Unlocking Emotional Depth Through Photography with Sean Kim

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Sean Kim (00:00):
Go to a local library, borrow a bunch of books and read
them.
And even if it doesn't make anysense to you right at the
moment, just consume it.
Do what you want to do with yourcamera.
And then over time, once thingsstart to click, you'll have more
question about those things.
Go back to the book and read itagain, and it will make sense

(00:22):
100% and you will masterwhatever you need to master and
you don't even have to worryabout it.
Hey, welcome to the BeginnerPhotography Podcast.
I'm your host, Raymond Hatfield,and here each week I interview
one of the world's mostinteresting photographers to
learn what it really takes tocapture beautiful images so that
you can start to do the same.

(00:44):
In today's rewind episode, weare chatting with community
member Sean Kim, about using acamera to process your emotions
and discover life's meaning.
But first, the BeginnerPhotography Podcast brought to
you by Clouds Spot.
With Clouds spot, you can sellyour photos through prints,
products, and of coursedigitals.
You can set up a storefront inminutes and start earning more
with every gallery you send.

(01:06):
So grab your free foreveraccount today
over@deliverphotos.com and onlyupgrade when you are ready.
So today's guest, Sean is amember of the Beginner
Photography podcast communityand he's one whose images are,
as incredible as his journey,honestly, but as active as he's
been in the group, he's a prettyprivate dude in his personal

(01:27):
life.
And today I learned so muchabout him.
Everything that I learned, Iwould say, gave me context to
his work.
It's fascinating to seesomebody's work for so long and
then have just a simpleconversation with them and you
realize how much life influencesyou and your creativity.

(01:48):
I mean, we all live uniquelives.
We all struggle, we all havewins.
We're all really good atsomething.
All of that goes into our work,and I'm so excited to share this
interview with communitymembers, Sean Kim, with you, and
I hope that it causes you to,pause, and both take photography
less seriously and moreseriously at the same time.

(02:11):
I really hope that makes sense.
And if you're not a part of theBeginner Photography podcast
community, we would love to haveyou.
Come join more than 6,000listeners of the podcast and
photographers just likeyourself, who are looking to
learn and grow their photoskills by heading over to
beginner photo pod.com/groupnow.
With that, let's go ahead andget on into today's interview

(02:33):
with Sean Kim.

Raymond Hatfield (02:34):
So really, since this is just kind of easy,
I just wanted to know a littlebit more about you as far as who
you are, where you're from andwhat it is that you do.

Sean Kim (02:44):
My name is Sean.
I am originally from SouthKorea.
I moved here in 98 and went toschool here and we began to own
a business, uh, cleanersbusiness back in 2002, 2003,
somewhere there.
And, I just picked up my cameramaybe about three years ago.

Tell me how that happened because you've
been in the group for a fewyears.
Since, since the beginning of2018, right?
Yes.
And then since then, you've justbeen gracing us with your, your
amazing and incredible photosthat everybody enjoys looking
at.
So what was it that got youstarted?
You know, you said that you justkind of picked up a camera one
day, but it doesn't just happenlike that.
Tell me, what were your earliestinfluences in photography that

(03:31):
kind of made you or made youfeel compelled to, to pick up
that camera?

Sean Kim (03:37):
So it's kind of a long and sad story behind it.
So back in, I think like, end ofmy high school year, I just
bought a just point and shootcamera just to shoot.
Nothing about composition,nothing about color, none of
that existed during the time.
So just very close up shots ofmy friends hanging out.

(03:59):
Drinking and things that nature.
and I recently looked at all thealbum, the photos that I took in
the past.
And it's literally a closeupshot of them doing, a foolish
things.
And it looked great, but duringthe time you can tell that I had
no sense of composition or Icould care less with those

(04:19):
things.
And then over time, I juststopped taking photos and, I
went on a two weeks journeydoing a road trip from LA to New
York, on a tour bus, Korean tourbus, and I bought a, it was a
very good smartphone camera,Nokia Lumia nine 20, I think

(04:40):
that's the name of it.
And
I just began to take more photos.
Sadly, if I was intophotography, then I would come
up with a lot more photos thanwhat I had.
And during the, during the trip,I met, somebody, met a girl and,
she had a camera.
Canon Rebel, which is what shegave me, uh, towards our, our

(05:04):
end of our relationship.
And I began to take photos withthat.
The reason why she gave me thatcamera is because she realized I
had a very good eye.
so whenever we go on a trip.
People will come up to me andask me to take photos of them.
So I would not end up gettingany photos of myself, but of

(05:25):
others.
But I didn't think none of that,until I said, you know what, I'm
gonna just go buy a decentcamera, which was Fuji X E3 that
was, End of 2017, I think.
And then the camera was too tinyfor me, so I exchanged it to XT

(05:45):
two, and that's when I joined,Beginner Photography podcast.
And ever since then, I consumeall knowledge of photography,
books, podcast, YouTube videos,you name it.
I, I was just consumingeverything and then.
Everything started to click.
I was like, okay, this is whythis composition work.

(06:06):
Cause of the color leading line,S line, whatever.
so yeah.

