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FLUX PHOTOGRAPHY

some ideas-

FLUX

1. Essence of Photography

  • Phōs – light
  • Graphia – drawing
  • Drawing with light
  • A photograph is an instant sketch of light
  • Photography as a return to essence: light, shadow, impermanence

2. Myth & Allegory

  • Plato’s Allegory of the Cave
  • The photograph is like the first cave paintings, or the shadows on the wall
  • The photographer is like the man in the myth, casting shapes upon the wall using the fire
  • The world of becoming is the cave light
  • The world of being is the sunlight
  • A photographer is simultaneously “becoming” in the cave and ascending to the world of “being” in the sunlight
  • Empiricism mistakes the shadows on the wall for ultimate reality

3. Heraclitus & Philosophy

  • Unity of opposites
  • Heraclitus: Everything is in flux
  • You cannot make the same photograph twice
  • Heraclitus said that fire is the essence of all things
  • Photography as a stream of becoming
  • The photographer is always changing, the light is always changing
  • Impermanent nature of life
  • Returning to the essence of photography: light, shadow, sketching reality

4. Presentation of Work

  • Present the photographs in a stream of becoming
  • Shown in sequential order, like a slideshow
  • Casted on a wall, like the wall of the cave
  • Acknowledging the fleeting nature of moments
  • The photographer is in flux, the viewer is in flux

5. Final Reflections

  • Art is forever, and our life is brief
  • The Flux Photography Movement embraces the impermanence of light and life

Maybe you won’t live forever, but at least you can make a photograph

The Street Photographer as Flâneur

Photographing Without People: The Street Photographer as Flâneur

What’s poppin’ people? It’s Dante.

Getting my morning started on a nice walk through Fairmount Park, Philadelphia. Got the Ricoh GR IIIx in the pocket—always got it strapped.

Today, I’m thinking about street photography without people. What that means. What that looks like. Let’s dive in.

Inspiration from Atget

For the past two and a half years, I’ve drawn inspiration from a single source:

“The World of Atget.”

Eugène Atget, the godfather of street photography, photographed everything:

  • Rag pickers
  • Street performers
  • Streets
  • Stairwells
  • Doorways
  • Railings
  • Signposts
  • Lamps
  • Parks
  • Trees
  • Foliage

Urban life in its totality. That’s what he archived in Paris. And this approach? It’s liberating.

Photograph Everything

“Find potential in everything.”

That’s the practice. By treating everything as photographable, you enter an abundant flow state. You increase your chances of producing something impactful. That’s the goal: press the shutter often.

Not every shot needs a human. In fact, the absence of people can reveal new perspectives.

Macro Mode is Clutch

The macro feature on the Ricoh? Game changer.

  • I have it mapped to the up button on the D-pad.
  • Drop low. Get close. Capture bark, leaves, textures.

“Photographing things without people unlocks a new flow state.”

Street Photography and Skateboarding

Here’s a metaphor: street skateboarding.

When I was a kid, we turned everyday objects into opportunities:

  • Ollie over a brick
  • Manual across sidewalk cracks
  • Grind curbs and ledges

That same spirit applies to photography:

“Use the mundane as your obstacle—or your subject.”

You start to see everything as potential for creative expression.

Become the Flâneur

“I think of myself as the ultimate flâneur in Philadelphia.”

Not just a photographer. A wanderer. A watcher. A slow-moving explorer.

Slow down.

Most street photographers move too fast. And in that speed, they miss:

  • Patterns
  • Details
  • Light

Walk with intention and intensity, not urgency.

“Be present. Let life come to you.”

From Tripod to Pocket

Atget carried a heavy wooden camera on a tripod. He had no choice but to move slow.

But now?

  • Ricoh GR III / GR IIIx
  • In your pocket
  • One-handed
  • Snapshots

No excuses.

Program mode. Point and shoot. Be the digital flâneur.

Light is the Subject

Here’s my philosophy:

“Treat light as the subject, and the world opens up.”

Stop looking for moments. Stop hunting gestures. Instead:

  • Observe how light hits surfaces
  • Study the way it etches detail
  • Frame it

That’s it.

Be the Archivist

Think of yourself as an archivist of your hometown.

Just like Atget documented Paris, document:

  • Your city
  • Your surroundings
  • The everyday

“Photograph with purpose. Archive where you are now.”

This gives meaning. A reason to shoot.

