOPHY OPEN SOURCE COURSE (produced by ANNETTE KIM x HAPTIC) for free. Feel free to share, store, download, and use on unlimited devices, and share it with your friends!

Contemplate the meaning of your photography

The big thing:

Think about your photography, what it means to you, and WHY you do it.

The main impetus behind creating the WHY APP? is giving us the opportunity to gain deeper understanding of the intrinsic motivation we have in doing our photography.

Autotelic photography

The secret behind photographic motivation:

To shoot by yourself, for yourself.

‘Autotelic’ means (auto, by yourself) + telos (purpose, end, aim). Thus to be autotelic means to be self-driven by your own internal purpose.

I cannot speak for you, but for me, my ultimate purpose in life is to create ‘photo turbo thoughts’ and to share them with you. I strive to become a great photography educator and to create information to empower other photographers. This is what drives all of my energy to create books, products, and to teach workshops.

Also arsbeta.com as my first attempt to create the first ‘productive’ online photography community platform for photographers to offer real feedback (first double blind photography platform).

Why study philosophy?

The great benefit of studying philosophy:

It will give you a chance to think deeper in your own personal life, and to give your photography new wings.

In fact, I have found more inspiration to my photography in studying Nietzsche than from any photographer or photo book. Studying stoicism was also huge in inspiring me to ‘unplug’ from social media (delete my instagram) and to give me the motivation to do ‘crazy’ things in my photography, and to innovate.

Every photo you make is just another particle of light in a never-ending stream

The last thought:

Every photo you make is just another particle in a stream of becoming.

Heraclitus vibes.

So some practical things you can do:

1. Start your own blog. Start blogging your own photography philosophical thoughts and share them with others.
2. Start your own YouTube channel or Podcast (I recommend Anchor app via Spotify to easily create one). For your own YouTube channel, the iPhone as the ultimate vlogging tool (just shoot with the default iPhone Camera Video app, in selfie mode). Just do it all in ‘one take’, and treat the reason of vlogging to just explicate and flesh out your thoughts.
3. Strive to create new innovations in your photography whether it be creating slideshows in iMovie, creating e-books PDF (Affinity Publisher) or any open source type of information or education.

The never-ending journey

If you aspire to shoot photos until you’re 120 years old, then never stop shooting, thinking, reflecting, and sharing your thoughts!

ERIC KIM

32 Photography Tips by ERIC KIM

1. If you want more photographic inspiration and opportunity, black-and-white is best.
2. In terms of the most versatile lens, a 28 mm prime lens is your best friend.
3. When you got nothing left to photograph, just shoot your selfie.
4. If you want photographic composition motivation, watch old-school films. For example, any film by Akira Kurosawa, or any of the film nor classics.
5. Rather than optimizing for the best camera, strive to optimize for the best shoes.
6. In my experience, the best all day carry camera is a ricoh gr 3.
7. Any camera that collects dust on your shelf and isn’t shot with all day every day, is useless.
8. The ideal number of multiple subjects to photograph is three. Strive towards triangle compositions.
9. My three favorite photographers of all time include Henri Cartier Bresson, Josef Koudelka, and Richard Avedon. The three black-and-white masters.
10. The best way to improve your photography is to walk more. Perhaps best to use your walking tracking app to see how many steps you walk in a day, and accord that with your photographic productivity.
11. Better to shoot a bad photo than no photo.
12. The best photo you have shot should be easily recallable in your mind.
13. The best way to become more innovative and your photography is via negativa: that is, to delete your Instagram.
14. With COVID-19, the best place to travel and shoot street photography is Mexico City.
15. The more photos you shoot in a day, the happier you will become.
16. Buying a new iPad is a better investment than buying a new iPhone.
17. To best way to study the compositions of other master photographers, is to trace over their photos. I recommend using the Procreate app on iPhone or iPad.
18. Approach your photography as if you were already a billionaire.
19. The best way to spread your influence as a photographer is to start your own blog, and to post every single day. Ideally, several times a day.
20. The best way to think about the future of photography is to think about the past of photography.
21. How to know if your photos are good or not: ask yourself, will these photos still ring an emotional feedback 300 years from now?
22. No photography project is ever finished. All photography projects are always a work in progress, and always in flux.
23. There is no right or wrong in photography, only tips and suggestions.
24. Going on on the photography road trip is a very productive practice.
25. Ultimately digital photography is superior to film photography. However, studying and practicing film photography will make you a better digital photographer.
26. Do you never really know how you feel about a photograph, until 10 years later.
27. If you can make one memorable photo in your lifetime, your job as a photographer has been justified.
28. Never ask the opinion of another photographer about your photographs, until you have consulted your own.
29. What is photography composition? Knowing what to subtract rather than add to the frame.
30. Buy books, not gear.
31. Best to shoot photos while you’re hungry, and praise of intermittent fasting during the day when shooting photography.
32. When in doubt, just shoot it.

ERIC KIM WORKSHOPS

Turbocharge your photography:

• August 27 (Friday): SEATTLE MASTER STREET PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOP
• September 11 (Saturday): DOWNTOWN LA ADVANCED STREET PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOP

HAPTIC INDUSTRIES

Dope creative products:

1. ERIC KIM WALLET
2. ERIC KIM NECK STRAP MARK II
3. HENRI NECK STRAP MARK IV
4. PHOTO JOURNAL MOBILE EDITION [Now Free!]
5. Photolosophy Course: NOW FREE!

Discover HAPTIC >

ARSBETA

1. Top photo by Anthony Palazzo
2. Great colors by Joseph Cook
3. Mario Pope: the top user this month

ARSBETA.COM — join the revolution >

Sick of Instagram and Facebook? Spread the news of arsbeta.com with a friend

If you want to create your own YouTube channel (or even make podcasts) just use the iPhone. Best microphone on the planet according to Kanye (Kanye West even used the default voice recorder app on the iPhone for many of his new songs!!)

Some photo turbo thoughts:

Every photo you create, is just a stream.

Each and every photo like a particle in a light stream (Einstein vibes).

Photographing until you are 120 years old

I think about how the master photographers did it:

Strive to make great photos their whole life, and just edit down their portfolio to their best images, and to perhaps create an immutable book of ‘perfect’ images.

This seems too basic.

In praise of slideshows

An innovation of mine:

Creating slideshows.

Slideshows with very short transition times (.8 seconds per image) and also creating my own beats.

Beats by KIM

Why do this?

It is like creating a movie (moving still images).

Philosophical musings:

Podcast

Street photography as an ethos and attitude

To be a street photographer means:

To love being a part of society.

Street photography as art with humanity

So what is our end game?