FLUX WEEKLY WITNESS #3

What’s poppin’, people? It’s Dante.

Today we’re doing FLUX Weekly Witness #3, reviewing the photographs submitted over the past week.

But before getting into the actual review, I want to share something I’ve been building:

FLUX AUTO ZINE GENERATOR

FLUX is an open-source, browser-based system for automatically turning photographs into printable chronological zines.

CREATE YOUR OWN FLUX ISSUE

Generator:

http://dantesisofo.com/flux-auto-zine/

How It Works

1. Grab 15 photographs
2. Drag and drop them into the generator
3. Add:

• Your name
• Issue number

1. Click:
   Generate Flux Issue

The system instantly creates a printable PDF.

---

WHAT THE SYSTEM DOES

The generator automatically:

• Sequences your photographs chronologically
• Reads the metadata from your camera
• Adds captions automatically
• Generates:
• Title page
• Protocol page
• Manifest page
• Contact sheet
• Printable zine PDF

Each image contains:

• Date
• Time
• Photographer name
• Issue number
• Sequence number

The goal is:

• Speed
• Simplicity
• Instant publishing
• Removing workflow friction

---

PRINTING THE ZINE

Recommended Setup

• Regular office paper
• Double-sided printing
• Home laser printer
• Staple left side

I even added staple marks directly onto the cover so assembling the zine becomes frictionless.

---

THE FLUX PHILOSOPHY

The System

Shoot → Select → Publish → Move On

No backlog.

No perfectionism.

No over-editing.

No endless sequencing.

The goal is to continue making photographs.

---

WHY THIS MATTERS

The entire system is about:

• Daily practice
• Chronological thinking
• Speed
• Small JPEG workflows
• Physical archives
• Embracing imperfection

The imperfect qualities of:

• printer paper
• laser printing
• cheap materials
• bureaucratic aesthetics

become part of the artwork itself.

---

STORAGE AS ART

I’ve been storing the zines inside manila folders.

Honestly, the archive itself is starting to feel like the artwork.

You can:

• Mix pages together
• Rearrange sequences
• Tape pages to walls
• Pull pages apart
• Create evolving archives

The work becomes alive physically.

---

FEATURED FLUX ISSUES

Igor Krivokon

Download:
http://dantesisofo.com/mp-files/flux_001_igor_krivokon_2026-05-01_to_2026-05-07.pdf/

Notes

Beautiful ethereal landscape work.

The imperfect printer-paper aesthetic elevates the imagery emotionally.

Minimal landscapes.
Elegant compositions.
Charcoal-like rendering.

The abstraction created through the camera sensor and light interaction becomes the poetry.

---

Dimitri Wessendorf

Download:
http://dantesisofo.com/mp-files/flux_001_old_3_eye_dimitri_wessendorf_2026-05-04_to_2026-05-08-pdf.pdf/

Notes

Beautiful work coming out of Seattle.

The horse photograph especially feels:

• mystical
• cinematic
• surreal
• emotionally charged

The storm clouds and atmosphere elevate the imagery beyond simple documentation.

The strange tunnel image especially pushes into mystery and ambiguity.

---

MIGUEL — FIRST PHOTO BOOK

Miguel created his first photobook using this FLUX protocol.

Blog Post

Miguel’s workflow breakdown

Book

FLUX Vol. I by Miguel

---

Important Ideas From Miguel

Miguel photographed Holy Week in his hometown without planning a giant project.

He simply:

• Walked daily
• Photographed what was in front of him
• Sequenced the work afterward

Key realization:

Taking photographs is only the beginning.
Sequencing creates meaning.

Miguel also:

• Used Blurb Bookwright
• Experimented with ChatGPT for sequencing
• Learned the importance of chronology and accumulation

This is exactly the spirit of FLUX.

---

GOING BEYOND LANGUAGE

What I’m starting to recognize with FLUX is this:

We almost want to go beyond:

• narrative
• explanation
• traditional photobook storytelling

And instead embrace:

• chronology
• fragments of time
• raw existence
• visual accumulation

The captions become timestamps of reality itself.

---

PHOTO REVIEW NOTES

DMITRI

Rusty Building

Beautiful character.

Worn-down architecture becomes emotionally powerful through isolation and atmosphere.

