Editing My Halloween Street Photos in Philadelphia (Finding the Keeper)
What’s poppin’, people? It’s Dante.
Today I’m taking you behind the scenes — through my full editing process from October 31, 2025, Halloween night in Philadelphia. I recorded my iPad Pro screen while culling through 532 photographs from the day, showing you my workflow exactly as it happens in real time.
I don’t take this process seriously.
I don’t overthink.
I move quickly, intuitively — in flow.
📲 My iPad Workflow
I import my photographs directly into the Photos app on my iPad Pro using a USB-C to SD card reader. No Lightroom, no fancy culling software. Just straight simplicity.
Speed, speed, speed.
That’s my mantra.
Each folder corresponds to a day — I’ve been photographing every single day for the past three years. This Halloween session alone came out to 532 frames, all shot in high-contrast black-and-white JPEGs using my Ricoh GR III and GR IIIx.
File size? Around 4.7 MB each.
Settings? Program Mode or Aperture Priority, usually f/8, snap focus at 2m, 1/500th sec minimum, highlight-weighted metering.
My goal is efficiency through constraint.
⚙️ My Editing Philosophy
I view editing as an extension of shooting — fast, loose, intuitive.
I scroll through thumbnails in a 3×3 grid and tap favorite on what catches my attention. I don’t zoom in, I don’t pixel-peep, I just feel.
“If something strikes me emotionally, I click it. If not, I move on.”
Photography to me is about flow, not perfection. I favor intuition over intellect, moment over mastery.
🌱 Morning: Macro Mode & The Greenhouse
The day started quietly at the greenhouse where I work.
I photographed plants in macro mode, playing with the 50mm crop feature on the Ricoh GR III. It’s a weird combination — macro and crop — but I like to play.
There’s something meditative about it.
The symmetry, the patterns, the tiny buds that might one day bloom.
“The beauty of photography lies in the overlooked details of life.”
These small exercises in observation keep me grounded. They remind me that the act of seeing itself is the true art form.
🚶♂️ Midday: Reflections & Flow
Later, I met up with a local photographer — shoutout to Peaches — and we headed toward 30th Street Station. Inside, I got fascinated by the revolving glass doors and their reflections. People moving in and out, light bouncing everywhere.
I wasn’t trying to make something profound. I was just playing.
Everyday moments become beautiful when you’re curious enough to look.
🪞 Evening: The Shaving Musician (The Keeper)
This was it — the moment of the day.
Outside the TLA music venue on South Street, I stumbled upon a guy shaving his face in a car mirror under a streetlight. Behind him stood his friend, wearing a beanie, waiting patiently — turns out, they were musicians performing that night.
I started photographing over his shoulder, moving slightly to catch the reflection in perfect alignment.
And in one frame — everything clicked.
Light. Composition. Meaning.
That single photo captured everything I love about street photography:
the ritual of preparation,
the human moment,
the dialogue between light and shadow.
🏆 The Keeper
Between the four variations I made, one stood above the rest — the darker frame, where the man’s eye meets the mirror, his friend’s gaze downward, creating a psychological tension between reflection and witness.
The mystery of the eye, the glow of the background light, the subtle thoughtfulness in the friend’s face — all of it aligned.
“This one just feels right.
The moment where everything clicked — light, composition, and meaning.”
🤖 Sending It to ChatGPT
At the end of the video, I did something unorthodox —
I sent both versions of the image to ChatGPT and asked which one was the keeper.
The AI agreed with my gut:
The second, darker frame had more emotion and balance.
“The reflection in the mirror feels perfectly framed, anchoring the shot emotionally.”
It’s funny — I don’t see AI as an editor replacing intuition,
but rather as a mirror to confirm what I already know.
🧠 The Three-Tier Method
- Favorites Folder – I rapidly tap “favorite” on thumbnails that stand out.
- Selections Folder – I drag my favorites into a tighter edit.
- Final Selections (Year Folder) – The keepers that define my year.
That’s my visual diary — the rhythm of my days, distilled into photographs.
“Most days are nothing. But every so often, you get one photo that feels alive.”
☁️ Backup & Publishing Workflow
Once the selections are done:
- I AirDrop them to my iMac.
- I upload to Lightroom Cloud, Google Photos, and my WordPress media library.
- Google Photos acts as my public visual diary — an open-source stream of all my daily photos.
You can actually view them publicly through my website at
👉 https://dantesisofo.com
I believe in open-source photography —
everything free, downloadable, remixable, teachable.
📚 Learn My Ricoh Workflow
If you’re curious about my setup and philosophy, check out my free e-books:
- Ultimate Ricoh GR Street Photography Guide (FREE)
- Contact Sheets: Looking at Photographs Behind the Scenes (FREE)
- Mastering Layering in Street Photography (FREE)
All available free at dantesisofo.com
✍️ Final Reflection
I treat photography like a daily prayer —
a way to remember the beauty of the ordinary.
I don’t chase perfection.
I chase presence.
The keeper of the day isn’t just a photograph.
It’s a reminder that even in chaos, there’s always something beautiful waiting to be seen.
“Send it to Chat. Who needs an editor? We’re in the future, baby.”
– Dante Sisofo