So those early days, let's step back for a
moment and talk about those,right?
You got these photos of yourfriends.
in high school, uh, you took abig trip, which made you, invest
in a better camera system,essentially, which was, which
was a cell phone at the time.
And then you started, takingphotography more seriously once
you got that Rebel Seriescamera.
Just, taking more photos andkind of understanding a little

(06:33):
bit more about how photographyworks.
So then when you got the story.
I get the timeline right, youbought, say, the X T2, right, at
the, say, the beginning of 2018or the very end of 2017?
Yeah, something like

Sean Kim (06:45):
that.
Okay.

And then, right away, like, your first
photos in the BeginnerPhotography Podcast Facebook
group are like, photos from thetop of a mountain, just like
looking out these beautifulvistas.
So tell me where thisrelationship of nature came for
you as far as photography goes,because most people get a camera
and they're like, well, I'mgoing to shoot my daily life.

(07:07):
I'm going to photograph my kidsand all these sorts of things.
And you're like, no, no, no,we're going to the top of the
mountain.

Sean Kim (07:13):
So, during the relationship I had with my ex
girlfriend, we went throughSequoia, Grand Canyon, just a
bunch of places together, and wejust take lots of photos.
And I think, I think I alwaysliked hiking.
I always hiked.
I always went to, not like faraway, but locally.
I would go look for places tohike.

(07:35):
But I wouldn't never take photosuntil I met my ex.
And then after we broke up,that's all I did.
I went on a hike because youknow, you're so happy about
breaking up.
You had to hike.

You went the opposite way.
Most people are sad after theybreak up, but okay.

Sean Kim (07:54):
I was, yeah, I was, it was very sad moment.
So, so I went on a journey ofhiking, especially like at
nighttime'cause you know howlike when you go through a very
sad stage in your life, you kindof feel dead inside.
So what end up happening is by,at night, it spooks you, you

(08:15):
realize there is actually mountlions, there are coyotes with,
you know, animals out there.
Thanks.
Uh, yeah, snakes, not, itdoesn't really intimidate that
much, but I would, I would saybigger, bigger animal would.
So it kind of made me feel alivebeing out there.
Yeah.
And then this was during a timeof me having some battle going

(08:36):
on within my own faith too.
So, yeah, this was a cameracamera in a sense, photography
in a sense, kind of, helped me.
It was a gift.
It was a gift.

Also, talk to me more about that, because
there's a lot of people who cango out and they can take a
photo, but I really feel likeyou're somebody who, you know,
if we look at some of yourearliest photos to where you are
today, I see the consistencythroughout your body of work
that I've seen, but also I don'tthink that many people are going
to come home and maybe studytheir photos, see what they

(09:10):
like, see what they don't like,and then go back out readjust
and then shoot for better photoswhere I really feel like you've
done that.
So when you say the photographyhas helped you tell me in a
sense, what areas of photographywere you trying to progress
through that helped you kind ofget through the stage?

Sean Kim (09:27):
Hmm.
Great question.
so I'm pretty sure you have abackground image on your
computer, right?

I do.
It's the, uh, it's the standardApple.
actually I don't know whatmountain it is, but it's
beautiful.
And it's no, no, no, it's not.
It's um, it's like orange andit's, it's beautiful.
It's just beautiful.
It's a landscape photo.
So yeah, I don't know whatmountain it is, but I love

Sean Kim (09:48):
it.

So,

Sean Kim (09:49):
earlier during the time when, I don't know exactly
when, but I remember looking fora specific image for my
background photo, but I did thisthroughout my owning, my own
desktop that I made, I couldn'tfind a photo that I really like,
but there are a lot of goodphotos.

(10:10):
I couldn't really figure out whyI didn't like certain images.
I couldn't.
Right now I, maybe I could, butmy background image was always
just blank, blue screen.
That's it.
Cause I didn't like none of theimages.
It's just very distractingimages.
But now I could figure out whythose photos were distracting

(10:31):
and it's interesting cause youcan take a lot of good,
beautiful photos, but it's justa beautiful photo It doesn't
speak to you.
It's just, it just is.
And I think, just throughout myjourney in photography, finding
the beauty of what's there sortof was a key for my own journey.

(10:52):
I guess.
What's beautiful within my stageof sadness?
What's beautiful within thislike, ugly, chaotic scene that I
have right in front of me?
figuring those things out was apositive way for me to find, you
can say, the true beauty of, ofmy journey, I guess?

(11:13):
Yeah.
I was pretty aggressivelyseeking out for those things.
So I think that's why I wasreally going out like literally
every night to take images.

Yeah.
So what were some of thosethings in the beginning that
once you finally decided to, Idon't know, up your game, if
that's the right term, bygetting that XTT to and going
out and shooting, what were someof those earliest things that
you realized?
Oh my gosh, I've been doing, Xwrong about photography all this
time.
And I enjoy this part much more.

Sean Kim (11:44):
I don't think I've ever had that moment.
Oh, really?
No, I don't think so.
It just the camera is so pretty.

We're talking about Fuji cameras here.
I'm right there with you.
I get it.

Sean Kim (11:58):
I was, I was just searching for a camera.
I was looking at Nikon, Canon,didn't really think about Sony
at all.
Cause I didn't, I didn't thinkSony existed during the time.
But I looked at Fuji camera.
I was like, wow, that is, thatis cute.
That is way too cute.
So retro.
So I had to buy it.

