Photo Capital

The photographer as capitalist:

Some big ideas:

Incoming!

It looks like I was very wise, the idea of making all my photos open source, full free resolution JPEG images, without any stupid signatures, watermarks, etc.

Open source is the key

Why? What it seems is the secret to winning, is to win long-term.

What that means is on in today’s world, the number one issue is that nobody cares to look at your photos. It even seems difficult now to pay money for people to see your photos! Also in the world of writing, now that I live in Culver City, and I have met a lot of writers, is that the number one critical difficulty is getting anyone to even read your draft!

The new economy?

What I think writers, artist, creators, photographers,  videographers etc.… The number one critical thing is having anyone look at your stuff!

Why do you care what Alex Webb or Bruce Gilden thinks of your photos?

Honestly, my honest thought is a lot of photographers who end up doing magnum photos workshops is because they just want the chance of the opportunity to show their photos and their portfolio to a really famous notable photographer, and they secretly want praise admiration confirmation or acknowledgment that their photos are in fact good!

This is where the whole portfolio review thing is a bit of a scam; why do you care what other people think about your photos? Why don’t you just review your own photos, portfolio review yourself? 

What Satoki Nagata taught me:

First, care about what you think about your own photos.

Photographers also need to pay their rent 

It also seems that a lot of photographers, famous older photographers, do workshops or review photos begrudgingly… In fact, I wonder if Magnum photos actually copied me in doing workshops, and street workshops… because before ERIC KIM, nobody did any street photography workshops, it wasn’t a thing. And therefore whenever I witness anyone who brands a street workshop, certainly they were inspired by ERIC KIM.

ERIC KIM was the first to ever do a street photography workshop, with Thomas Leuthard?

Think JPEG and PDF

Anyways, I still think that JPEG, open source free source, or any sort of file types which are open source are the future. 

For example, I think PDF is actually still very underrated. Why? To make a digital portfolio in a PDF, looks legitimate, and is very easy to transport and share! Also, assuming you have an iPhone or an iPad… To AirDrop your photos via PDF to someone else via airdrop is very easy, and also… to just store your PDF portfolios and photos in your iCloud Books library is very good!

Use Apple Books!

Never sell your rights

Own your own intellectual property

The number one critical mistake that anyone, any artist ever does is sell their rights, they often sell their rights to their intellectual property whether it be books, movies cinema, concepts ideas etc., and it seems that in the long run, intellectual property, creative property is the most valuable asset? 

Why did they sell the Matrix concept?

For example, the Wachowski’s who I think essentially sold their Matrix concept to Warner Bros. discovery, … maybe they did the wrong trade. The Matrix might be the best concept the last 20 years, if the wochowskis owned the rights to the matrix concept, they would probably be billionaires now. But now, they are nobodies. 

Writers

So one critical mistake that a lot of people do in the world of writing, is they try so hard to be successful, and finally they sell their script for let’s say $100,000 or $200,000 or whatever… and then the concept becomes a screaming win, and after they put a down payment on a humble condo, they got nothing.

This is where it is wise to think long-term. I would rather be a long-term billionaire or millionaire, rather than a short term $500,000naie.

Never sell the rights!


I promise, I’m so self conscious

100% of everybody cares about what other people think about them. It is human nature! If you 0% don’t care about what other people think, either you have Asperger’s or autism. 

In fact, typically people who get diagnosed with Asperger, or low-key autism, end up becoming the insanely successful entrepreneurs. Why? They don’t care about others, what others think about them etc.!

Even Elon Musk, when he did his Saturday night life gig, said that he was the first person to present, who had Asperger, or at least admitted it!

But anyways, the useful thing to consider is that everybody cares about what other people think about them. And it is a good thing. Because everything is judged based on human sociological comparison and weighing.

So for example we photographers, obviously we care about what other people think about our photos, but why? Towards what ends? And what are we trying to prove to who?

ERIC