“Man, I see in fight club the strongest and smartest men who’ve ever lived. I see all this potential, and I see squandering. God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy s**t we don’t need. We’re the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War’s a spiritual war… our Great Depression is our lives. We’ve all been raised on television to believe that one day we’d all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won’t. And we’re slowly learning that fact. And we’re very, very pissed off.”
This is a visualization of a Zen garden design I’ve developed today. The garden is inspired by traditional Japanese karesansuiâdry landscape gardens that use stone, gravel, and minimal planting to evoke stillness, impermanence, and contemplative space.
Each element in this image is intentional:
The Podocarpus in the front left serves as the central structural presence.
Moss softens the base and brings life to the gravel sea.
A stone lantern anchors the right side with spiritual weight.
Clumping bamboo in the back adds vertical movement and balance.
And a small bonsai in a pot rests in the foregroundâa sacred accent in a moment of pause.
Whatâs poppinâ, people? Itâs Dante â just going for my morning walk here in what I like to call the Garden of Eden in Philadelphia.
Thinking today about something heavy: validation.
Why do we seek validation from mortals?
In this modern world, we chase approval from our peers. We post to Instagram hoping for likes and comments. We obsess over YouTube subscribers. We want our art to be in a gallery so it can be admired, praised, validated.
We search for some worldly stamp of approval â some signal that says,
“You matter.”
But⊠matter to who? And for how long?
I started thinking about Achilles this morning. Yeah, that Achilles.
The warrior whose name echoes across time. The Iliad, the poems, the stories â his archetype is embedded in every epic tale in Western civilization.
That kind of earthly Kleos â fame that spans generations â it’s powerful.
But what if we reframed it? What if we pursued divine Kleos instead?
Because every morning I wake up with a meditation:
I remind myself that I will die. I am flesh. I cut. I bleed. I lust. I hunger. I am not perfect â and that is what makes me human.
And yet⊠Thereâs something freeing in that. Our imperfection is our perfection.
The very fact that weâre going to die â that we must die â is what makes everything beautiful.
So when that moment comes, ask yourself: Are you going to be looking left and right at the people around you, begging for some last shred of attention? Or are you going to be looking up, seeking God?
Thatâs what Iâm chasing.
Not likes. Not applause. Not retweets or awards or gallery shows.
I seek to appease God.
When you create â whether itâs art, a good deed, a kind word â pause and ask yourself: Why am I sharing this? Is it just to feel seen? To be validated by your peers?
Look, I get it. Itâs normal to want to leave a legacy. Itâs human to seek success, wealth, and recognition.
But donât get caught in that trap.
Because earthly treasures fade. They rust. They disappear. Theyâre forgotten.
But the relationship you build with your Creator? The treasures you store in the eternal?
That lasts forever.
So yeah⊠when I think of Kleos â that ancient Greek idea of glory and renown â I donât want it from the world anymore.
I want divine Kleos. I want the kind of fame that lives in Godâs eyes.
Even if you’re sitting alone in the woods, your mere existence leaves a ripple. Maybe it’s one person you helped. Maybe itâs a single conversation you had. Maybe it’s something no one ever sees but God.
And thatâs enough.
Thatâs eternal.
So at the end of your life, when itâs timeâŠ
Will you be looking around you? Or will you be looking up?
Why seek validation from mere mortals? Just a thought this morning. A beautiful day. Sunlight, breeze, and peace here in Phillyâs Garden of Eden.
Whatâs popping people? Itâs Dante, walking through the Garden of Eden here in Philadelphia â thinking about work. Real work. The kind that doesnât crush your soul.
And why, if youâre a young man, you should seriously consider working outside.
I swear, every time I spend hours indoors, it feels like my soul just starts to die. I’ll never forget it â lockdown during the pandemic, trapped in front of a screen, stuck on Zoom calls for 10 hours a day.
Meetings. Phone calls. Filling out little spreadsheets and analytics dashboards and all that fake productivity crap.
Holy hell, talk about a soul suck.
If youâre a young man out there â just getting started, trying to make money â donât go down the conventional path just because it makes âsenseâ to other people.