---

Horse Photograph

One of my favorite images from Dmitri.

The horse feels:

• mythical
• ancient
• spiritual

The physical print especially elevates the image.

---

Tunnel Image

Shocking.
Jarring.
Surreal.

Mystery and ambiguity are becoming strong directions in Dmitri’s work.

---

IGOR

Landscape Work

The landscapes become emotionally powerful through:

• minimalism
• abstraction
• printer-paper rendering
• negative space

The images feel elegant and painterly.

---

Important Observation

Our eyes do not have shutter speeds.

What keeps photography endlessly fascinating is:

The photograph is what the camera saw —
not what we saw.

The sensor interprets reality differently than human vision.

That mystery keeps photography alive.

---

DAWSON

Emotional Impact

Some of Dawson’s images are emotionally overwhelming.

The strongest photographs often make us:

• pause
• wonder
• feel deeply

without fully understanding why.

That indescribable quality is what we’re after.

---

Variety

What I appreciated most this week:

• distance
• close-up textures
• people
• details
• abstraction

There’s increasing range in the work.

---

THEO — LONDON

Subway Portrait

Probably my favorite image from Theo so far.

The negative space and darkness create:

• mystery
• tension
• atmosphere

The face emerging from darkness becomes emotionally magnetic.

---

Mannequins

A reminder that:

The mundane is the game.

Windows.
Shops.
Objects.
Reflections.

All of these ordinary spaces become elevated through abstraction.

---

RED FOX

Found Object Photography

Really interesting compositional relationships between:

• wheel
• chair
• ground
• negative space

By removing context, mundane objects become elegant abstract forms.

---

Important Practice

Photographing:

• textures
• discarded objects
• strange corners
• ordinary details

puts you directly into flow state.

---

EUGÈNE ATGET

Study Material

I want all of you to study the work of:

Reference:

The World of Atget — Berenice Abbott flip-through

---

WHY ATGET MATTERS

Eugène Atget photographed Paris every single day in the late 19th and early 20th century.

He focused on:

• streets
• workers
• windows
• storefronts
• ordinary life

He created one of the greatest visual archives in photographic history. :contentReference[oaicite:4]{index=4}

---

WHY FLUX IS INSPIRED BY ATGET

What inspires me most is not one masterpiece photograph.

It’s:

• accumulation
• consistency
• daily practice
• visual archiving
• relentless documentation

Atget treated photography like a living document of existence. :contentReference[oaicite:5]{index=5}

That is the spirit of FLUX.

---

THE GOAL

The goal is not:

One perfect photograph.

The goal is:

A living, breathing archive in flux.

---

FINAL REMINDER

Create your own FLUX zine.

Upload 15 photographs.

Generate the issue.

Print it.

Share it.

Archive your existence.

And submit the work directly through the FLUX submission form.

Looking forward to seeing what all of you make.

Peace.

A new independent FLUX publication has been released by Miguel Monforte.

After photographing Holy Week in his hometown of Samper de Calanda, Miguel slowly realized that the images were all connected through a shared emotional territory — family, rituals, silence, memory, streets, gestures, and landscape. :contentReference[oaicite:0]{index=0}

What began as simple walks with a camera eventually transformed into his first completed photobook.

---

The Process

Miguel first created a manual selection of photographs that felt emotionally connected rather than simply selecting the “best” images. He then generated contact sheets with visible filenames and used ChatGPT as a sequencing assistant to help build emotional rhythm, pauses, transitions, and visual relationships between photographs. :contentReference[oaicite:1]{index=1}

The goal was not to create:

• a portfolio
• an Instagram gallery
• a chronological report

But instead:

• a visual diary
• fragmented memory
• emotional geography
• poetic documentary photography

---

The Book

Miguel designed the book using Blurb BookWright with a small, lightweight format inspired by the FLUX philosophy:

— 13 × 20 cm
— soft cover
— matte black-and-white paper
— visual notebook aesthetic

He also experimented with collage-style cover generation using ChatGPT, embracing imperfection and directness rather than over-polished production.

---

A Key Reflection

One of the most interesting ideas Miguel wrote about was this:

“Taking photographs is just the beginning. The real work begins afterwards.”

