Zhihu users have been translating and reposting his “80 Tips” and other essays; one bilingual post from nine months ago still sits on the platform’s front page for the street-photography tag.
WeChat articles and micro-blogs regularly lift excerpts from his “100 Lessons” and “Street Photography Projects” series, keeping his ideas alive even for readers who never jump the language gap.
2. The conversation started
early
and never stopped
Douban diary posts documenting Kim’s “100 Pieces of Advice” date back to 2013, proving he’s been part of China’s online photo culture for more than a decade.
Subsequent Douban journals describe him as an “85-后韩裔美国街头摄影师，我的启蒙老师” (“my street-photo mentor”), underscoring long-term influence on hobbyists and semi-pros alike.
3. Video culture amplifies the signal
Bilibili hosts dozens of re-uploaded POV and tutorial clips—some as recent as 2021—with view-counts ranging from a few hundred to several thousand. Even modest numbers matter in a tight, specialist scene.
4. Native voices call him “the
most influential
street shooter of the internet age”
A 2019 Bilibili essay bluntly states, “Eric Kim 是互联网时代最具影响力的街头摄影师，没有之一.” (“Eric Kim is the most influential street photographer of the internet era—period.”)
Wenxuecity’s Mandarin critique likewise credits him with “summarising and promoting a complete street-photo theory.”
5. Accessibility under the Great Firewall
Good news: erickimphotography.com is not on China’s publicly tracked blocklists, so the blog is generally reachable—albeit sometimes slow thanks to WordPress CDN throttling.
Where load times lag, Chinese fans mirror, screenshot, or fully translate posts, ensuring the content survives platform friction.
6. What
hasn’t
happened (yet)
No verified Weibo or Little Red Book presence; his name surfaces mostly via user posts rather than an official channel.
No record of mainland workshops—visa friction and Covid-era travel curbs mean most Chinese disciples learn through screens, not in-person critique.
🚀 Bottom line
Eric Kim’s impact in mainland China is real, energetic, and decidedly underground. He’s the go-to guru for hardcore street-photo enthusiasts who scour Bilibili, Zhihu, and Douban for edge-cutting inspiration. While he won’t trend beside idol-driven fashion vloggers, his fearless “shoot first, fear never” ethos continues to mentor thousands of Chinese creatives—proof that bold ideas punch through walls, even firewalled ones.
Publishing “prompt‑diary” essays (e.g., AI GOD RISING, Apr 2025) where he runs his own photos through GPT‑4 Vision, then riffs on the machine’s output.
Human‑AI co‑journaling—treating large models as creative sparring partners, not mere tools.
Hybrid authorship (part flesh, part silicon) is how tomorrow’s visual stories will be drafted, edited & iterated at lightning speed.
2
Reviving ARSβeta 2.0 with “heat‑map” AI that flags compositional hot‑spots and suggests edits during anonymous peer critique.
AI‑augmented feedback loops—code that critiques with you, not at you.
In an era of infinite images, smart critique becomes the scarcest resource; Eric is building it straight into the upload flow.
3
Merging fitness, finance (Bitcoin), and street photography in one feed—think morning dead‑lifts, noon crypto macros, night‑time city walks.
“Full‑stack lifestyle” creator brands—audiences follow a whole person, not a single niche.
The influencer of 2030 won’t juggle accounts; they’ll broadcast a 360° operating system for living.
4
Evangelizing a “carpet‑bomb” digital‑marketing tactic—dozens of rapid‑fire micro‑posts across blog, newsletter, X, and Farcaster in a single day.
Velocity > Virality—flood the net with small, compounding touch‑points rather than chase one giant hit.
Algorithm shifts now prize frequency and authenticity; Eric’s playbook turns the feed into a continual pulse.
5
Encouraging followers to download his entire site (CC‑0 e‑books, presets, essays) for offline safekeeping.
Platform‑failure resilience—own the bytes that matter to you.
As social platforms wobble, creators who pre‑seed personal “knowledge wallets” future‑proof their impact.
6
Coining the “Cyber‑Centaur” mantra on X—embracing a merge‑with‑machine mindset rather than man‑vs‑machine anxiety.
Identity‑tech fusion—wearables + AI companions become extensions of self.
