Eric Kim and a disconnect?

[Aristophanes]

Best quote from his most controversial articles:

" My wife Cindy taught me to save money and not to go out and buy Leicas"

He's made his money using just as good photography gear at a much smaller outlay. That's just smart money.

 

[ktmrider]

If you don't like his work, don't buy it or support his workshops. From all the criticism here, you would think he is the anti christ.

 

[emraphoto]

If you don't like his work, don't buy it or support his workshops. From all the criticism here, you would think he is the anti christ.

really? the conversation seems positively passive compared to other discussions about him i've come across.

 

[michaelwj]

So much negativity.

Firstly, I don't think he "over promotes" himself, rather he successfully promotes himself. Nothing wrong with that.

Secondly, since when do you have to be a world renowned expert in a field before you can teach it? More often than not, the true experts in the field are the worst teachers, they have no idea how others can struggle with what they do so easily.

Thirdly, he has never tried to deceive anyone as far as I know. He is honest and hard working, and well done to him. I don't know many people that would be as honest as he was in that PP article referenced in this thread. He has found a business model that works in a world when people want everything for free AND he shares how to do it.

Lastly, do people really go to these workshops with the express intent of learning from the instructor or is it more about the experience of sharing a great few days shooting somewhere you wouldn't normally shoot, with the added confidence that working in a supportive group brings. I think it would be great fun to fully immerse yourself for a few days with a group of like minded individuals with a guide who organizes the whole thing. Nothing to think about but taking photos with some new friends.

Anyway, I admire his openness and his hustle. He has worked hard and it has paid off for him.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

One more thing about Eric. I know one street photographer in Moscow who participated in run by Eric kind of street photo on-line challenges. It was for free and Eric reviewed his photo for free. Personally, I finding it to be valuable.

Oh, I always liked his site, some clear writings for good start. And his jump on film for street photography was in sync with me.

Also his photography was more on humanitarian side (HCB side) so far. Something which is in harmony with my views.

 

[bayernfan]

eric and a slew of other youtube photographers (matt day for example) have a habit of contradicting themselves at every turn. it wouldn't be such a problem if they didn't make such bold be-all-end-all statements.

i've tuned them out completely. they thrive on attention and their work lacks any originality.

 

[Iestrada]

I recall reading on his blog that when attempting to learn street photography, there were practically no resources available. He studied up instead, read, practiced and documented his progress for all to read and learn from as well. I still visit his page now and then, it is still the same approach. His photography has grown over the years and he has never claimed to be great photographer or teacher. To me, it seems that he has always had genuine effort to share about his journey and what he has learned. I particularly enjoy his series on "what I have learned from...." (usually a photographer but not always). All his writings and photos are available as open access to all. Free for all to get (one may or may not consider a PayPal donation). I have never attended his workshops nor do I plan to, not my approach to photography.

Nothing has been given to him and has earned every bit of what he has accomplished. My respects to him.

 

[Richard G]

Hey, my Dad was a dentist. OM gear, actually used for work. I don't take dentist bashers seriously. I've enjoyed some Eric Kim stuff. Don't know about his photographic work as such.

 

[PKR]

I don't know anything about Eric Kim. I've seen his name come up in web searches; that's all. I've (still) never seen his photos.

So, because my friend emraphoto thought him interesting, I decided to do a Kim search. I was surprised at the volume of stuff written about Kim.

This was one of the first I read. It's fairly well written. This writer has a definitive opinion about Kim. Kim, if nothing else, has created a web photo phenom. I'll continue to read for a bit.

A Blogger wrote:
"For the past few years I’ve not spent much time noticing Eric Kim. I found his blog maybe about 4 or 5 years ago and watched a video or two on him and like dancing fruit flies, Initially I found him mildly entertaining yet progressively more annoying. Luckily I’ve spent less and less time listening to people try to instruct how others should photograph; the internet has become a hive for such activities."

https://onedgestreet.com/is-eric-kim-full-of-sht/

Edit: So, I looked at his instagram account. Not terrible photos, if I have the correct Eric Kim. But, few looked like street photos? Maybe I got the wrong Eric Kim?
https://www.instagram.com/erickimphoto/

x

 

[Ccoppola82]

Good on him for making a living in the photo industry...even if it's not from selling photos. I personally find his delivery on YouTube sort of....annoying, for lack of a better term. But, no envy from me. To each their own and I LOVE my job. Photography is merely a hobby for me at this point.