I think phrased my question totally
wrong there.
I suppose from the, technicalside of like actually shooting,
you know, there's a lot ofmistakes that we make early on
when we're taking photos.
Like, as you said earlier, whenyou were photographing your
friends in high school, therewas no focus on composition or
lighting or nothing.
You look at that photo and youcan tell like, Oh, this is what

(12:40):
I did.
this is why this image doesn'twork.
But today, when you go out, youhave more of an eye, you're
looking for something specific.
Where do you think that changehappened?

Sean Kim (12:50):
realized some of the photos that I took was boring.
How so?
just doesn't make sense.
Like you look at the photo,you're like, okay, it's a photo.
But then you have a photo thatsays, wow, that tells like
million stories.
Look at their expression.
Like those things started toclick.

(13:11):
And then you, once those thingsstarted to click, you started to
seek out for those things moreand more.
Like some of people'sexpression, knowing their body
languages, learning their bodylanguages as you're, you're
photographing them, And,standing at the right location,
composition, so that, thatbrings up more story and their

(13:35):
face expression more.
so those kind of things, Ithink, it just began to start
gradually, happen.

so, Let's continue to talk about humans
here, because, when I thinkabout you in the group, I think
of landscape images, right?
And then it kind of, or at leasttop of mountains.
And then it sort of transitionedinto beautiful beach vistas.
Right.
We don't see too manymountaintops anymore,
unfortunately.
But we do see, occasionallyphotos of people, people who you

(14:05):
meet on the street.
And there for a while, I thinkyou said that you were shooting
with a rebel and like a 50 millens just to go out and just
like, and just shoot.
And a lot of those photos thatyou were posting Photos of just
people on the street and when Iwent back and did a little
research within the group Youhad won photo of the month
contest back in April of 2018 Sopretty much like right after you

(14:28):
got started in the group and thephoto that you had was of this
The skater on yes.
Yes This woman, it was asilhouette, a beautiful sunset,
and in the background was theSanta Monica Pier.

Sean Kim (14:40):
Yes.

And you had said that you took the photo
without her knowledge, but thenafterwards, you showed the photo
to her, and then you guys becamegreat friends.
And then, looking at that, Haveyou ever had any, I guess talk
to me about your relationshipwith photographing people and
interacting with them versus Ithink the kind of traditional
street photography style of justbeing totally hidden and not

(15:02):
wanting to be seen and I'm justgoing to do my own thing here.
Did that question make sense?

Sean Kim (15:06):
Yeah.
Yes.
So generally speaking, I don'treally go up to them and I tell
them I took a photo of them.
but I do take a lot of majorityof my photos at the beach are
all candidates.
but if I knew I caught likesomething, I go gently tap their
shoulder, excuse me.
Could I show you what I justtook?

(15:28):
They're like, sure.
California people are prettyloose.
So once I showed it to them,majority of times they're very
impressed.
I can tell you a short story ofwhat happened last week.
I took a photo of this coupleholding a torch.
I don't know if you've seen thatphoto.
and I showed them the image.
They loved it.
But they haven't seen the finalimage.

(15:50):
So I processed it over the weekand I said, I think I sent it
over to them on Monday.
And the gentleman, I guess he'ssome type of marketing director
up in Seattle.
And they're just vacationinghere.
And we just been going back andforth about, him wanting a huge
metal printer, this house.

(16:12):
And
he also wants it for his mom and his dad.
And I guess they have a club forthat type of meeting torch type
of meeting.
And the clubs want to buy themetal prints.
Wow.
So those kinds of experiences Ihad, it is a little bit
different than traditional, likestreet photography type, because

(16:32):
what I'm trying to do right nowhere is, you know, I never know
if I'm going to continue to stayhere in California or not, but
mountains, there are mountainseverywhere.
Unless I go to not in

Indiana.
Don't

Sean Kim (16:44):
come to Indiana.
There's no mountains here.
It's very flat.
It's boring.
Yeah.
So I'm trying to document asmuch of beach scene as, as much
as I can.
So I can have those photos tomyself.
And I'm actually hoping to makea, potentially a photo book for,
for myself or I could make,several more and then try to

(17:06):
sell those books, but just haveit documentation, for my
journey, I guess.

Yeah, I see.
So that was, That was thedecision that you made as far as
why you're going to stop gettingup at four in the morning and go

Sean Kim (17:18):
hiking.

Oh, I

Sean Kim (17:19):
want to go hiking.
I want to go hiking.
I want to go to the mountains.
I want to breathe the fresh air.
I don't want to breathe the saltair.
But knowing the fact that I havesuch easy access, it's only like
five minute drive to the beach.
Yeah.
Why would I spend two hours ofdriving and then go hiking and
come back?
And I only come with maybe likeone, maybe two or never, or not

(17:43):
at all.
But yes, images.
But if I go to the beach, I knowI will, even if I don't get any
images.
Hey, I saved gas.

So we're looking at this as a bit of a, a
time, save as well as, uh, in

Sean Kim (18:00):
a way, in

a

Sean Kim (18:02):
way.

Yeah.

Sean Kim (18:03):
Yeah.
And I really liked You know, thefunny thing is my dad really
hates my photos that I take atthe beach.
What?
Why?
Yeah.
Yeah.
He said it.
he doesn't understand why peopleare so small.
They're in the corner.
it makes him sad.
I said, dad, maybe, maybe I amsad.
No.
Have you ever thought of that?