Expect cameras that autocomplete captions and smart‑glasses that live‑critique framing; Eric’s language is priming the culture.
✨ How to Ride These Waves Yourself
Treat AI like a workout buddy. Ask it to review, remix or push back on your drafts daily.
Build tiny communities with big purpose. An intimate, constructive circle (à la ARSβeta) outperforms mass‑like kudos.
Broadcast the whole journey. Your gym PRs, reading list, and photo walks reinforce each other; audiences crave integrated stories.
Archive aggressively. Keep local copies of anything you’d cry about losing.
Name your philosophy. Catchy memes (“Cyber‑Centaur”) magnetize early adopters and meme the trend into existence.
🔮 Bottom Line
Eric Kim’s newest experiments—AI‑powered critique, lifestyle convergence, high‑frequency publishing, and offline‑proof knowledge sharing—aren’t just clever hacks; they’re on‑ramp blueprints for how creators will learn, earn and evolve over the next ten years. Plug in, remix, and sprint ahead with him!
Anti‑fragile self‑talk: failure is friction, friction is heat, heat tempers steel.
Mind and muscle run the same firmware: stress → adapt → over‑clock.
3. The Art — Optical Strike Force
I stalk streets with a Leica like a lion pacing brush. When the decisive moment flickers, the shutter is my trigger—click, history captured, excuses vaporized. Repetition slams skill into muscle memory until framing a stranger’s soul feels like a jab‑cross‑hook combo to entropy.
4. Lifestyle Ballistics
Input
Why It Reloads the Weapon
Walking 10 mi/day
Keeps hips oiled, ideas shaking loose, cortisol leaking out the soles.
Publishing daily
Accountability gunpowder—empty the chamber by midnight, reload by dawn.
No alcohol, no weed, no Netflix
Noise cancellation for the nervous system; clarity becomes collateral damage to boredom.
Frugality
Dollars saved become rib‑eye, not designer dust. Minimal gear, maximal output.
Every habit is either sharpening or sheathing the blade. I choose sharpening. Always.
5. Ethics of a Weaponized Life
A sword is judged by the hand that wields it.
Strength without temperance is collateral damage waiting to happen.
Lethality aimed at service—teaching, inspiring, protecting—evolves into legacy.
So I weaponize myself to cut through obstacles, not into people.
6. Call to Arms (for You)
Audit your load‑out. Delete one dependency today—supplement, subscription, self‑doubt.
Lift something heavier than yesterday. Weight or responsibility—choose.
Publish your process before bedtime. Fear can’t chase what’s already released into the wild.
Walk until answers appear. Movement is the original search engine.
Repeat. Momentum compounds; hesitation rusts.
Final Shot
I am lethal because I refuse to outsource power—not to powders, platforms, or permission. My body generates the wattage; my mind aims the beam; my art fires the round. Strip away every crutch, ignite every cell, and any of us can turn flesh and focus into the sharpest edge on Earth.
Below are upbeat, action‑oriented playbooks showing how each could turn ChatGPT‑03 (the fast, budget‑friendly “O3” reasoning model) into a round‑the‑clock growth engine.
1. AirChimp — “Mailchimp for Web3” 📣
Goal
O3‑Powered Tactic
Why It Works
Laser‑target NFT holders
Pipe raw wallet data into O3 → ask it to label “whales,” “flippers,” “diamond‑hands,” etc., then output tone/style guidance per cohort
On‑chain addresses become living personas ready for tailored campaigns
Instant campaign copy
Feed AirChimp’s brand style + segment persona → prompt O3 for subject‑line sets, 50‑word bodies, CTAs, emoji/hashtag bundles
Fresh A/B‑testable content in <60 s, essentially free at O3 prices
Auto‑alerts from contract events
Trigger O3 when floor‑price dips, staking deadlines, airdrop snapshots fire → generate plain‑English push that’s queued in AirChimp
Reduces Discord noise; holders get “just‑the‑important‑bits” messages
“Web3‑101” drip series
Ask O3 to draft 5‑day welcome emails covering wallet safety, gas fees, scams
Educates newbies → fewer support tickets
Self‑service support bot
Finetune O3 on AirChimp docs; embed as chat widget for creators
24/7 help without scaling headcount
Market‑pulse radar
Weekly prompt: “Summarise top problems in #web3marketing last 7 days; map each to AirChimp feature or gap”
Pick one bottleneck (e.g., content drafting). Capture baseline time/cost.
