I Shot Only 36 Photos… Then Printed a Zine in Under 1 Hour

What’s poppin’, people? It’s Dante.

I’m currently here in Chinatown, Philadelphia, shooting with the Ricoh GR IV Monochrome today.

I’m going to be doing some street photography—but with a twist.

I’m giving myself the ultimate challenge:

36 frames only
High-contrast black and white
Small JPEGs
Produce a physical zine in under one hour

We’re treating this like a roll of 35mm film, except we’re shooting digitally.

So follow me along as we hit the streets.

Frame 1

Looks like I found my first photo.

Maybe I can get the dragon.

Shot 1.

Moving on.

Ten feet into the walk and I’ve already made four frames.

We’re four down.

Looking for Something in Nothing

When I’m photographing, I’m constantly scanning.

I’m looking at the textures.

I’m looking at the light.

I’m thinking about shapes and forms.

Even looking beneath my feet.

The cracks in the pavement.

The paint on the ground.

The challenge is finding something inside of nothing.

By looking at the mundane world, do you have the curiosity to frame something and make something?

At the end of the day, I’m only responsible for my curiosity. I’m not responsible for the world delivering me something.

So I try to get out of my head.

Stop thinking.

Start shooting.

High Contrast

The clouds look incredible.

I’m popping on the red filter.

Crushing the sky into black.

Exposing for the clouds.

Frame number six.

Treating Digital Like Film

We’re only one block into the walk.

Maybe I’m shooting too much.

I don’t know.

When it comes to photographing people, though, I have to become incredibly decisive.

I’ve only got one shot.

That’s part of the challenge.

The Ricoh helps because you appear like a tourist.

The LCD lets me shoot discreetly.

I can simply extend my arm into the scene and make the photograph without attracting attention.

Reading Terminal Market

Now we’re inside Reading Terminal.

Lots of people.

Lots of movement.

Lots of food.

I’m waiting for the drummer’s hands.

I’m not just firing away.

I’m waiting for everything to align.

Unlike me.

I make the frame.

The gesture lands in the bottom corner.

The subject is centered.

It’s okay.

Slow Shutter Experiments

I’m going to try something a little insane.

f/5.6
1/4 second
Manual mode
Snap Focus at 1 meter
50mm crop mode

One chance.

That’s it.

The photo worked.

So now I start experimenting.

I’m no longer looking for specific subjects.

I’m interested in how artificial light interacts with people.

The slow shutter abstracts everything.

The Snap Focus at one meter combined with the 50mm crop lets me get incredibly close.

I’m watching faces.

Not because I care about who they are.

Because I’m interested in what the light does to them.

The subject almost becomes secondary.

Capturing Energy

Reading Terminal is crowded.

Busy.

Constant motion.

Using a slow shutter speed lets the photographs reflect that feeling.

The photographs carry the same energy as the place itself.

There’s a reason behind the technique.

It’s not just an effect.

I’m always curious about how to abstract the world.

How ordinary subjects can become another world entirely.

We’re now 24 frames in.

Most of them happened right here.

My Everyday Street Photography Settings

If you’re curious about my everyday Ricoh settings:

Snap Focus: 2 meters
Aperture: f/8
Minimum shutter speed: 1/500 sec
Auto ISO
Multi-segment metering

The only setting I regularly change is exposure compensation.

That’s it.

Fragments of Reality

I notice someone’s hand.

I switch into 50mm crop mode.

Then I change from Snap Focus to Single AF using the Fn button.

Sometimes I’m not interested in photographing the whole person.

I’m interested in photographing fragments.

The texture.

The gesture.

A sliver of humanity.

I like to think of the photograph as a fragment of reality rather than a direct depiction of the truth.

Reflections

Reflections are endless.

Move the camera just slightly and entire new worlds appear.

Buildings.

Clouds.

Contrast.

Everything shifts.

You can completely lose yourself inside of those reflections.

City Hall

I run into Rome playing trumpet.

All roads lead to Rome.

It wouldn’t be a Philadelphia zine without City Hall.

So I head to one of my favorite secret spots.

There’s a reflective subway entrance that reveals the tower in interesting ways.

I’ve photographed this location many times.

Today it’ll become part of the zine.

Six frames remaining.

The Final Frames

We’ve got:

Reading Terminal
City Hall
Textures
Abstract gestures

What are we missing?

Who knows.

Let’s embrace the unknown.

Staples is only a block away.

Thirty-first frame.

Beautiful light through the leaves.

Three photos left.

An inconspicuous photograph of someone’s foot beside a texture.

One frame remaining.

Boom.

Gotcha.

Zine complete.

36 frames.

From Camera to Zine

Now it’s time to build the zine.

I pull the microSD card from the Ricoh.

Plug a USB-C SD card reader directly into my iPhone.

Inside Photos I select all 36 photographs.

I create a new album called:

36 Photograph Challenge

Because I’m shooting small JPEGs, everything imports almost instantly.

No Lightroom.

No post-processing.

No editing.

The workflow is built around speed and simplicity.

FLUX Auto Zine Generator

Next I upload the photographs into my FLUX Auto Zine Generator.

The software automatically:

Sequences the images chronologically
Creates a printable PDF
Adds timestamps
Adds photographer credits
Builds a contact sheet
Creates the manifest page

No manual layout.

No design work.

Everything happens automatically.

The goal is reducing friction between shooting and publishing.

Printing at Staples

Time to print.

I’ve actually never done this before.

At the self-service printer I upload the PDF.

Choose:

One copy
Letter size
Double-sided
Short edge
Landscape
Stapled

The machine estimates…

$31.

Honestly…

That’s expensive.

If you’re printing often, buy your own printer.

But if you’re traveling or just want something immediately, it works.

The printer finishes.

The staple lands in the upper left corner.

Not exactly where I’d place it manually, but it works.

The paper is surprisingly thick.

Contrast looks excellent.

There’s a slight blue tint, but overall I’m impressed.

The Finished Zine

Every page includes:

Photograph
Timestamp
Photographer name

The final spread contains a full 36-image contact sheet, paying homage to 35mm film.

The entire walk began at 1:16 PM.

The last photograph was made at 2:04 PM.

That’s roughly 45 minutes of photography.

36 photographs.

One walk.

One printed zine.

Why This Workflow Matters

The entire workflow happened on an iPhone.

Shoot.

Import.

Generate.

Print.

Done.

No editing.

No complicated software.

No friction.

That’s the point.

The easier it is to publish your work, the more likely you’ll actually do it.

A Conversation at the End

After printing, someone asks if the photographs from Reading Terminal were sequenced manually.

No.

Everything happened automatically.

The software arranged the photographs chronologically.

Every image is timestamped with the exact moment it was captured.

The contact sheet is generated automatically too.

The goal wasn’t just making a zine.

It was creating a publishing workflow that disappears into the background.

The camera becomes invisible.

The software becomes invisible.

All that’s left is making photographs.

Thanks for watching.

Peace.