Subtraction is more powerful than addition:
The simple things go a long way:
I believe that YouTube is a great place to index your thoughts, artwork, and anything in between.
YouTube has a powerful capability to archive and store things perhaps forever. Using YouTube as a way to direct people to your website is a good idea, even if you pull in just a few people that are interested in your work. The most joy I’ve ever had in creating has been this past year, publishing a variety of videos using my GoPro Mini as my main tool to document.
In terms of uploading, we should not upload in terms of maximizing viewer count, pleasing the algorithms, or even seeking feedback. The goal is to simply share things so that you can relive your experiences in this augmented format. I believe using the GoPro as a notetaking tool is a great idea. Also, looking back at some of my travel experiences and simple everyday routines is a great way to spend some downtime and consume my own media. The power of a GoPro is incredible. You can put yourself back in your shoes and relive your memories directly through the screen. At the end of the day, this seems to be YouTube’s core mission initially.
A simple heuristic is that you should create the media that you wish to see manifest in the world. Because of this, just disable all statistics, such as likes and comments from your videos. Just create for yourself, and one other person.
Photography is all about taking action. I believe in order to improve your photography, you must do the thing itself. Walk with your camera every single day and try to make at least one new photograph. The goal is to continue flexing the muscle of making pictures.
The simplest approach to making photos on the street is sticking to one camera and one lens. Use one focal length and one camera choice for at least one year. This will allow you to develop your eyes and to find your connection to the camera itself. The more you fumble around with different lenses and cameras, the less you will improve over time.
I suggest finding a few books that resonate with you, and studying those books for inspiration. The goal is to learn from your masters, then kill them. You will pick up bits and pieces from different photographers from the past, and mesh them together to create your own unique voice. This is critical, because without a framework and foundational knowledge about what is possible, you will perhaps become lost.
It’s easy to become emotional about a particular photograph that you’ve made. In order to combat this, you must separate yourself from the work. What this means is, you allow yourself time to go through and find the exact photographs that stand out to you after a year of making pictures. This doesn’t mean you get lazy with keeping up with the archive. I suggest going through your photographs each day after your walks. This way you don’t give yourself a headache at the end of the year. Make your daily selections quickly, as it shouldn’t take you that much time using an iPad and the photos app. But at the end of the year, you want a disconnected mindset when it comes to evaluating the work. You want to make sure that you look at each frame objectively and detached from your emotional experience while making the work. At this point, you can give yourself as much time in the world to find those shots that resonate with you.
After you’re done photographing for a year and find your selections, make a sketchbook of your best work. Use a Canon SELPHY CP 1500 printer at home and print out a selection of your photographs. If you’d like, make notes about each photograph and study them daily. Carry the sketchbook with you wherever you go and always have the work in your back pocket both physically and metaphorically.
Once you spend your first year photographing in your hometown and flexing your muscles daily, it’s time for the real test. Find a location that you’ve always dreamt of visiting and spend one month in that location photographing and exploring. A location that I highly suggest is Mumbai, India. Mumbai is a bustling and diverse location filled with potential for you to explore with your camera. It seems like one of those cities that you could spend your entire lifetime photographing and always find new something new. You can watch some behind the scenes videos of my time photographing in Mumbai on my YouTube channel.
It’s always exciting to visit a new place and practice your photography. Don’t take it too seriously and get caught up in making good pictures. Enjoy yourself, take your time, and make sure to cherish each moment. This is why photography is so powerful. It brings us to these new places and allows us to explore with an open mind without any preconceived notions of what we will find. The combination of traveling and practicing photography will allow you to improve as you learn about new cultures and challenge yourself.
When I walk the streets with my camera, I often make many photographs of the same thing. If I pass by something that catches my eye, I don’t just make one photograph and move on. I will make sure to try new angles, vantage, points, and make multiple pictures of the same thing or scene.
In street photography, repetition is important to consider. Move your body with the beat of the street. Watch the feet of the people that are moving as the theater of the life in front of you is a stage set for the people to dance upon. The more you walk on the block, the more you will find yourself in tune with the rhythm of every day life.
Walk the same route every single day for one month. Observe the nuances and change in the skyline of your town. Whether it’s the clouds, the backdrops, or even recognize the same person that works at a street vendor. If you live in an urban city or even a small town, you’ll notice the same things happen year-round. Study the streets and recognize patterns that happen on repeat.
