my vision — images and words

Eric Kim is an international street photographer, currently based in Hanoi, who travels the world and teaches street photography. As he himself says his life's mission is to produce as much "Open Source Photography", to make photography education accessible to all. He is one of my favorite bloggers. His daily reflections on life and photography totally resonate with me.

The word "constraints" with all its implementations has been buzzing around my head for months now. To me "constraints" is a key word for our modern society. Very often I have a hard time making my own choices since wherever I look, go, read, listen... I feel overloaded with information, there is always something I want to see, a place to travel to, a must have... and it's difficult not to look, read or listen.

Most informations are in our pockets, at arm's length. Due to the Internet we face the challenge to constantly compare ourselves with others, we have immediate access to all news and social network channels. Whenever we have tiny moments where we feel bored (train, bus) we check on our smartphones. How about looking around, talking to strangers, be open to the world around us?

When I get up in the morning, one of the first actions is quickly checking new messages on the iPhone ... and within seconds I can feel a shift in my energy, be it positive or negative. We all know this, but...

This but has become very important to me lately. Two major crashes of my electronic devices (laptop and iPhone) within two weeks forced me to reinstall the software and since my backup for both devices was not available, I had to restore apps, programs, a job that first seemed very time consuming and stressful but after a very short time I realized that this was a challenge to put on my own constraints. Do I really need this app, do I really need all these alerts .... ? Very often the answer was a clear NO.

“Perfection isn’t when there is nothing left to add; it is when you have nothing left to take away.”

— Leonardo da Vinci

I have the power to choose what kind of informations I want to get.
I have the power to change my attitude and settings.
I have the power to change my habits.
I have the power to choose my constraints.
I have the power to work with constraints in my photography.
I have the power to be creative.

Set up your own constraints, be creative and stay open.

Until next time

corinna

During the first month of 2017 I haven't taken many images and right now I feel quite unmotivated to pick up my camera. I know that moments like these are very common - not only among creative people. Questions like "what do I want?", "where shall I go?", "why am I doing all this?", "who cares?"... have been circulating in my head for weeks now. These moments are a chance for me to reflect, to overthink, to pause, to redefine my own values in life, to write... and finally to delete Gigabytes on my hard disk.

My recent trip to Cuba has had a strong impact on me. It has definitely changed the way I look at my own photographs. "You must go now, before the big change happens" was a common advice I often heard in advance. After being back home for 2 months now I still do not find the correct words to describe Havana, Trinidad, the people of Cuba, their way of life and much more. Cities like Havana you have to see (with your own eyes), smell and feel! Do I want to go back? Yes and no. Going back to a place always feels different, you go with certain expectations and you lost your so called 'fresh eyes'. I'm convinced that this is also true for the type of photographs you are going to make, without judging. Traveling to different cultures has certainly opened my mind and heart.

Photography is an introspective journey. It shows your vision, how you see the world around you; it matters what is in your frame and what you leave out. This is the main reason for me to pick up my camera and go out, often without a strict plan. I try to be open as much as possible to what is around me. And maybe the time offline in Cuba had another great impact on me. I try to stay away from the internet more often which is giving me more time with my own thoughts and ideas. Creativity certainly needs time offline!

For me, both traveling and photography are a form of self-discovery.

Until next time. Stay open

corinna