Sure, you can do whatever you want. But hereâs my honest take:
Working outside changed my life.
Thereâs this weird, seductive illusion â a thing we call security. Comfort. A 401(k). Healthcare. Dental. Office perks.
Itâs like some modern demon that grabs your balls and whispers,
âCome here⊠stay forever⊠never leaveâŠâ
And before you know it, youâre stuck. Seated in a corner. Staring at a screen. Inhaling recirculated air. Your soul â shriveling.
But when youâre outside?
You move your body.
You train your strength.
You chop wood, dig holes, carry logs.
You sweat, you breathe, you live.
Whether itâs landscaping, construction, or just watering plants â youâre engaging with the real world.
You feel the sun on your skin. You walk freely. You move your body. You build something with your hands.
And your mind? Itâs free.
Nobodyâs scheduling back-to-back meetings. Nobodyâs pinging you on Slack every 15 minutes. You’re not just a cog. You’re not trapped in a box.
Even if you’re making less money than your tech bro friend with his startup jobâŠ
Even if you’re earning minimum wageâŠ
Even if you donât have all the fake âsecurityâ of some office lifeâŠ
You have more freedom.
And that right there?
Thatâs the key to unlocking happiness.
The freedom of your body. The movement of your legs. The warmth of the sun. The clarity of your own mind.
During my breaks, I read philosophy. I study theology. I listen to high-level lectures on economics, Bitcoin, and history.
While working with my body, I feed my mind.
Itâs not just a job â itâs a vocation. I see the physical world transform because of my labor. And my inner world grows at the same time.
So yeah, maybe this is a rant. Maybe this isnât some polished YouTube-ready video.
But hear me loud:
Do anything in your power to get your ass outside.
Whatever it takes. Even if youâre digging ditches. Even if youâre slinging logs. Even if your work boots are soaked in mud.
Thatâs still a better life than being a modern-day desk slave staring into LED lights, under fluorescent buzz, waiting to die slowly in a cubicle coffin.
Return to your primal instinct. Return to the sun. Return to labor. Return to your real self.
If youâre weak â mentally or physically â sure, itâs easy to sit still, consume, obey.
But you canât cage me in.
Give me a shovel and let me go. Let me breathe, think, and be. Thatâs wealth. Thatâs freedom.
Whatâs popping, people? Itâs Dante â out here on my morning walk in the Garden of Eden. Welcome to Paradise.
Paradise is within.
Although honestly, itâd be cool if it were a real walled garden â like an actual hedge, not just a fence. Something primal. I donât want to see the damn fence. I want to craft a hedge. Block out the noise. Make it real. Grow it tall. Thatâs how I imagine it.
But the truth is, the real walled garden is internal. You can build it in your mind. You can build it in your body.
âMy body is a fortress. My mind is a garden.â
This idea helps me. Because the modern world? It weighs you down.
Strong Core, Strong Spine, Strong Soul
Thereâs this guy I talk to on the bus â a mover. Every day he hauls bed frames, mini-fridges, desks, all that junk out of dorms. Heavy lifting, stairs, repeat.
And by Friday? His backâs wrecked. Heâs always paired with some skinny dude, or sometimes a big guy with body weight but no core. They might have the size, but size doesnât equal strength.
I walk barefoot in Vivo Primus Lite 4s because I want my feet connected to the ground â no cushion, no crutches.
If your core is soft, your fortress has cracks.
Start treating every movement â walking, bending, standing â as a chance to engage your core. Keep the spine straight. Flex the body. Be mindful.
A weak body invites a weak mind. Thatâs just how it is.
You Are What You Eat (And What You Donât)
Modern food is poison. Not all sugar is evil â Iâm not demonizing fruit or natural carbs. But processed sugar? Refined seed oils? Preservatives? Grocery store trash?
That stuff rots your gut. And when your gut breaks down, your mind follows. Brain fog isnât just a random mood â itâs dis-ease.
The gut is the gateway. The vagus nerve is the bridge. A dirty gut clouds the mind. A clean gut lights it up.