In this particular scene of the pigeons flying by City Hall in Philadelphia, I studied the same street corner for many months to understand the flight patterns of the birds and at which time is best to photograph them. I made a direct effort to photograph the same location each day. The more I photographed this street corner, the more possibilities I recognized that could occur. I was interested in the way that the birds flew nearby the statue of William Penn on top of City Hall. As I moved my body around with my camera, I noticed the way in which the light was pearing behind the building, giving a beautiful and magical effect. I dropped to a low angle, and simply waited patiently while making many photographs. The more you put in the work on the street, the more the streets will deliver.
How to get “lucky” on the street? Photograph with intensity.
The etymology of “indefatigability” is as follows:
- “In-” is a Latin prefix meaning “not.”
- “Defatigare” is derived from the Latin verb “de-” (down, away) + “fatigare” (to tire).
- The suffix “-ability” comes from Latin “-abilitas,” indicating a condition or quality.
“Indefatigability” thus means ‘the quality of not being able to be worn down or tired.’
Here are some notable quotes from Friedrich Nietzsche’s “The Birth of Tragedy”:
- Nietzsche discusses the limitations of language in conveying the essence of music: “Language can never adequately render the cosmic symbolism of music, because music stands in symbolic relation to the primordial contradiction and primordial pain in the heart of the primal unity…”
- He makes an intriguing observation about human existence: “Man is no longer an artist, he has become a work of art.”
- Nietzsche reflects on the best and second-best states of being: “The best of all things is something entirely outside your grasp: not to be born, not to be, to be nothing. But the second best thing for you is to die soon.”
- He talks about the power of illusion and its role in human life: “IT is an eternal phenomenon: the insatiate will can always, by means of an illusion spread over things, detain its creatures in life and compel them to live on…”
- Nietzsche emphasizes the importance of myth in culture: “Every culture that has lost myth has lost, by the same token, its natural healthy creativity. Only a horizon ringed about with myths can unify a culture.”
- He describes the role of the satyr in Greek tragedy: “The satyr, as the Dionysiac chorist, dwells in a reality sanctioned by myth and ritual…”
These quotes provide a glimpse into the profound and often complex ideas Nietzsche explores in “The Birth of Tragedy” oai_citation:1,30+ quotes from The Birth of Tragedy by Friedrich Nietzsche.
The ups, the downs, the in-between moments. Everything is worth championing and reveling in
The word “archetype” comes from the Greek words “arche” and “typos.” “Arche” means “original” or “old,” and “typos” means “pattern,” “model,” or “type.” Put together, “archetype” literally means “original pattern” or “primitive model.” This term was adopted into English usage to describe a universally recognized and recurring symbolic pattern or motif.
The story of the Great Flood, often referred to as Noah’s Ark in the Abrahamic traditions, is a well-known flood myth found in many cultures around the world. The most famous version is found in the Bible, in the book of Genesis. According to this narrative:
- Wickedness of Humanity: God saw the wickedness of humanity and decided to cleanse the Earth with a flood.
- Noah’s Faithfulness: Noah was a righteous man in God’s eyes. God instructed him to build an ark.
- Building the Ark: Noah built a large ark as instructed, gopher wood and pitch were used.
- Gathering of Animals: Noah gathered two of every kind of animal and bird, male and female, as well as his family.
- The Flood: Rains flooded the Earth for 40 days and nights, covering even the highest mountains.
- Receding Waters: After 150 days, the waters receded. The ark rested on the mountains of Ararat.
- Noah’s Sacrifice and God’s Promise: Noah built an altar and made sacrifices to God. God promised never to destroy all life with a flood again and set a rainbow as a sign of this covenant.
Similar flood myths exist in other cultures, like the Mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh, the Hindu story of Manu, and in Greek mythology with Deucalion. These stories, while differing in details and characters, often share common elements such as a worldwide flood, a boat or ark, and a theme of renewal or rebirth of humanity. The prevalence of flood myths in various cultures has been a subject of interest for anthropologists, historians, and theologians.
What other cultures recorded the flood?
Many cultures around the world have their own flood myths, which are remarkably similar in their basic story yet unique in details. Here are a few notable examples:
- Mesopotamian Flood Myths: The Epic of Gilgamesh, a Sumerian epic poem, contains a flood story that predates the Biblical account. Utnapishtim is warned by a god to create a giant ship to save himself, his family, and samples of animals from a flood sent by the gods.
- Hinduism: In Hindu mythology, the Matsya Avatar of Lord Vishnu warns the first man, Manu, about an impending catastrophic flood. Manu is instructed to build a boat to survive the flood along with the sages, seeds of all plants, and a pair of each animal species.
