6 Photos in 6 Minutes

What’s poppin’, people? It’s Dante.

Today I’m here in Center City, Philadelphia, giving myself the ultimate challenge of walking one alleyway, making 6 photographs in just under 6 minutes, and producing a full DIY photography zine at home using just one 8.5 by 11 sheet of paper.

I’m using the Ricoh GR IIIx, shooting small JPEG files with high-contrast black and white cranked to the max.

With this extremely fast and simplified workflow, I can photograph instinctively and intuitively without thinking.

The goal of photography is to just start doing, to just start producing, and to just start shooting.

Find Beauty in the Mundane

When I’m out here photographing these textures and different things that I find upon my little walks, I’m not thinking.

I’m not wondering what these photographs mean.

I’m not trying to tell some sort of grand story.

I’m merely following my own inner curiosity and allowing that to guide me.

On certain days, I walk these very mundane lanes throughout Philadelphia, and I find beauty in the mundane.

I find beauty in all of these seemingly ugly or imperfect places, like alleyways here in the city.

If you look closely, you can start to find treasure.

The beauty of photographing with a compact camera like the Ricoh is the fact that I can get extremely close.

When I’m photographing textures, I don’t have to raise the camera to my eye. I can simply hold the camera freely in front of me, maybe vertically, and quickly make a picture.

This is extremely important for my particular workflow because I want to be able to photograph in different kinds of ways, discovering textures, shapes, forms, and things that perhaps in the past I never would have photographed.

Limitation Creates Freedom

I think the limitation of using a small point-and-shoot camera, automatic settings, and small JPEG files has essentially opened up new possibilities for the way that I engage with my photography.

The limitations that I impose upon myself have become one of the things that make me extremely creatively free.

Ever since embarking on this journey of shooting in black and white, I’ve essentially found infinite ways to return to photography.

With these particular photographs, I’m not trying to say anything.

I’m simply following my visual sensitivities.

I’m drawn to the textures, the shapes, the forms, and the simple way that light interacts upon surfaces.

I don’t need to know why something interests me.

I simply respond.

6 Photographs. 6 Minutes. 1 Block.

After walking around this one alleyway in Center City, Philadelphia, I had already made 5 photographs in about 4 minutes.

I even had a fun interaction with somebody along the way and made a portrait.

And so I continued walking, made my final photograph, and completed the challenge.

One block.

6 photographs.

6 minutes.

That’s it.

Now it’s time to go home, print the work, and create the DIY zine.

From the Street to the Printed Page

Back home, I used my Flux Mini Zine Generator to turn these 6 photographs into a physical photography zine.

The entire zine is made using just one sheet of 8.5 by 11 paper.

Nothing fancy.

Just regular computer paper from Staples and a simple Brother monochrome laser printer.

With the Flux Mini Zine Generator, you can upload 6 photographs directly from your iPhone, iPad, or computer.

The photographs automatically sort chronologically, although you can rearrange the sequence however you’d like.

You can add your own title, name, issue number, location, and even a QR code on the back linking to your website.

Once you’ve arranged everything, simply export the file, print it, fold it, and make one cut down the middle.

And that’s it.

You have a physical photography zine.

I’m certainly no master of origami, and my folding wasn’t perfect.

But that’s the point.

It doesn’t have to be perfect.

It doesn’t have to be serious.

The goal is simply to get it done.

To have something physical from your walk.

Just Start Making

I think we can get so caught up in the idea of what photography should or shouldn’t be.

We think we need to travel somewhere interesting, photograph something extraordinary, or create some grand story.

But what if we simply embraced the mundane?

What if we walked one block, followed our curiosity, made 6 photographs, and printed them?

What if we stopped worrying about what our photographs mean and simply started producing?

For me, photography is about discovery.

It’s about responding to the world intuitively and instinctually, following my curiosity, and finding beauty in places that perhaps I would have otherwise overlooked.

And through the simple act of printing these photographs, I now have something tangible from this fleeting moment in time.

One alleyway.

One block.

6 minutes.

6 photographs.

One sheet of paper.

One zine.

Don’t overthink it.

Just start shooting.

Just start producing.

Just start doing.

Make Your Own Zine

If you’d like to make your own photography zine, you can use my Flux Mini Zine Generator to upload 6 photographs and turn them into a printable zine using just one sheet of paper.

And if you’d like to join the community, come hang out in the Flux Discord server, where we share work and discuss photography.

Other than that, thank you for reading.

Peace.