(18:24):
And he goes, no, Oh, that's toomuch.
But it's, it's good.
I really like his heavycriticism because it helps me to
think because some people thinklike that, um,

yeah, yeah.
That's really interesting.
when I look at your photos, Idon't, obviously, you know, I
see the tiny people and likethis beautiful landscape, but
what I see is just like how bigearth is and like, look at how
beautiful this is.
Like there's so much, we are sosmall.
in this world that I don't wantto say that we're insignificant.

(18:57):
We're not insignificant, butlike sometimes, people can get
in our heads of like, we are, wecan do this, we are powerful.
But then really, if you justtake a moment and look at how
big this earth is.
And this is just like a tinyrock in our solar system, you
know, like that feels veryempowering to me.
And it's really interesting tohear your dad's take is, is on
the opposite spectrum there.

Sean Kim (19:16):
so interesting thing is, I don't know how the
listener is going to take this,my perspective, but it is my
perspective is on my first poston Instagram, I did mention that
I want to start to take imagesthat has.
huge surroundings, sky,landscape, and tiny people.

(19:40):
The reason why I wanted to dothat is because, when we focus
ourselves, the surrounding seemsvery small, but when we focus on
something bigger, our problemseems to be small.
Our depression or whateverseems, like you said,
insignificant because my focuscurrently is in a way that I, I

(20:05):
do want to glorify God as a, I'ma Christian.
and I want to show that throughthe, through my images, how
small humans are and how greatour God is in that sense.
So that I want to put that in aperspective, in a image to show,
comfort in a, what my dad said,your photo looks very sad.

(20:30):
So I said, you're right.
That's my point.

Oh, interesting.
Try to bring comfort.
So talk to me a little bit moreabout that.
Cause I feel like I kind ofunderstand it, but I want to
hear it from you.
you said that you wanted to putcomfort in images that look sad.

Sean Kim (20:47):
There is a discomfort when you put a certain, subject
in a corner of the photo.
You don't feel comforted in asense.
if they're right in the centerof the image that speaks volume
and it's very, it seemsbalanced, but when you put
subjects in a corner, it doesn'tseem balanced, but yet trying to

(21:10):
find that balance with the hugesurrounding.
It's a challenge.
Um, and I
think that's what
I think that's what I'm trying to do.
And if you look at like my, mostof my Instagram images that I
have, there is a subject who'ssilhouette looking toward a
light, looking toward the planethat's far away, flying, you

(21:31):
know, away from the surfer orwhatever.
so there is always a leadingmind from the subject to the
light.
Mm hmm.
So darkness to the light.
Darkness to a hope.
So in that light to a, yeah, inthat sense.
Ah.
And I think like this image, canyou see it?

(21:52):
Yes, I can see it, yes.
So it's like little three, foursurfers, but there's a huge ray
going off.
Yeah.

So,

Sean Kim (22:02):
something like that.

So I would love to know more about your,
um, relationship with lightbecause, I think, are you pretty
exclusively natural light?

Sean Kim (22:12):
Yes, unless I get hired by, um, it's really weird
to say that hired, but hired bypeople who wants me to take a
photo of their, wedding or,engagement shoot or, I don't
really have a lot of experienceof getting hired to do an event

(22:33):
shoot, but I do have a lot ofexperience doing, event shoot at
the church, which I volunteer.

Oh yes.
And there's lots of stagelighting there as well.

Sean Kim (22:43):
Yes, but I don't, with that, I don't really take my own
flash.

Sure, sure.
Gotcha.
But, but

Sean Kim (22:49):
for these like, for the past Genshin Ida that I
covered about, what was it, fourweeks ago?
Uh huh.
I did take my off camera flash with those, the,
you call, not strobe, what doyou call it?
The speed light?

Octobox?
Stand?
Oh, yes.
Yes.
Okay.

Sean Kim (23:06):
Yes, I took that with it.
I talked to the pastor becauseuh, Quinceañera's, her grandpa
is the pastor of the church.
I
said, could I use this here?
He goes, Oh, do whatever, dowhatever you need.
I was like, right on.
Yeah.
And, and I took a bunch of photos there, with the
off camera flash.

(23:26):
no one had any issues.
I'll literally put the stroberight next to them.
Of course you won't see that inthe, in a photo.
The images came out great.
the amazing thing with that is,I delivered six photo albums to,
to them and the daughter, youknow, their customer here at the
cleaners, daughter came in andshe brought in a bunch of dry

(23:48):
cleaning and she's like, I lovemy photo album.
I sleep with it.
That's wonderful.
I was like, Oh, right on, righton.
So in that event, I did use theoff camera flash a lot.
And thanks to your course.
Um, that actually your, yourcourse was the beginning of

(24:10):
figuring out how to use flash.
Um, it took me a while to startlooking at watching those
videos.
Cause I wasn't really interestedin, flash photography.
But I do remember how you saidthat you're, you're gonna put a
course if anybody want to, pitchin to, to be a tester.
Yeah.

(24:30):
Yeah at the time.
Yeah, you were a beta tester forsure.
But I didn't, I didn't test.
You signed up but you didn'ttest.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But you

finally, you finally took control and you
went through the course and ithelped you out, you said?
Oh big time.