- Greek Mythology: In Greek mythology, Deucalion and Pyrrha survive a great flood sent by Zeus to punish humans for their wickedness. Warned by Deucalion’s father, Prometheus, they build a chest and fill it with provisions, surviving the flood to later repopulate the Earth.
- Chinese Mythology: In Chinese legend, the Great Flood of Gun-Yu, a major flood event, is a prominent myth. Gun tries to stop the flooding with dikes and dams but fails. His son, Yu the Great, succeeds by channeling the water into fields, establishing the Xia dynasty.
- Native American Myths: Many Native American tribes have flood stories. For example, the Hopi people tell of a great flood where the virtuous were saved by entering into hollow reeds that floated on the water.
- Mesoamerican Cultures: In Aztec mythology, the god Tlaloc destroyed the world with a flood, with only a man named Coxcox and his wife surviving in a hollow log.
- African Cultures: Several African tribes have flood myths. The Yoruba people of Nigeria, for example, have a story where the god Olokun floods the world out of anger, but another god, Obatala, intervenes to stop the flood.
- Norse Mythology: In Norse myths, there is a story of a great deluge which is a part of the creation story, involving the killing of the giant Ymir and the world being flooded from his blood.
These myths, while varying widely in characters, causes, and aftermath, often have common elements such as a global or large-scale flood, a means of escape or survival, and a rebirth or renewal of life on Earth. The similarities and differences in these flood myths are studied by scholars in fields like mythology, anthropology, and comparative religion.
Jesus’ death, according to Christian belief, is seen as a pivotal event. The primary reason Christians believe Jesus died was to atone for the sins of humanity. This concept is based on the belief that all humans are born with sin and that Jesus’ death served as a sacrifice, redeeming people from this sin and allowing them the opportunity for eternal life with God. This interpretation of Jesus’ death is rooted in various scriptures within the New Testament of the Bible. Different Christian denominations may have varying interpretations of the significance and theological implications of Jesus’ death.
Prophet Muhammad, born in Mecca in the year 570 CE, is a central figure in Islam. He is regarded by Muslims as the last prophet sent by God to mankind to restore Islam, a faith believed by Muslims to have been originally practiced by Adam, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and other prophets.
Muhammad’s life is pivotal in the Islamic faith for several reasons:
- Revelation of the Quran: Muhammad is believed to have received revelations from God through the angel Gabriel. These revelations, which he received over 23 years, are compiled in the Quran, Islam’s holy book.
- His Example (Sunnah): Muhammad’s actions, sayings, and approvals, collectively known as his Sunnah, are considered a model of ideal conduct for Muslims. They are recorded in Hadiths, accounts of his sayings and actions.
- Founding of a Community: He established a community in Medina that was not only religious but also social and political, which laid the foundation for the rapid expansion of Islam after his death.
- Moral and Ethical Teachings: Muhammad’s teachings emphasized moral and ethical values like charity, compassion, justice, and mercy.
- Finality of Prophethood: In Islam, Muhammad is considered the “Seal of the Prophets,” signifying the end of the line of prophets that started with Adam.
His life and teachings continue to be deeply influential and are a source of inspiration and guidance for Muslims worldwide.
The Renaissance art movement, spanning roughly from the 14th to the 17th century, was a pivotal period in art history marked by significant developments:
- Origin: Began in Italy in the late 14th century, influenced by the culture of ancient Rome and Greece.
- Humanism: Emphasized human values and the study of classical antiquity.
- Innovations: Introduction of techniques like linear perspective, chiaroscuro (contrast between light and dark), and sfumato (blurring lines and edges).
- Famous Artists: Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Botticelli, and Titian.
- Sculpture and Architecture: Renewed focus on naturalism and the human form; revival of classical architectural principles.
- Key Themes: Religious subjects, human figures, mythology, and portraiture.
- Spread of Influence: Moved beyond Italy to influence all of Europe, leading to other art movements like the Northern Renaissance.
- Impact: Marked the transition from medieval to modern thinking in art and culture.
The etymology of the word “irregular” traces back to the Latin word “irregularis.” This term is composed of two parts: “in-” meaning “not,” and “regularis,” which means “rule” or “pattern.” “Regularis” itself comes from “regula,” which signifies “rule.” Therefore, “irregular” originally meant “not according to the rule.” Over time, this Latin term evolved into the English “irregular,” retaining its fundamental meaning of something that does not follow the usual rules, patterns, or norms.