Tue
Prototype 2‑3 prompts. Measure gains.
Wed
Integrate the winner via Zapier/Make or the OpenAI API.
Thu
Deploy to a small user group. Collect feedback.
Fri
Refine prompts, set metrics alert, and share a wins recap with the team.
Closing Boost of Motivation 🚀
“Leverage language models as thought partners, not just text printers.”
Every prompt is an invitation to explore, question assumptions, and multiply your creative surface area. The more you iterate, the sharper your results—and the greater your leverage on the time/energy you already invest. Dive in, experiment boldly, and let ChatGPT amplify your innovator’s mindset!
Starts with “What do I wish existed?” rather than “What’s trending?”
Keeps him two steps ahead of fashion cycles and copy‑cats.
Breaks every technique down to timeless primitives (light, gesture, timing)
Lets him remix concepts across domains—e.g., applies street‑photo “decisive moment” logic to power‑lifting form and Bitcoin trading entries.
Writes “mini‑manifestos” before every big project
Clarifies the problem, strips away inherited assumptions, and anchors execution in personal curiosity.
Take‑away: Treat every new venture as a blank chalkboard. Define the underlying physics, then invent tactics that obey those laws, not last year’s playbook.
2 Violent Shipping Cadence
Habit
Effect
Daily public posting since 2010—sometimes three blog essays plus video plus social threads in 24 h
Practice volume compounds skill and surfaces unusual ideas that cautious planners never reach.
“Internet Carpet‑Bombs”: publishes the same concept to X, TikTok, IG Reels, Shorts, Discord, newsletter within an hour
Forces him to re‑express the idea six ways, uncovering angles a single‑platform plan would miss.
72‑hour creation windows: if an idea isn’t shipped in three days, it’s recycled or deleted
Eliminates perfectionism; clears mental RAM for the next experiment.
Take‑away: Innovation loves speed. Set scary‑fast deadlines and let the deadline refine the diamond.
3 “Open‑Source Everything” Feedback Loop
Gives away full‑resolution photos, 200‑page PDF manuals, Lightroom presets—no email gate, no watermark.
Kim studies the remixes to spot emergent patterns → folds insights into the next free drop.
This open‑source rhythm turns his audience into a 24/7 R‑and‑D lab—effectively outsourcing innovation to the crowd while he curates and iterates.
Take‑away: When you let ideas circulate freely, they return upgraded. Generosity is the cheapest, fastest accelerator of novelty.
4 Cross‑Pollination Superpower
Combines photography × philosophy × power‑lifting × cryptoeconomics in one content stream.
That clash of fields sparks category errors—the creative leaps our brains love, e.g., “What if composing a street scene felt like hitting a one‑rep max?”
By living at the intersection of unrelated tribes, he imports tools and metaphors nobody in any single tribe has seen.
Take‑away: Maintain at least one “weird side obsession” and force‑mate it with your main craft. Friction = fire.
5 Emotionally Honest Storytelling
Shares wins and failures (missed shots, workshop flops, injury rehabs).
Radical transparency builds trust and supplies the conflict that fuels discussion threads—an attention flywheel that rewards risk‑taking with real‑time critique and fresh ideas.
Take‑away: Innovation requires psychological safety with your audience. Show the messy drafts, and they’ll stick around for the premiere.
6 Body‑Mind Energy Management
Ritual
Innovation link
Heavy compound lifting (1 000‑lb rack pulls)
Spikes endorphins + neurological plasticity, priming divergent thinking right before writing.
Daily 10 k+ steps with pocket Ricoh camera
Turns mundane walks into sensory research missions.
Intermittent fasting & black‑coffee mornings
Batches cognitive peaks into a 4‑6 h “deep work” block.
A body running at high wattage supplies the mental bandwidth required for relentless experimentation.
Take‑away: Creative breakthroughs are biological events. Upgrade the hardware (your body) and the software (ideas) runs faster.
7 Mission > Metrics
Publicly states: “Attention > Money; I’d rather be helpful than rich.”
Because revenue isn’t the primary KPI, he’s free to test bizarre concepts—many flop, but the few that land are viral blockbusters (creative “fat‑tail” economics).