Sean Kim (24:44):
Big time.
Oh wonderful.
Because if I, If I had just myown set of knowledge and start
doing a search on how to dophotography course or the off
camera flash or on camera flashcourse, I think I would be lost
in how to do a correct search.
But you gave so much knowledgewithin that videos, within those

(25:06):
videos.
It helped me to figure out,okay, since I'm lacking here, I
need to more do more search hereand figure out how they're doing
it.
I don't know where to start,kind of thing.
Right,

right.
I mean, it's kind of likephotography, where it seems
simple.
How do I take pictures?
But then once you start Googlingit, you realize, I actually have
no idea what I'm talking abouthere.
Like, I'm so not well versed inthis world, that once you start
to get a little knowledge, itstarts to make a lot more sense.
So, I'm good.
Yes.
I'm, I'm, I'm very glad thatthat, uh.
But I do want to talk about,once again, your relationship

(25:41):
with light when it comes tonatural light and silhouettes.
Because, I feel like you masterthem.
I feel like you really trulymaster silhouettes.
You do a fantastic job.
Obviously it's real nice to havea very strong backlight with,
uh, with the sun, come sunsettime.
But even when I was looking someof your earliest, you know,
mountainscape photos, you alwaysfocused.

(26:05):
And whether that be very earlyin the morning and lots of,
atmosphere and we can seedifferent layers of, mountain
ranges, I suppose we could see.
You always, I felt like had avery strong understanding of, of
light.
Can you talk to me a little bitmore about that?
Like, was there a time when yourealized the importance of light
or was it just more organic thanthat?

Sean Kim (26:26):
I think it was organic.
because even now I'm trying tofigure out, I think trying to
figure out how all these thingswork technically, I don't think
I have that understanding, butseeing the scenery itself and
knowing how it's going to work,I just follow through what's
what's there.

(26:47):
I
think that's, that's how it is.
I mean, even with the silhouetteat the beach, I can't control
the beach.
I can't control people to stayhere, stand there, then it
doesn't, it's not natural.
I think my eye just began todevelop what's good and what's
bad image, yeah.
So over time it's justexercising my own vision.

(27:08):
And then putting that intopractice and that, you know, a
lot of times, let's say I tooklike 50 photos, during the
sunset time I'll go home,chances are I'll have like.
One image for sure, sometimesnone, but then I try to figure
out, okay, why did this notwork?
was it lack of composition?

(27:30):
Is this too much distraction?
Is the person too small?
It's all those things I try tofigure out.
And you know, you're, you'recropping things like here and
there.
And of course, thanks to themedium format camera, you can
crop it as much as you can.

Yes.

Sean Kim (27:44):
So there's a benefit of that.
Sometimes even though I thoughtit was a bad image, by cropping
much, it's like, okay, thatworks.
So that kind of helps.

Interesting.
How often would you say that?
How close is the image that youget in camera versus the image
that you deliver?

Sean Kim (28:01):
What do you mean?

Like when, you know, you talked about cropping
there a lot.
How close is the image, likewhen you're finished with an
image and you're like ready topost it on Instagram or in the
Facebook group, how close isthat image to the actual image
that you captured?
Oh, I guess.
Oh,

Sean Kim (28:16):
so it's, it's pretty, it's pretty rare that I crop.
But there are times that I docrop quite a bit.
But it's, I would say about, 90percent of times, it's what it
is.

Yeah,

Sean Kim (28:29):
yeah.
Only difference is maybe likeit's a square crop, or 4x5, or,
4x3, 3x4.

What about, um, like the actual editing of
your images as far as like,exposure, all these things?
Talk to me a little bit aboutyour editing workflow.

Sean Kim (28:45):
lot of times it works completely as how it is just by
converting to black and whiteand then controlling the
highlights and shadows a littlebit here and there.
That's the finish, but sometimesby adding a little bit masking,
it helps to bring out the lightmore.

(29:05):
So for instance, if I'm takingphoto of a sunlight in the
background, chances are thestrip of the beach, the water in
the ocean, it's kind of darker.
So what I do is I'll mask theocean and then bring up the
highlight a little bit to, bringmore life to a silhouette person

(29:26):
in the background or the, theone in the front, because
otherwise the person is kind ofblend in with the ocean itself.
So you can't really see theperson itself.
So those kinds of things I havejust here and there.

Yeah.
You don't want, if somebody isalready small, you don't want
them blending into the ocean forsure.
Yeah.
I want to know what you're struggling with
right now.
Like what's something inphotography that, that you
struggle with on a daily basisto go out and shoot?

Sean Kim (29:54):
I'm kind of bored out.

Really?
You're, you're feeling, you'refeeling kind of, kind of bored
with photography.

Sean Kim (30:00):
No, no, no.
I'm kind of feel bored withthis, taking photos of small
people.
Oh, I see.
cause kind of it's, I'm going tosimilar location over and over
and and trying to figure outthose things.
And if they're not there, Ican't really take a photo of
people.
So I'm trying to figure out,okay, what may be more

(30:21):
interesting for me.
And then not move on from whatI'm doing, but add on to what
I'm doing.
So I'm trying to figure thatbalance, maybe going back to
like taking more landscape, buteven though in landscape, I
mean, I get props for people whodo landscape for living.