Thatâs why I fast. Every single day. Not just to burn fat. Not just for autophagy. But to sharpen the mind. To clear the fog.
Itâs like tuning an instrument â aligning my gut, brain, body into one frequency.
Build the Fortress. Tend the Garden.
Imagine this:
A walled garden with hedges on all sides.
Lush grass beneath your feet.
Tall trees reaching for the sun.
All the dead branches â pruned.
Thatâs what I want my soul to look like.
Vitality in the body. Clarity in the mind. Peace in the soul.
This isnât about perfection. Itâs about alignment. About walking through life with resilience, clarity, and strength â not just physical, but spiritual.
Let your presence be unbreakable. Let your energy be rooted. So when someone throws a stone at you â it bounces off your fortress and hits the ground.
Final Word
Fortify the garden within. Build the hedge. Strengthen the core. Stay sharp. Stay grounded.
Then go out into the world⊠And follow the light.
This is a complete archive of my daily street photography posts from January through July 2025.
My long-term goal is to create a full three-year archive of daily street photographyâspanning from November 2022 to November 2025. This isn’t just about showing images. Itâs about building a comprehensive visual and educational record of what it means to commit to the craft every single day.
Eventually, this body of work will serve as the foundation for something larger: a complete catalog of learning resourcesâincluding contact sheets, behind-the-scenes footage, lectures, and slideshowsâfor others to study from and grow with.
For now, Iâm simply sharing this archive to show how serious I am about this process of daily creation and artistic growth. This is meâpushing myself to the edge of whatâs creatively possible.
Toward a Healthier, Freer, and More Flourishing Philadelphia
Dear Mayor Parker,
Philadelphia stands at a crossroads.
With nearly 25% of our landmass devoted to green spaces, we are one of the greenest cities in the countryâyet Fairmount Park and other lush public areas remain drastically underutilized. These spaces should be thriving with life, conversation, creativity, and movement. Instead, they remain largely empty during the workday, while thousands of office workers remain trapped indoors under fluorescent lights, disconnected from the natural world that surrounds them.
I urge you to lead a movement that sets our city freeâby encouraging and facilitating outdoor, mobile work across our parks and public spaces.
We live in a moment of incredible technological advancement. With the tools we now haveâiPhones, cloud computing, and AIâmost knowledge workers can accomplish their tasks anywhere. The office is no longer a place. Itâs a function. And it can happen in the shade of a tree just as effectively as behind a desk. It is time we liberate our citizens from the cubicle and allow them to bring their work out into the sun.
đ A Health Crisis That Demands Urgent Action
Today, nearly 7 out of 10 adults and 4 out of 10 youth in Philadelphia are overweight or obese. In some neighborhoods, those rates soar to 70% of young residents. Roughly 1 in 7 adults already lives with diabetesâmany unaware until itâs too late. Meanwhile, metabolic syndrome impacts up to a third of our population.
We are simultaneously hungry, overweight, and chronically ill.
These arenât just statisticsâthey are warnings. Communities suffering from food insecurity are often the same ones battling obesity and preventable disease. This isn’t just a personal issueâitâs a civic one. These conditions shorten lives, drain public resources, and rob families of vitality and joy.
đł A Vision for a Healthier, Happier City
Letâs transform our city using what we already have: land, light, and life. Here are ideas we hope you’ll champion:
1. Pilot an Outdoor Office District
Designate zones in places like Fairmount Park, Rittenhouse Square, and the Schuylkill River Trail with:
Free public Wi-Fi
Shaded seating and standing desks
Solar charging stations
Hammock zones and picnic areas
Encourage companies to promote âWork Outside Fridaysâ and lead the way in reimagining productivity.
2. Launch a Citywide ‘PHL Moves’ Program
A public campaign to get the city moving:
Free yoga, calisthenics, and tai chi classes in public parks
QR-coded guided fitness trails
Movement ambassadors to lead morning exercise
Spotlight citizen transformations through local storytelling
3. Build a Free Public Gymnasium in LOVE Park
Inspired by Ancient Greece, create a space where:
People can weight train, stretch, and move freely
No one is turned away based on income
Movement becomes culture, not a commodity
Let this become a symbol of human excellence at the heart of Center City.
