Whatever Happened To...

Talk about meteoric rises and falls, whatever did happen to- Eric Kim? He popped into mind the other day and then I saw this wondering much the same. He was always equal parts: super, high energy passionate about "street photography," and all out promotion of self. It was as if the former served as the vehicle for the latter, so... I could never take him seriously. He always came off as a bit of (ie- mostly) a snake oil salesman- a fast talking, high energy, three card monte dealer. Truth is, I often found him annoying- I could only tolerate his incessant "photo dawg, photo tog" litany for so long... but there was no denying his curiosity factor- he was a minor internet sensation! Ya knew he wouldn't always be able to maintain that level of over the top enthusiasm, so ya always wondered- what was the end game!?! Artistic success, financial success or... mental health issues? I recall one video where he was speed walking his way down a sidewalk with these ridiculous wrap around shades, snapping away with this shit eating grin. As genuinely enthused about "street photography" as he was... dude could be ridiculous! And IMHO his photography never seemed to progress beyond a certain level of competent mediocrity.

Again, not hatin' on the guy, annoying as he could be and was, he was somewhat of an innovator- as far as selling himself using video on the internet, one of the firsts of the genre. Honestly, I wish him well...

Now, whatever happened to that guy who used to jump out of phone booths and snap away at his unsuspecting victims subjects?

Right... they stopped making phone booths (rimshot).