Simple Techniques

Try these out:

  • Use macro mode
  • Study Atget’s photos
  • Photograph architecture, parks, sculptures, windows, doors, door knockers
  • Focus on flowers, horticulture, signs, textures, pipes, walls, infrastructure
  • Observe light: how it reflects and shapes

Ricoh Workflow
  • High contrast black & white
  • Small JPEG files
  • Underexpose to crush shadows
  • Use highlight-weighted metering

“Crush the shadows, expose for the highlights, simplify the composition.”

Want the full setup?
Check out my Ricoh workflow guide:
👉 https://dantesisafo.com

Go Out and See

Photograph:

  • Patterns in nature
  • Patterns in the street
  • The in-between moments

“Street photography is more than a genre. It’s a philosophy.”

It’s how you see. How you experience. How you engage with life.

Final Words

“So much beauty in the mundane.”

Look at Atget’s photos. Use them as your blueprint. Let them resonate.

Start photographing everything.

No hesitation. No limitations. Just presence, curiosity, and light.

Peace.

Plato – Parmenides

Plato – Parmenides: The One, the Many, and the Limits of Thought

Introduction

Parmenides stands as one of Plato’s most enigmatic and challenging dialogues. Set as a fictionalized memory from Socrates’ youth, it brings together Socrates, the Eleatic philosophers Parmenides and Zeno, and a young man named Aristoteles. What unfolds is a rigorous philosophical training session in dialectic and metaphysics, featuring the bold questioning of Socratic ideas and a mysterious, mind-bending exploration of “The One.”

Rather than offering answers, Parmenides demonstrates the limits of rational thought and the contradictions that emerge when trying to define being, unity, and difference.

1. Young Socrates Meets Parmenides

The dialogue begins with a young Socrates proposing early ideas about the Forms—non-material ideals that he believes underlie all visible reality. He suggests, for example, that justice, beauty, and largeness exist in themselves apart from their manifestations.

Parmenides challenges this idea:

  • Do the Forms exist separately from particulars?
  • Do Forms apply to themselves?
  • Does participation make sense as a concept?

Socrates struggles to defend the Forms. Parmenides exposes logical difficulties and warns that without adequate training in dialectic, such theories remain vulnerable.

2. The Role of Dialectic

Parmenides encourages Socrates to embrace the art of dialectic—arguing for and against every position. This isn’t just about debate, but about philosophical discipline.

He insists:

  • One must examine what is, what is not, and what may both be and not be.
  • Truth requires testing all concepts against their opposites.
  • Even absurdities must be explored to see where logic leads.

This prepares the ground for the most mysterious part of the dialogue.

3. The Hypotheses of the One

The second half of Parmenides presents a dizzying series of eight hypotheses:

  • If the One is → it must both be and not be.
  • If the One is not → it still must somehow be discussed, which implies being.

Each hypothesis leads to contradiction:

  • The One cannot be many, yet it must have parts.
  • The One must be both identical and different from itself.
  • Time, motion, and rest both do and do not apply.

These riddles are not meant to be solved but to stretch the mind beyond ordinary categories of logic.

Key Philosophical Themes

The Problem of the One and the Many

How can unity and multiplicity coexist? If everything is one, how do we account for change and difference?

Limits of Language and Logic

Parmenides challenges whether human reason can fully comprehend metaphysical reality without falling into contradiction.

Critique of Early Idealism

Socrates’ theory of Forms is tested and found immature. The dialogue pushes toward greater philosophical rigor.

Dialectic as Method

True philosophy requires exploring all angles—even absurd ones. Thinking in opposites is a tool for wisdom.

Wisdom and Takeaways

  • Philosophical concepts must be stress-tested through relentless dialectical questioning.
  • There are no easy answers when dealing with ultimate realities like being, unity, and identity.
  • Contradictions may not signify failure—but the boundaries of our current understanding.
  • The Parmenides invites the reader to become a philosopher, not by offering doctrines, but by showing how to think deeply.

Conclusion

Unlike Plato’s more accessible works, Parmenides offers no resolution. It is a puzzle—a training ground for minds seeking metaphysical truth. In place of doctrine, we are given method. In place of answers, questions. Plato here shows us the need for humility before the vastness of what is, and what is not. This is philosophy at its most demanding—and most exhilarating.

The New Aristocrats Live Outdoors

In the Middle Ages, the lords were in the castle and the peasants in the fields.

