Street Photography and The Human Condition | Eric Kim

I always think about the meaning of life— and you can probably notice that this blog has become heavily philosophy-based the last few months. This is due to the fact that I have been thinking much more about living a purposeful life as a photographer. Not only that, but I have also had a few close encounters with death— which always prompts myself to ask why I shoot photography, and what kind of life I want to live. In this “search for meaning” — I recently came across the Wikipedia page for “Human Condition.” I never really considered or thought what the phrase “the human condition” referred to. I know it is often thrown around in street-photography circles, so I inspected the page closely. It defines the “human condition” as the following:

“The human condition encompasses the unique features of being human, particularly the ultimate concerns of human existence. It can be described as the unalterable part of humanity that is inherent and innate to human beings and not dependent on factors such as gender, race, culture, or class. It includes concerns such as the meaning of life, the search for gratification, the sense of curiosity, the inevitability of isolation, and the awareness of the inescapability of death.“ ……

Source: erickimphotography.com