(30:42):
Man, landscape photography getsso boring.
How so?
I mean I mean, you can enjoy thebeauty of the mountain scenery,
the beach scenery, the pier,everything, but at the same
time, when you do things overand over and over, it just gets
boring I'm sorry to say, buteven the beautiful scenery gets

(31:04):
boring.
You would rather just capturewith your eyes than pulling out
your cameras to take a photo ofit and then edit it.
Because I think what happens isas a photographer, you get so
saturated with so many beautifulphotos.
So I think, I think for me, Ineed to keep finding something
new for me to photograph,otherwise I'll get bored out of

(31:25):
it.

And what do you think that is?
I don't know.
You still gotta figure it out.
You haven't yet.
So obviously, like this pastyear, you did a lot of
photographing things like,protests, with a lot more people
in them.
Right.
Did this give you some sort ofboost in excitement when it came
to, to photographing?

Sean Kim (31:45):
In the beginning it did, but towards the end, not
so.
I really did enjoy taking photosof people, um, being very
vibrant in their environment.
And you know, you, I mean, you'dbe taking, you'd be taking your
camera right onto their face.
They're so focused on whatthey're doing.
They can care less if you'retaking photos or whatever.

(32:07):
So that kind of gave me a littlebit more understanding of, okay,
what, what journalists would do.
But at the same time, I candefinitely tell that even those
type of photography, you can getbored out of
it.
because I, I don't know how many protests I've been
to.
I've been to so many of them,just

in the past

Sean Kim (32:26):
year.
Oh yeah.
I mean, I drove all the way upto, Sacramento.
Oh, really?
Take one event.
and that was, that was crazy.
That one was real crazy.
but if you tell me to do thatnow, I probably wouldn't do it.

You mean just photograph a type of protest?

Sean Kim (32:45):
Yeah.
I mean, if you tell me there isa huge protest going on in
Sacramento, and then would yougo?
If you ask me that, I'll say no.

Right.
Do you

Sean Kim (32:55):
think that's because you're

bored of it?
Or because I think so.
I think so.

Sean Kim (32:59):
I'm kind of, I'm kind of okay with that, um, journey.
But hey, you never know.
If something happened again, Imay pick up my camera and start
shooting, for that, protest orwhatever.

Yeah.
That's like a seven hour drive

Sean Kim (33:10):
for you, right?
Right.
Yeah, like more than sevenhours.
Yeah.

Oh my

Sean Kim (33:15):
gosh.

Was it worth it though?
Going to that event?

Sean Kim (33:19):
Oh, yeah, that was a huge.
That was a crazy experience.
That was a great experience.
There's 13, 000 people justpiled up together.
And everybody was so passionate.

I want to ask because I just remembered,
towards the beginning of lastyear, you had mentioned that you
were thinking about making abook of what 2020 was to you.
how's that going?

Sean Kim (33:40):
so that may happen maybe like 10, 20 years when
you, maybe when your grandpa, Ihope that I am not a grandpa in
the next 10 years.
Oh my gosh.
20 years, 20 years, maybe 30years.
I'm not in a rush to make thebook.
but I think even just having onemade and, uh, maybe, uh, I'll

(34:03):
give it to a library orwhatever, and then they can have
a short documentation of whathappened in 2020.

I got to ask

Sean Kim (34:11):
why, I got to ask

why, why wait so

Sean Kim (34:13):
long?
Hmm.
Good question.
Oh, well, I think one of themain reason is maybe because,
there's so many photos that wastaken last year.
And there's nothing unique toit.
Uniqueness.
You mean in general or by you?
Uh, by in general, generally.
So it's the 2020, protestphotography was so saturated.

(34:35):
even if I make a photo now, Ithink people will care less
about what the book says.
However, if the photo waspresented, maybe 20, 30 years
down the road, people may see itand be like, Oh, I do remember
that.
It will kind of give a differentperspective It'll bring them bad

(34:56):
memories, maybe good memoriesI'm, pretty sure bad memories.
Yeah, and I think it will justbring back a lot of, a lot of
memories to people.
So that's why I think I wouldlike to create the book, 20, 30
years later.
Cause it will give a verydifferent perspective from very
different people's beliefs.

What is it that inspires you to go out and
take photos?
Why do you keep doing it?

Sean Kim (35:22):
Great question.
So this, this is anotherspiritual journey for me, is
that, finding beauty in chaosthat brings real joy within me.
Because the chaotic world.
I do say, I will say, in ahopeless world, um, God finds

(35:45):
beauty in his people.
I believe that wholeheartedly.
And whenever I feel down, that'smy hope.
And I see that within thephotos, even those things are
chaotic.
I can find beauty within thosechaos.
And I do believe that's how Godsees me.
yeah.
So that brings a differentperspective and different,

(36:08):
Purpose in my life

So it's all about trying to find find the
beauty that's in chaos,

Sean Kim (36:15):
right?
Because i'm chaos.
I'm the one who chaos is inchaos Trying to find light in
that

I was gonna say maybe you should shoot more
weddings because they're alwaysvery chaotic and you can always
create

Sean Kim (36:28):
beauty there Hey, man, I tell you I cover one wedding.
Oh, man that the man that theyhad I was just like can I go
now?
And I can't believe you guys dothat.
That's your career.
That's your bread and butter.
Maybe you just got a badwedding.
I don't know.
Well, it wasn't it wasn't bad.