4. Partner with Amish Farmers at Scale
Build a formal partnership with Amish farms to bring nutrient-rich, local food into every Philadelphia neighborhood:
Expand availability of clean meats, dairy, and produce in supermarkets
Create weekly farmers markets in underserved areas
Pilot a subscription-based âAmish Boxâ for direct delivery to residents
Host mobile public kitchens with Amish chefs teaching clean cooking
This would reverse trends in chronic disease while building bridges between rural farmers and urban families.
5. Host a ‘Work Outside Week’ Every Spring
Invite all city employees and office workers to work outside for one week annually.
Pop-up coworking stations across every major park
Tech firms and startups lead by example
Evening community events, talks, and wellness workshops
6. Create a Public Health Dashboard
Develop a simple, open-access online dashboard to track:
Let us also reclaim our health from the inside out:
Natural foods and clean diets must be central to our cityâs health vision. We need more than a few Amish stands at Reading Terminalâwe need Amish food from local farms in every grocery store across Philadelphia.
These nutrient-rich, chemical-free foods can help reverse chronic disease, improve mental health, and reinvigorate our communitiesâespecially in underserved neighborhoods.
Let Philadelphia be the first major city to scale up a local food revolution rooted in clean farming, simplicity, and sustainability.
đ Reclaiming Time, Health, and Meaning
Letâs use technology to reclaim our time. Letâs use our public parks to reclaim our health. Letâs use clean food to reclaim our strength. And letâs use freedom to reclaim our meaning.
In doing so, we can spark something greaterâa population boom driven not by economic desperation, but by hope. By family values. By joy. Young people will want to stay, grow roots, and raise families in a city that feels alive.
đ Philadelphia Can Lead the Nation
Letâs not wait for another city to lead the way. Let Philadelphia become the first major American city where:
Public parks become our new office buildings
Clean, local food fills our grocery stores
Free movement becomes a civic right
Beauty, nature, and vitality are felt by all
The future is hereâwe just need the courage to build it.
Thank you for your leadership, and I hope youâll consider this vision.
Whatâs poppin, people? Itâs Dante. Letâs talk about something that matters more than camera settings or gear: your mindset.
This is the philosophy that guides me every time I step outside with my camera. The way I see it, photography is more than just picturesâitâs a way of life.
Donât Chase the Outcome. Be a Kid Again.
So many photographers hit the street obsessed with the outcome. They want the shot. The banger. Something for the âGram. But hereâs the thing:
The more you chase, the more you miss.
The best images come when you let go. When you approach the streets like a childâcurious, unafraid, unattachedâyou open yourself to something deeper.
You become playful. Present. Alive. You flow.
Photography Is Philosophy
Street photography isnât a recipe. Itâs not some tutorial you can memorize and repeat. Itâs philosophy.
Philos = love. Sophia = wisdom. To photograph is to love wisdom through seeing.
I never want to master photography. That would kill it for me. I want to remain an amateurâsomeone in love with learning. Someone who wakes up each morning with fresh eyes.
Photography is daily exploration. Itâs not about having answers. Itâs about asking questions.
And the shutter? Itâs just a question mark.
The Streets Are a Playground
Think about it: kids donât need a reason to climb a tree or chase a squirrel. They just do it because itâs fun. Thatâs how I see photography.
Growing up in Philly, I ran around the Wissahickon Forest like a wild child. Today, the concrete streets are my new wilderness.
Treat the city like a playground. Be a big kid with a camera.
Donât take yourself too seriously. Thatâs how you unlock the flow.
Death and Rebirth, Daily
Every morning when I wake up, I treat it as if Iâve just been born. Every night when I go to sleep, I treat it like a mini death.
Thatâs how I stay grateful. Thatâs where the pep in my step comes from.
And when you remember youâre going to dieâseriously, remind yourself dailyâit wakes you up to the infinite possibilities right in front of you.
