Meet brian kim | A street photographer who creates images that show that humanity is fundamentally the same.

We had the good fortune of connecting with brian kim and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi brian, how do you think about risk?
After working as CEO of a company of 3 billion sales for 7 years, I decided to retire early at the age of 56 and take a risk by choosing a new life as a photographer.
In my 30 years of professional experience, I have taken on many high-risk opportunities and have been successful.
There is no change without taking risks. My opinion is that if you want to change, you should not be afraid of risk.
However, I think we should divide risks into two types. One is that you can escape at any time and can be managed, and the other is that the rewards are great, but once you start, you have to be prepared for significant damage in case of failure.
When I was young, I took risks that would result in great damage if I failed. Because there is time to undo the damage again. I tried and failed to start my own business in my late 20s. It took me two years to get a job again. But it was possible because I was young, and I hadn’t taken such a big risk since then. In other words, the point I want to make is that you should not take big risks as you get older. The reason I pursue a career as a photographer after retirement is because supporting my family financially takes precedence over my personal desires. Maybe that’s why it’s difficult for me to become a great artist because I started late. There are always trade-offs in life, and we have to make choices.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
What images and messages do I want to create through my photos? What is my photography vision and statement? To find the answer, I participated in a 5-day workshop held by Magnum Photo. With advice from current Magnum photographer Matt Black and renowned book editor Yolanda Cuomo, I was able to create my statement.

Under the premise that all people in the world are the same as human beings, I hope to confirm that we share the same emotions as human beings through my photographs of the lives of various people of different races, cultures, regions, and histories.

I believe that it can contribute to reducing hostility between humans and cruelty in the world.

As the first emotion, I chose the loneliness we all have and am currently working on it.

In order to create diverse and creative images through photography, I travel to various places, listen to the stories of many people, and make various efforts to indirectly understand their lives.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I feel very difficult to pick a place for the question of which place I would recommend to my friends to travel to, because I have traveled to 66 countries, some of them multiple times. So rather than choosing just one location, I would like to pick 4 places with different reason to go.

Want to go shopping? If you want to buy quality, stylish and hip products at a reasonable price, go to Milan, Italy. Visiting the Cinque Terre or Portofino would be a huge bonus. Please find google images of those towns, you will be surprised even though you have been in Italy many times. Have you seen the movie The Wolves of Wall Street? There’s a scene where Leonardo DiCaprio and Margot Robbie visit Portofino on their superyacht.

Wouldn’t you like to see Northern Light to make you feel like you’re on an alien planet? Go to Iceland. To enjoy the country, you must rent a car and plan to circle the island in about 10 days. You can see breathtakingly beautiful scenes that change every hour. One important tip is to be fully prepared to eat your meal in your car. Because there are no McDonalds or restaurants on the road like in the US unless you can eat moss.

Want to put your physical strength to the test? Let’s go to ABC. ABC is Annapurna Base Camp in Nepal (13,550 feet high). You can walk the round trip in about 10 days. You can experience truly endless stairs. If you get there on foot, it’s probably one of the few places that makes you feel really proud of yourself. Oh, there’s also a way to get there by helicopter in 30 minutes. Consider a jungle tour to see wild tigers in Chitwan National Park. Nepal has more than just the Himalayas. There is a huge jungle in the south. Did you know that the most dangerous animal in the jungle is not a tiger? It’s an elephant. Search Google for a killer elephant named Dhurbe.
Lastly, let’s go experience K-Culture, which is the most popular these days. Seoul is the capital of Korea. It is the home of K-pop, Netflix’s Squid Game and Gangnam Style. Gangnam, meaning south of the river, is the area south of the Han River that runs east to west across Seoul, and is an area where you can find everything you can imagine. If you or your friends are truly interested in K-pop, you can visit K-pop entertainment companies. For example, if you like Blackpink, you can visit YG entertainment. For your information, I am also a big fan to Lisa. If you have time, don’t forget to include Jeju Island in your itinerary. Spring or fall are the best seasons to visit Korea because summers are humid and very hot, and winters are very cold. But if you love snow, you definitely to go in Dec or Jan.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I think it would be good to talk about the background of ending my professional career as the CEO of a relatively large company and what motivated me to start my second life as a photographer.

When I look back on my 30 years of professional life, I think the most important success factor is not business books or theories, but the ability to logically understand the world. In my view, there is a real hidden reason why many things happen in the world, and to understand it, you need knowledge in history, geography, and the humanities.
I would like to introduce these two people, whom I consider to be my spiritual mentors.
Jared Diamond, author of “Guns, Germs, and Steel”, a book I read in my 30s, and Yuval Noah Harari, who are famous for the Book “Sapiens”. But I highly recommend reading “21 Lessons for the 21st Century”.
And there are two artists, and with them I was able to plant my desire to become a photographer.
the first one is Alex Webb, who is an active photographer. Through his work, I learned that color photography can convey just as powerful a message, perhaps more efficiently, than the black and white that street photographers typically prefer. After discovering his work, I always work in color.
Earlier this year, I followed in Pablo Picasso’s footsteps on a two-month trip to Spain. What I admire about Picasso is that although he became a master and had everything in his 30s, he continued to do new creative work (changing his painting styles) and take on new challenges right up to his death (with a new muse).
Of course, envying his fantastic personal life is another secret. My second mentor is Picasso. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not because of his personal life, but because of my spirit of challenge and not settling for anything.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brianliberoanimus/