The book ultimately became less about documenting drums or events and more about emotional memory, territory, and lived experience.

---

View The Book

https://www.blurb.com/b/12872854

---

Original Article

https://15minutosdeluz.blogspot.com/2026/05/como-he-creado-mi-primer-fotolibro-en.html

FLUX AUTO ZINE GENERATOR

An open-source, browser-based system for automatically turning photographs into printable chronological zines.

No InDesign.
No layout software.
No manual sequencing.

The system is designed to eliminate workflow friction and make publishing automatic.

---

FIRST FLUX_001 ISSUES RELEASED

The first independent FLUX_001 issues have now been published:

FLUX_001 — Dimitri_Wessendorf
FLUX_001 — Igor_Krivokon

Two photographers.
Two chronological visual diaries.
Two direct publications made through the FLUX system.

This is the beginning of the open FLUX archive.

---

HOW IT WORKS

Shoot photographs normally.

Select 15 JPEG photographs.

Open the FLUX Auto Zine Generator.

Drag the photographs into the browser.

Click:

GENERATE FLUX ISSUE PDF

The system automatically creates a printable PDF issue.

---

WHAT THE SYSTEM AUTOMATICALLY DOES

— reads photo timestamps from metadata
— preserves chronological order
— generates issue cover
— creates protocol page
— creates photo pages
— creates contact sheet
— creates metadata manifest
— compresses images
— exports lightweight printable PDF`

No manual layout required.

---

PDF STRUCTURE

The generated issue includes:

— Front cover
— Blank inside cover
— Protocol page
— Blank spacer
— 15 chronological photo pages
— Contact sheet
— Metadata manifest
— Blank back cover

---

PRINT FORMAT

— 11 × 8.5 landscape
— double-sided printing
— staple left side
— office paper compatible
— lightweight PDF for sharing and archiving

---

CAPTION STRUCTURE

Each photograph automatically includes:

Top Right:

— issue number
— image sequence number

Bottom Left:

— timestamp
— photographer name
— issue/page reference

All extracted automatically from metadata.

---

PHILOSOPHY

shoot → select → sequence → publish → move on

The goal is to remove unnecessary friction between making photographs and publishing them.

The system encourages:

— daily practice
— chronological thinking
— fast decision making
— lightweight publishing
— open digital archives

---

WHAT IS FLUX?

FLUX is an open-source chronological photography publishing system.

Every issue becomes a timestamped fragment of lived experience.

The archive grows over time through repetition, consistency, and movement rather than perfectionism.

---

GENERATOR

http://dantesisofo.com/flux-auto-zine/

---

DOWNLOAD THE FIRST FLUX_001 ISSUES

FLUX_001 — Dimitri_Wessendorf
https://dantesisofo.com/mp-files/flux_001_old_3_eye_dimitri_wessendorf_2026-05-04_to_2026-05-08-pdf.pdf/

FLUX_001 — Igor_Krivokon
https://dantesisofo.com/mp-files/flux_001_igor_krivokon_2026-05-01_to_2026-05-07.pdf/

FLUX_001 — The First Independent Issues Begin 

The first independent FLUX_001 issues are now live.
These were generated directly through the FLUX system:
Shoot → Select → Sequence → Publish → Move on

No heavy editing.
No perfectionism.
No delay.

Just photography flowing in real time into physical form.

---

FLUX_001 — Dimitri_Wessendorf

Date Range:
2026-05-04 → 2026-05-08

A raw monochrome visual diary produced through the FLUX methodology.

[ DOWNLOAD ] FLUX_001 — DIMITRI_WESSENDORF

---

FLUX_001 — Igor_Krivokon

Date Range:
2026-05-01 → 2026-05-07

An independently published FLUX_001 issue created through daily shooting, sequencing, and direct publication.

[ DOWNLOAD ] FLUX_001 — IGOR_KRIVOKON

---

What Is FLUX?

FLUX is a frictionless photographic system.

One camera.
One aesthetic.
One workflow.
One rhythm.

The goal is simple:

To eliminate hesitation between life and publication.

Photography becomes a living document instead of a backlog.

---

Create Your Own FLUX Issue

The entire process can now be automated.

Upload JPEGs.
Generate a zine.
Publish immediately.