Drawing With Light
At its root, photography means âdrawing with light.â Fos = light. Graphe = to draw.
Thatâs what I do when I shoot high-contrast black and white. Iâm sketching with photons. Capturing the way light shapes the world, constantly shifting, constantly changing.
You cannot make the same photograph twice.
Even if I stand on the same street corner at the same time every day, the light will never be the same. The people will change. The air will shift. Thatâs what makes it exciting.
Every Photograph Is a Self-Portrait
Photography is a reflection of my courage, my heart, my soul.
Courage comes from âcorââthe Latin word for heart.
When I photograph the street, Iâm not just photographing whatâs out thereâIâm revealing who I am.
Photography has nothing to do with photography. It has everything to do with how you engage with humanity.
So just live your life. Bring your camera. Be human first, photographer second.
Curiosity and Courage Are Everything
Those are the two pillars.
Curiosity keeps you moving
Courage keeps you shooting
You have to step outside your comfort zone, hurl yourself into the unknown, and let the chaos swirl around you without fear.
Float through the chaos on a feather bed.
Thatâs how I feel when Iâm locked in on the streets. Untouchable. Joyful. Unbothered.
Walk Slow. Feel More.
Hereâs a practical tip: walk slower. I move about 75% slower than everyone around me.
Why?
I see patterns others miss
I catch fleeting gestures
I tune into the rhythm of the street
Photography is about intuition, not intellect. Your brain doesnât make the photoâyour gut does.
That split-second decision to move left, crouch, wait, shootâthatâs soul-level instinct.
Composition Is Physical Pleasure
Let me break it down with an example.
I made this photo outside the Colosseum in Rome. Here’s how:
Plug in the background. I framed the top with the illuminated Colosseum.
Read the light. I positioned my body in relation to the shadow play.
Wait. A subject walked in. I filled the frameâforeground, middle ground, background.
Composition is physical. Itâs movement. Itâs position. Itâs dance.
You donât sit back and wait for photos. You move into them. You fish. You strike.
The Camera Is a Passport
Itâs taken me from Israel to Jericho, Zambia to Mexico, Mumbai to the mountains.
Iâve milked cows on a kibbutz. Slept on mosque floors. Raised fish in Africa. All because of this little black box I carry.
The camera is my sword. I strike through chaos and carve out beauty.
Iâm not just capturing the worldâIâm conquering it, one frame at a time.
Forget Validation. Follow Curiosity.
I donât shoot for likes. I shoot to feed my soul.
Increase your curiosity by 1% every day.
The more I walk, the more I see.
The more I see, the more I photograph.
The more I photograph, the more curious I become.
Thatâs the cycle. Thatâs the joy. Thatâs the reason.
The World Is a Canvas
Look around.
A sparkle of light on a rooftop
A reflection in a window
A kid splashing in a fountain
Itâs all art waiting to happen.
The world is our canvas. We are the brush. The camera is our stroke of intention.
My Next Photograph Is My Best Photograph
This is the mantra:
My next photograph is my best photograph.
Forget the past. Donât obsess about the future. Be here. Be now. Press the shutter.
Each photo is a âyesâ to life. Each walk is a celebration. Each day is a new chance to evolve.
Final Thoughts
This is my mindset. This is my philosophy. This is street photography.
And if you vibe with this, I invite you to dive deeper:
Whatâs popping, people? Itâs Dante getting my morning started here in the Garden of Eden. Welcome to Fairmount Park, Philadelphia â the heart of the city.
You know, I like thinking of the city this way. Like, City Hall should technically be the heart, right? Itâs the center of the municipality. The mayor sits there. The courtrooms are there. Things happen there.
But then youâve got the subways, the bus lines, the roads â arteries. And the people that ride them? The ones who operate the buses, drive the cars?
Theyâre the bloodstream. Theyâre the nutrients flowing through the organism.
The city is alive. A chaotic, beautiful organism of order and madness.
The Micro-Interactions That Make a City
I like chatting with people on the bus. You start to see the same folks over and over again. Thereâs a kind of rhythm to it.
