Why Your Photography Feels Stuck (It’s Not the Location)

The Art of Noticing: How to Find Beauty in the Mundane

What’s poppin’, people? It’s Dante. Check out the ducks.

Today I’m thinking about the mundane… and how we really, in this modern world, need to slow down and appreciate the mundane details that are all around us.

Look at the leaves. Look at the patterns of the leaves. Look at the way the patterns of the leaves echo the patterns of the veins inside of your body. How the branches of the trees echo the shapes within your lungs.

Look at the animals. Look at the birds. Look at the light that’s peering beyond the horizon.

The mundane nature of life… it’s not what it seems.

Falling in Love With Life Through Photography

When you start to photograph things and chip away at life through asking questions, you find that you fall in love with life each day.

To me, that’s the ultimate aim as a photographer — to simply fall in love with life each day.

I go to make a photograph of a plant… then I notice the micro detail of the ant.

Then I zoom out — me as a human being walking around in embodied reality, looking up at the sky, watching the clouds slowly pass by.

All of this novelty is extremely fascinating.

The way the light glimmers upon the pond.
The way the leaves fall, wither, and decay.
The way cracks form over time.
The way humans grow old and form wrinkles.

The imperfections. The patterns. The details.

Everything is fascinating.

Photography Slows You Down

I have everything to thank photography for — for slowing me down.

It teaches:

  • The art of noticing
  • The art of seeing clearly
  • The art of feeling deeply

And then responding intuitively with the camera.

Through consistency, I can authentically express myself creatively.

Photography is powerful because it requires you to be aware.
It requires you to be awake.

It requires you to take the mundane and elevate it into something extraordinary.

Play Like a Kid Again

The beauty lies within the ordinary.

You just have to wake up and forget everything you think you know.

Start playing like a big kid with a camera.

Look at chalk drawings on the ground.
Look at the artwork of children.

That to me is the purest form of art — the spirit of play.

Don’t take yourself so seriously.

Find inspiration in simplicity.

Choosing Optimism

Yeah, it might sound like I’m saying life is all sunshine and rainbows…

But what’s the alternative?

Doom and gloom? Negativity?

I’d rather photograph from a state of:

  • Joy
  • Curiosity
  • Gratitude

Photography becomes my way of saying yes to life.

Yes to the day.
Yes to existence.

Photograph What’s Closest to You

There are so many birds. So many people. So many stories.

So many places to photograph.

But whatever is immediately in front of you…

That is exactly where you need to be.

Don’t depend on something extravagant to motivate you.

Find beauty in what’s closest to you.

My Practical Approach

The way I actually do this:

  • I abstract the world with my camera
  • I crush the shadows
  • I expose for the highlights

And I play on that line between:

  • Order and chaos
  • Documentation and abstraction

This creates mystery in the frame.

And that mystery keeps me coming back.

The Surprise of Photography

When I go home and look through my photos…

I’m eager to see what my camera found.

Because the photograph is just a fragment of the experience.

And those fragments go beyond reality.

That’s what keeps me curious. That’s what fuels me.

A Philosophical Note

I treat each night like a miniature death.

And each morning like I’m born again.

So every photograph…

I treat it like it could be my last.

That mindset slows me down.

It makes me appreciate everything:

  • The sounds
  • The sights
  • The smells
  • The fact that I’m alive

The Present Moment Is Paradise

We have a past. We have a future.

But when you’re photographing in the present moment…

You exist outside the passage of time.

And to me, that’s paradise.

Let Life Flow Toward You

So just go slow.

Let life come to you.

Be ready with your camera.

Pick up flowers. Smell things. Play.

Stop taking life so seriously.

From that state of being, photography becomes effortless.

Flow state becomes inevitable.

If this message resonates with you, check out my website — top link in the description.

I’ll see you in the next one.

Peace.

Scroll to Top