In the modern age, the lords walk barefoot, while the peasants sit comfortably indoors.

In the Middle Ages, Lords powdered their faces white to show they never worked under the sun.

In the modern world, the Lords have sun-kissed skin because they’re free enough to live outdoors.

Hesiod – Theogony and Works and Days

Hesiod: Theogony and Works and Days

A Study Guide

Translation: M.L. West
Edition: Oxford World’s Classics

Introduction

Hesiod, alongside Homer, stands at the dawn of Greek literature. His two major surviving works, Theogony and Works and Days, offer a profound window into the mythological, moral, and agrarian world of early Greece. Where Theogony explores the divine origins of the cosmos and gods, Works and Days shifts to earthly matters—justice, toil, and human ethics. Together, they form a dual lens: one cosmic, the other personal.

Part I: Theogony – The Birth of the Gods

Overview

Theogony (from theos meaning god and gonē meaning birth) is a mythopoetic cosmogony. Hesiod attempts to systematize the chaotic world of myth into a genealogy, giving structure to the origins of gods and the universe.

Key Themes

  • Chaos to Cosmos: The narrative begins in Chaos—a void—and ends with the ordered rule of Zeus.
  • Power Struggles: The poem illustrates successive divine overthrows—Uranus by Cronus, Cronus by Zeus.
  • Divine Justice: Zeus emerges not only as powerful but as a figure of cosmic justice.

Important Figures

  • Chaos – The primordial void.
  • Gaia (Earth) – The fertile mother of all.
  • Uranus (Sky) – Gaia’s son and consort; overthrown by Cronus.
  • Cronus – Titan who swallows his children to prevent being usurped.
  • Zeus – The triumphant Olympian who brings order.

Notable Passages

“Verily at first Chaos came to be…”
This iconic line begins the poem, presenting Chaos not as disorder but as the raw potential of existence.

“For broad-browed Earth bare first of all like unto herself the starry Heaven…”
Gaia gives birth to Uranus, showing the self-generating force of Earth.

Structure

  1. Invocation to the Muses – Hesiod’s divine inspiration.
  2. The Primordial Gods – Chaos, Gaia, Tartarus, Eros.
  3. Genealogy of the Titans and Olympians
  4. Zeus’s Rise and Rule
  5. Catalog of Goddesses – Often interrupted and fragmentary but rich in names and roles.

Part II: Works and Days – A Farmer’s Wisdom

Overview

Works and Days is a didactic poem—part almanac, part moral instruction. Addressed to Hesiod’s brother, Perses, it blends myth, practical advice, and ethical teachings.

Key Themes

  • Justice (Dike): A central virtue, personified and praised.
  • Labor and Toil (Ponoi): Hesiod presents work as divinely ordained and necessary.
  • Seasons and Timeliness: A poetic farmer’s calendar is interwoven with the moral message.
  • Pandora and Decline: Hesiod introduces a pessimistic myth of human decline through successive races of men.

Important Myths and Lessons

  • Pandora – The first woman, crafted by gods, brings a jar (not a box!) that releases evils into the world.
  • Five Races of Man:
  1. Golden Age – Peaceful and god-like.
  2. Silver Age – Long childhood, disobedience.
  3. Bronze Age – Violent and warlike.
  4. Heroic Age – Noble, semi-divine.
  5. Iron Age – Hesiod’s time—marked by toil and injustice.

“For the gods keep hidden the means of livelihood…”
Hesiod explains the divine purpose of hardship—humans must work to survive.

Practical Advice

  • Avoid the 13th of the month.
  • Don’t plant at the solstice.
  • Keep your tools in good condition.
  • Work hard, but not too soon or too late.

This mixture of myth and agronomy creates a unique philosophical worldview: struggle is divine, and ethics are embedded in the rhythms of nature.

Structure

  1. Proem & Address to Perses
  2. Myths of Prometheus and Pandora
  3. Races of Man
  4. Praise of Justice
  5. Work Ethic & Agricultural Calendar
  6. Sailing Instructions and Days of Luck

Final Reflections

Hesiod’s works stand at the crossroads of myth, religion, ethics, and daily life. Theogony lifts the veil on the divine order of the cosmos, while Works and Days grounds the reader in the mortal struggle for justice and sustenance.

These are not mere stories—they are invitations to understand the world, to respect the divine, and to live with wisdom.

“The best treasure is a sparing tongue.” – Works and Days

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