Itâs fun. Itâs social. But at the same time, living in the city can be incredibly isolating.
You live in a condo. A box stacked on top of someone else’s box. You ride the elevator. Say what’s up. Then scurry back into your own little cube.
There’s no real depth to it. No communal thread unless you go out of your way to find it.
Thatâs why I joined a boxing gym. Just so I could experience some kind of repetition â Some kind of tribe.
What the Village Gave Me That the City Canât
Back in Zambia, when I was volunteering with the Peace Corps, I lived in Panta Village â Luapula Province, Samia District.
đżđČ Nshiva Ichibemba. Nfwa Ukutandala. Ku Zambia, Uku Bomba in Ichishiba. Nalalupwandi. I speak Bemba. I worked in Zambia. I give thanks.
I was a fish farmer, working with youth groups, spending my time fully immersed in village life. And I swear, I became part of the tribe â a surrogate son in my host family.
When I arrived, my host father literally presented me a goat hanging from a tree. Like, âHere you go. Kill it. Let’s eat.â We feasted all week. Sat on the floor. Ate together every morning, noon, and night.
There was no âmineâ and âyours.â There was only âours.â
Everyone Had a Role
In the village:
Mothers walked home each morning with firewood stacked on their heads, babies tied to their backs.
Men were building churches and homes.
Boys were forming bricks out of mud and sand.
Girls were sweeping floors and preparing food.
Everyone contributed. Everyone had a role.
And what blew my mind? They thrived. Even without running water. Even without electricity. Even without stoves or fridges.
They smiled. They woke up joyous. They had meaning.
What Held Them Together: God
At the center of the village: The Church.
Everyone gathered there â not just Sundays. Some went every day.
The people strove to become like Jesus. Through sacrifice. Through service.
They treated their neighbors like themselves. There were no police. No bureaucracies. No government agencies.
The family was the government. The tribe was the law. The church was the soul.
You wanna talk about freedom? It was this:
Becoming a slave to God⊠is the highest form of freedom.
When everyone is a slave to God, everyone becomes a servant to the good. And through that service â the entire village thrives.
What the Cityâs Missing
Compare that to modern life:
People piss on toilet seats and donât clean it.
No one talks to their neighbors.
Everything is commodified and isolated.
We donât strive to be like Jesus. We strive to âget ours.â And then we wonder why we feel alone.
Experience Is the Real Teacher
Living in that village gave me a new paradigm.
And thatâs the beauty of travel. Not the touristy kind â but throwing yourself into the unknown.
You donât need more books. You need more experience. Thatâs where real wisdom comes from.
What I Brought Back
Now I live in Philly with:
Running water
A stove
A deep freezer full of beef from a local farmer
Wi-Fi
Bitcoin
But that simplicity I saw in Zambia still lives in me.
And actually â you know what? Technology could help those villages, too.
They all have phones now. Airtel, spotty service, yeah â but itâs something.
If they had Bitcoin access, maybe they could:
Save wealth
Leave the village for better jobs in Lusaka
Build homes
Store food with electric fridges
Maybe tech isnât the enemy after all. Maybe itâs the bridge.
Because as beautiful as that village life was, opportunity matters too. And maybe someone from a fish pond in Zambia ends up in a mansion one day.
1. Traditional Assets Are Defended with Human Lives
Assets like:
đ Land / Real Estate
đȘ Gold
đą Oil
đ Equities
âŠcarry monetary premiums that are protected and defended with:
Military force
Rule of law
Government control
đŹ âThe chain of custody for these assets is written in blood.â
2. Bitcoin Changes the Game
Bitcoin defends wealth differently. Instead of armies, it uses:
⥠Electricity
đ§ Code
đ„ Computers (miners)
By storing value in Satoshis (Bitcoin), we transpose the defense of wealth into cyberspace. Now, instead of risking human lives, we just pay the electric bill.
đ We trade bullets for bits. War for watts.
3. The Bottom Line
Not having to waste human life to defend monetized wealth is worth every watt.