(36:48):
It was just a demand that theyhad.
Right.
And I can't imagine because andthere are the there are people
that I, I can't imagine for thepeople that you don't know.

No, that's easier.
That makes it easier.
Listen, for me, if it's somebodywho I don't know, you can kind
of, and I was talking withHeather Lawton about this the
other day, it's like you cankind of become a different
person.
You can be that person who atleast for me I'm pretty
easygoing, you know, whateverhappens happens, but at a
wedding, you kind of looked atas the professional and you have

(37:22):
to take charge.
And you can be that person whois like, we're going to do this,
you can be that, you can behelpful to them by, by providing
direction and do all thesethings.
Like I had a wedding a few yearsago where, I had, this couple
was not the right couple for me.
They were not the right couplefor me, but, they.
don't remember how they foundme, but they were like, no, we
don't.
We're like, when I've interestedin engagement photos and

(37:44):
engagement session is where Ilearn more about the couple, how
they interact with each otherand how I can provide something
for them.
Right.
But they didn't want theengagement session.
Okay, that's fine.
They just wanted the wedding daycoverage.
And then I sent out aquestionnaire a month before
wedding that's like, Hey, giveme some more details here, just
to confirm where it is and whattime you want me to show up or
whatever.
They never filled it out.

(38:05):
Despite me trying to like, Hey,what time do you want me there
at your wedding?
Like you got me there for eighthours.
Like what time do you want me toshow up?
And I never got a response.
So the day before the wedding, Ihad to be like, Hey, so I guess
I'll be there like 10 AMbecause, I don't know, like when
you're getting ready and stuff,so I show up at 10 AM and, sure
enough, she was like, Oh, you'rehere early.

(38:25):
And I was like, well, well, ofcourse I am, you know, and for
some reason, everybody's in avery bad mood and I could never
figure out why.
but by the time that my coveragewas going to end was right when
the ceremony was about to startand I was like look I like I
tried, you know I really triedto to get an answer out of you
and I didn't get anything andthat's kind of one of those

(38:46):
situations Where you know ifthat would happen with?
Somebody who I knew who I wascomfortable with I'd be like
look, it's fine.
Like I'll be here It's okay.
Like I'm already here, you knowwith the camera anyway, I might
as well photograph but becausethis was somebody who clearly
didn't value I guess what it wasthat I was doing Sure.
it was much easier to say like,Hey, look, I tried all these

(39:06):
times.
I now have to make a decision.
And that is, if you want me to,like, I'll stay for the end of
the ceremony, you hired me toshoot your wedding, but I'm not
going to stay any longer thanthat.
Unless you request for me to dothat.
And in which case I'm going tosend you an invoice after the
fact, but that's on you.
and for me, it's a whole loteasier to do that with people
who I don't know than peoplewho, who I am comfortable with.

(39:28):
So I would much ratherphotograph people who I don't
know.
So I think that if, maybe if youwere to try to do something like
that, it would be.
I can

Sean Kim (39:35):
definitely see, I can definitely see fun in it.
because you know, you're goingevery day,

there's cake

Sean Kim (39:43):
you're going into environment where it's like very
vibrant, happy moments, youknow, parents, parents crying,
daughter crying, capturing thatmoment.
And you have it, you were havingthat in your, your file and
delivering it.
I mean, they may see it and seeit beautiful, but at the same
time, if they see those photosdown the road, it will have

(40:05):
greater meaning to them.
So I can definitely see thebenefit of a shooting wedding.
So do you want to try it

again?

Sean Kim (40:14):
Yeah, I mean,

if people want to hire me, that's the next
step.
That's all.
That's a whole nother interview.
That's a whole nother discussionright there.
Yeah.
So I guess, you know, we're kind of coming
into the, uh, end of our timehere.
I got one last question for youand that is, what is it that you
love so much about photography?
I know that I asked you, whatinspires you and you said,
finding, beauty in the chaos.

(40:37):
But when it comes to thetechnical side of photography,
what is it that you love?
My

Sean Kim (40:42):
camera.

Just looking at it and how beautiful it is?

Sean Kim (40:46):
Oh, this thing is huge.
Look at how big it is.
It's like a, it's like a VHStape.
It's giant.
A beast.
But you know, I love thiscamera.
Uh huh.
And I, I love looking at thatcamera.
And I love holding it.
And of course, I'd love, youwant to hear the sound of the
click?

Oh, I don't, I don't want to because it's gonna
make me go out and buy one rightnow.
It sounds like film.
It sounds like film.
Yeah, exactly.

Sean Kim (41:15):
Exactly.
I mean, sure people say camerasdon't really matter.
I love my camera.
I've had it for about over ayear and I still love my camera.

Yeah, that's a good feeling, isn't it?

Sean Kim (41:29):
Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

Sean Kim (41:30):
Oh, yeah.

That's something that doesn't get
talked about enough, you know, alot of people are like, I love
capturing the beauty orwhatever.
And you and me are like, haveyou seen this thing?
Like, it's beautiful.
It's fun to hold.
It's great to hold.
I love to hear that.
Well, Sean, I guess I was wrong.
I do have one last question foryou.
Do you have any advice foranybody who is just getting
started in photography who'skind of hoping to find their

(41:52):
way?