 

[Emile de Leon]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HveMAHf2UBg

 

[PKR]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HveMAHf2UBg

Ha!..........

 

[tunalegs]

I don't really follow him, or his haters, but I do have to ask, has he ever taken an interesting photo? I can't recall ever seeing one.

I also don't know what he teaches, or how, but I'm always skeptical when the best compliment one can muster about a person is "well at least they're making money". I have heard many students and old classmates wonder why so many how-to-draw books seem to be written by people with little clue about drawing. The answer is simple: they pitch and sell their books to people with no clues about drawing.

 

[Roger Hicks]

There's a new web site belonging to Johnny Mobasher, https://streetphotography.com/

He managed to get the .com address after running http://www.streetphotography.co.uk/ for some time. I find him more interesting than Eric Kim, not least because his sites are not so relentlessly focused on selling. In fact, they're free.

Cheers,

R.

 

[johannielscom]

He's been doing that so-called 'hustle' since he was a rank beginner and has rubbed people the wrong way from day one.

Examples:

He's had a huge ego for years - frequently over-promoting his photos. He's promoted Magnum/gear worship. He's acted as if he has weight and experience that he does not have. He's been doing paid "workshops" since the first or second year he started taking photos. He is all about style and not content. His ideas are lazy. His "style" is a heavily copped one based on whatever photographer he's idolizing at that time (seems to have stuck with Gilden + Moriyama the longest). He fits content to style. He's promoted aggressive, intrusive, and easy street photography to susceptible newbie readers (which damages us as a whole). I've not honestly paid any mind to him over the last few years but, aside from being a blog-tog, I do not think he's had any real work as a photographer. His thought process for image construction and story construction is shallow. He promotes a pseudo-intellectual, and anti-humanistic, form of image analysis (truncated formalism).

None of this, in and of itself, is so horrible for one person to have - and in truth are a lot of the stages growing photographers go through learning on their own. However, he has SEO'd his way into being influential and therefore damaging to the photographic community.

Also, and this is an aside, going by what's on his website - his photos are okay at best. However, when thinking about the amount of images he claims to make, the amount of practice he puts in, his portfolio is weak.

A very concise report and one I can fully subscribe to.

 

[robert blu]

I'm not much interested in street photography but sometimes I visit Eric site and I like his behavior, there are interesting readings and his photos are much better (interesting) then most of the photos I see in the net under the label "street photography" full of as jsrockit says "people's backs, no composition, etc."

After having gone through this thread I think we are all different, we all have different opinions about gear and the same applies about people! So long the discussion is civil this is one of the nice aspect of photography, we have something to discuss about 🙂

robert

 

[JoeLopez]

I find it interesting that threads like this tend to get more activity that true photo/photography threads.

 

[Yokosuka Mike]

Is this Eric Kim's judgement day? Who are we to judge? Who gives a rats ass what he does?

For me, I put my best foot forward. I try to post my best work here. That's because I love to share and I love to see what others are doing. Many of the contributors here post impressive and inspiring images... look for the best in people, I do.

 

[MCTuomey]

I find it interesting that threads like this tend to get more activity that true photo/photography threads.

good point 😱

 

[emraphoto]

I find it interesting that threads like this tend to get more activity that true photo/photography threads.

like it or not, the hustle we speak of is a significant part of 'true photography'. as the market changes for photojournalism/documentary work, man of us who produce the work you see in magazines, on the wire, in galleries etc, must find other ways of getting work out there. when i come across someone like Eric, i don't default to categorization. i become instantly curious and look for hints and/or ideas on how to keep going.

so yes, this is an interesting topic for many of us. folks who depend on the camera and photographs to eat, pay the mortgage/rent and so forth. 'true photographers' if you will.