Bitcoin is more than just digital moneyâ Itâs a peaceful revolution in how we secure value.
4. How Traditional Assets Are Defended with Blood
Letâs break down exactly how these legacy assets are backed by violence:
đ Land / Real Estate
Wars are fought over territory (e.g. RussiaâUkraine, IsraelâPalestine).
Armies occupy land to claim and hold it.
Police enforce property ownership domestically.
Evictions and land seizures involve coercion and force.
Blood Cost: Countless wars and civilian deaths over land rights.
đȘ Gold
Historical conquests (Spain in the Americas) were driven by gold.
Armed guards, vaults, and secure transport protect it.
Piracy and looting over gold were common for centuries.
Blood Cost: Entire civilizations devastated for gold.
đą Oil
Modern wars (Gulf War, Iraq War) heavily tied to oil interests.
Military bases secure oil-rich regions.
Naval fleets patrol oil routes.
Blood Cost: Hundreds of thousands dead in oil-related wars.
đ Equities / Corporate Assets
Governments protect corporations with police and military.
Wars and sanctions are used to secure markets and supply chains.
Corporate interests often drive foreign policy decisions.
Blood Cost: Violence used to uphold profit and ownership.
All traditional wealth is ultimately defended by threat of violence. Bitcoin replaces this with math, code, and energy.
This morningâs thought is real simple: Thinking is for idiots. Especially when it comes to photography.
Follow Whatâs Fun. Follow the Sun.
You donât need a plan when you step outside with your camera. You donât need a message. You donât need to prove anything.
Just follow what brings you joy.
Street photography isn’t about saying something â itâs about being.
Iâve seen too many photographers walk around with this idea that they have to create a message. That they have to âsay somethingâ with their images. Theyâre wiping their lenses down, strapping on their camera bag, putting on the âphotography hat,â trying to build some polished narrative arc with their little visual stories.
Thatâs when the work becomes mediocre.
Iâve never done that. Never.
Iâve photographed in conflict zones across the Palestinian territories â and not one second did I stop to ask, âIs this meaningful?â âWhat am I trying to say here?â âWhat narrative am I constructing?â
No. I was simply out there. Alive. Aware. Embodied. Following joy. Following curiosity.
And thatâs exactly how I think everyone should shoot.
Donât Think. Just Do.
When you go out and try to make something meaningful, you usually donât. When you try to say something, you usually say nothing.
Thinking leads to stagnation. Doing leads to motivation.
Thatâs just how Iâve lived as a photographer. No planning. No overanalyzing. Just me, my camera, and the open world.
I donât sit there studying light angles on a park bench, trying to synthesize the formal elements of composition like Iâm some academic. Thatâs a trap. Thatâs when your work gets stiff. Youâre trying too hard.
The Front Lines of Life
Photography isnât a theory â itâs a practice.
Iâve spent over a decade just being in the world. Walking. Wandering. Witnessing. Clicking the shutter with instinct.
âNot up in my mind â out there on the front lines of life.â
Thatâs where the real juice is. The inspiration, the energy, the meaning youâre looking for â itâs out there, not in here.
Knowing Too Much Is a Problem
You wanna know what leads to mediocrity in photography?
Studying too much.
Knowing too much.
Thinking too much.
Trying too hard.
A lot of people think knowing the history of photography, memorizing techniques, and worshipping photo books is gonna make their work special.
I mean⊠I barely know the history. Iâve read some stuff eventually, sure. But I donât dwell on it. Iâm not falling asleep dreaming of Henri Cartier-Bressonâs contact sheets.
Itâs just not that deep.
Youâre a flesh creature bound by gravity with a camera. Relax.
Bliss Is the Point
I suggest this: Follow what brings you joy.
Click the shutter.
Exude your thumos.
Chase the feeling of bliss.
Be bold. Be curious. Be spontaneous.
Thatâs where the magic is.
If you wanna sit around wondering what it all means, cool â but honestly, I think thatâs dumb.
No one really knows what theyâre doing. And thatâs okay.
Just go. Explore. Shoot. Feel. Thatâs the thought of the day.