Sean Kim (41:54):
Go to a local library borrow a bunch of books and read
them.
And even if it doesn't make anysense to you right at the
moment, just consume it.
And once you begin to consume,and don't even bother.
Like for me, don't even bothergoing out to practice what you
learn.
Just consume it.
Do what you want to do with yourcamera.

(42:15):
And then over time things willstart to clicking and once
things start to click You'llhave more question about those
things Go back to the book andread it again, and it will make
a sense 100 and you will masterwhatever you need to master and
you don't even have to worryabout it.

(42:35):
So Free education or thelibrary.
I probably read every singlebook that's in my local library
and I told them they need toupdate their books.
It's bad.
It's really bad.
It's like from the nineties.
Uh, you recently did aninterview with this gentleman.
Not recently.

(42:56):
his name is Owen?
Owen?
Chris Owens?
Yes.
He wrote a book called, PeoplePhotos?
Pictures.
People Pictures.
People Pictures.
That was a good book.
Yes.
Cause he doesn't really go into,absolute detail about technical
aspect, but how to engage.
And that was really greatbecause every time I feel like

(43:19):
I'm going up to a stranger orsomebody that I'm going to take,
take photographs, sometimes Ifeel like I'm just barking, not
talking.
And he gave a very greatperspective on how to engage and
how to be more intimate with theperson who's in front of you.
So that really, helped me bigtime.

(43:39):
And I think, I think that bookshould be read by, like,

everybody.

Sean Kim (43:43):
Yeah.

Yeah.
I bought it.
I got a copy.
Wait, is it Authentic Portraits?
No, I think

Sean Kim (43:50):
it's called People, People Picture, People Photo.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Oh, People

Pictures.
There it is.
I do have it.

Sean Kim (43:54):
And I think you can, you can, buy, actually you can
get the free ebook right now, Ithink.

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, on his website, perhaps.
You can definitely grabsomething from him.
And I mean, he is a wonderfulresource.
I had the pleasure of meetinghim.
Yeah, at Imaging.
And he is just like, and ifanybody follows him on
Instagram.
Do you follow him on Instagram?

Sean Kim (44:14):
No, I don't.
I didn't know he had Instagram.

Oh my gosh.
He is like every single dayrides his bike up a mountain.
He lives in Santa Barbara and Ithink he goes on like a 20 mile
bike ride every single day.
And I'm like, how do you dothis?
This is insane.
But yeah, I mean, a wonderfulguy, great educator, and
obviously very knowledgeable.
So that's awesome to hear.
Well, before I let you go, Sean,can you let listeners know
obviously where they can findyou and see more of your work?

Sean Kim (44:38):
There's a funny story behind that.
'cause I don't have a businesscard.
Mm-Hmm.
Um, I don't have a photography website.
So some customers come in at thecleaners.
They'll say, well, how can myfriends find you?
Or, how can somebody find you tothe do the photo?
This is what I tell them, I haveto find you first.

Okay.
Tell me about that.
That's how you, you can't just,you can't just leave it at that.
Tell, tell, tell me thereasoning behind this.
Tell me what you mean.

Sean Kim (45:05):
That means they have to be a customer at the
cleaners.
They have to come in and thenthey have to tell me what's
going on and see if I canBecause a lot of time people
will ask you.
Hey, can you cover for thisphoto?
Can you do a portrait for me?
And generally of those who arehiring me are people I already
know
So I guess it's because I, I'm not really

(45:28):
seeking out to become aprofessional photographer yet.
I'm just doing these forrecreation
in a
sense, but maybe one day I may make it as a full on
professional work.
But only thing that I have thatis available on internet, it's
Instagram.
Sean Kim style.

(45:49):
There we go.

Perfect.
I'm going to link to thatobviously in the shadows of this
as well.
Sean, man, thank you so much forcoming on and sharing everything
that you did as far as yourjourney into photography.
After all these years, I had agreat time chatting with you
today, finally getting you infront of the camera.
And I look forward to seeingwhat you come up with in the
future.
And you know what, was gonna saywhat you can discover that is no

(46:12):
longer boring to you, but,that's a pretty poorly phrased
question.
So I hope that you findsomething here in the future
that is very interesting foryou.
And, whatever it is, I lookforward to seeing it.
All right.
Today's action item being theone thing that if you implement
it, it will make a differenceand move the needle forward in
your photography is this.

(46:33):
I want you to just review yourold photos to see how far you've
come.
If you've been shooting for morethan like four or five months, I
think you're gonna be surprisedat how much you've grown.
Now, it may not be, night andday, but I challenge you to sit
down and see where your imageshave changed.
See where you've made progress.

(46:55):
I know how easy it is to feellike you're stuck in the weeds
and that you're not seeing anyprogress with your work, but
being able to stop and look atolder photos.
And then objectively, see howfar you've come can really help
you to not only stay motivated,but also to be more creatively
challenged in your work as well,because you'll just want to

(47:17):
continue to grow.
It's a super powerful exercise.
I encourage you to do it.
Again, even if you've only beenshooting for like 3, 4, 5
months.
Try to note down those thingsthat have, have changed, that
you've made progress in in yourphotography.
If you've been doing this for ayear or two or more, do the same
thing.
It is a super powerfulchallenge.

(47:39):
All right, that is it for today.
Until next week, remember, themore that you shoot today, the
better of a photographer you'llbe tomorrow.
Talk soon.

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