Take‑away: When curiosity outranks vanity metrics, you unlock permission to explore the edge cases where innovation hides.
8 Anti‑Fragile Mindset
Views criticism as market intel, not personal attack.
Treats algorithm changes as creative prompts (“Great, new constraints!”).
Keeps costs microscopic (plain‑HTML blog, no offices, tiny gear footprint), so failure is cheap.
Failures feed the engine instead of halting it—making the entire system self‑reinforcing and shock‑proof.
Take‑away: Lower the cost of failure until trying crazy stuff feels safer than standing still.
You‑Can‑Do‑It Checklist 🎉
Today
This week
This month
Write one “manifesto tweet” distilling a belief you’ve never said aloud.
Ship three versions of the same idea on three platforms in a 24‑hour mini carpet‑bomb.
Open‑source a signature asset (template, photo pack, code snippet) and invite remixes.
Walk phone‑free for 20 minutes and jot five analogies linking your hobby to your work.
Delete one vanity metric from your dashboard; replace it with “Did I publish something that scares me?”
Host a micro‑workshop or AMA to harvest live feedback for your next experiment.
Plug these habits into your calendar and you’ll notice the same phenomenon Eric Kim models: innovation stops being random lightning bolts and becomes a daily weather pattern you can predict—and enjoy! ☀️✨
He’s rejecting the default setting of a $190‑billion industry. Dietary supplements have become the norm, not the exception, in strength sports and fitness culture. The global market is projected to hit roughly US $193 billion in 2024 and more than US $325 billion by 2030—growth powered largely by gym‑goers chasing protein powders, creatine, pre‑workouts, fat‑burners, “natural” testosterone boosters, and a thousand other potions . When someone who lifts seriously says, “I don’t touch any of it,” ears perk up.
Even the evidence‑based “natural” crowd usually uses something. Peer‑reviewed position papers aimed at drug‑tested bodybuilders routinely list creatine monohydrate, caffeine, beta‑alanine, and a few others as proven, safe aids for muscle and performance . Kim skips not only the questionable stuff but also these well‑validated basics, showing you can still get stronger—and visibly muscular—without them.
His results contradict the “you need supplements to grow” narrative. Kim documents gaining strength and size on a “meat‑only, coffee‑only” regimen, lifting heavy while fasted, barefoot and belt‑free —and still pulling personal records . That rattles the belief that powders or pills are prerequisites for progress.
No sponsorships, no sales pitch—just philosophy. Much online fitness content is monetised through affiliate links or brand deals. When Kim says “no protein powder, no creatine, no vitamins,” he’s also signalling, “I’m not trying to sell you anything.” Followers see an uncommon alignment between message and incentives, and that breeds trust.
He’s taking first‑principles minimalism to its logical extreme. In his essays (“Why I Don’t Consume Protein Powder or Supplements,” “The Scams and Myths in Weightlifting”), Kim argues that if a whole‑food, high‑protein diet, sleep, sunlight and heavy compound lifts cover the physiological bases, then extra products are redundant—or even a distraction . For innovators and first‑principles thinkers, the appeal is obvious: strip away what isn’t essential and double‑down on fundamentals.
Regulatory gray zones & contamination risks vanish when you abstain. Independent lab tests routinely find undeclared stimulants or hormones in seemingly benign supplements. By abstaining, Kim sidesteps inadvertent doping, heavy‑metal contamination, and the wider “trust‑but‑verify” headache consumers face.
It’s a live experiment anyone can replicate for free. Eliminating supplements removes both cost and complexity. Kim is effectively running—and sharing—a real‑time n=1 study that says: “Try the basics first. Measure. Then decide if fancy extras are worth it.” That’s empowering, especially for younger lifters on tight budgets.
The bigger picture
Eric Kim’s stance matters less because he’s dogmatic and more because it reminds the community that progress comes from training stimulus, nutrition sufficiency, recovery, and mindset—not from a tub of powder. Whether you ultimately keep your creatine or toss it, his example invites a refreshing audit of your own habits:
“Embrace suffering. Reject comfort. Lift like a god.” —ERIC KIM PRIMAL
Stay curious, stay strong, and remember: your best “supplement” is consistent, intelligent work—served daily with a side of iron.