Use the FLUX Auto Zine Generator here:

---

The Goal

The vision is not preciousness.

The vision is movement.

A living archive of everyday life continuously being created by independent photographers around the world.

FLUX is not about making a perfect object.

It is about creating a real document of existence.

Shoot → Select → Sequence → Publish → Move on

Delete Instagram to Enjoy Photography Again (Do This Instead)

What’s poppin’, people? It’s Dante.

Today I want to share with you some practical tips on how to find more joy in your photography practice.

---

Step 1: Delete Your Instagram

Yeah.

Delete it.

Go into the settings, find that button, and just remove your account.

If you care about the people on there—your friends, your family—reach out to them directly. Text them. Call them. FaceTime them.

But get rid of the platform.

Because once you move beyond:

• Likes
• Comments
• Feedback

You remove the noise.

And now you can actually focus on making.

---

Build Your Own Space

Instead of renting space on social media, build your own.

• Buy a domain with your name
• Set up a site using WordPress
• Avoid cookie-cutter templates

Now you have a place that’s yours.

A space without metrics.

A space without validation loops.

Just you and the work.

This is where the joy starts to come back.

---

Treat Photography as a Visual Diary

What I enjoy about photography is simple:

It’s a way to express my internal state.

I do that by:

• Always carrying my Ricoh GR
• Shooting in automatic mode
• Pointing and shooting throughout the day

No pressure.

No expectations.

Just documenting life.

I’m not worried if the photos are good or bad.

---

Enter the Flow State

When you’re photographing every day, something happens.

You stop thinking.

You start responding.

Your instinct builds.

And over time, through consistency:

Photography becomes effortless.

The flow state is the peak human experience.

You’re present.

• No past
• No future
• Just now

The sights, sounds, and energy of the street carry you.

And you feel alive.

---

Stop Hunting for Photos

Don’t go out looking for something great.

Don’t chase moments.

Detach from the outcome.

Because the truth is:

When you stop trying to make a great photo, you often make one.

Let life come to you.

And just respond.

---

Make It Frictionless

This is everything.

I never want to burn out.

So I reduce friction at every step:

• Camera always in my pocket (Ricoh GR)
• Shooting in program mode
• High-contrast JPEGs baked in
• No post-processing

When I get home:

• I use the iPad Photos app
• No Lightroom
• No complexity

Because it’s easy…

I stay consistent.

And because I stay consistent…

I improve.

---

Curiosity Is the Goal

The real outcome isn’t great photos.

It’s curiosity.

What did the camera see today?

That question alone keeps me going.

The way light renders on the sensor…
The mistakes…
The surprises…

That’s the magic.

---

Follow What You Care About

Curiosity comes from care.

What are you drawn to?

What pulls you in?

Through daily practice, you start to discover:

• What you notice
• What you feel
• What matters to you

And that becomes your voice.

You wear your heart on your sleeve when you make photographs.

---

Make Something Physical

The final step:

Turn your work into something real.

Use print-on-demand:

• Sequence your images
• Create a photo book
• Hold your work in your hands

Now it’s tangible.

Now it’s yours.

---

Final Thought

Reorient everything.

Stop chasing validation.

Start playing.

Start documenting.

Start showing up every day.

Because when you wake up with enthusiasm—

it’s inevitable.

You’ll practice.

You’ll improve.

You’ll find joy again.

---

If you’re serious about this:

Take the 7-day challenge.

Make one photo a day.

Sequence it.

Send it in.

Let’s build something real.

---

Peace.

An open-source browser-based system for automatically turning photographs into printable chronological zines.

No InDesign.
No layout software.
No manual sequencing.

The system is designed to eliminate workflow friction and make publishing automatic.

---

HOW IT WORKS

1. Shoot photographs normally
2. Select 15 JPEG photographs
3. Open the FLUX Auto Zine Generator
4. Drag the photographs into the browser
5. Click: GENERATE FLUX ISSUE PDF
6. The system automatically creates a printable PDF issue

---

WHAT THE SYSTEM AUTOMATICALLY DOES

• reads photo timestamps from metadata
• preserves chronological order
• generates issue cover
• creates protocol page
• creates photo pages
• creates contact sheet
• creates metadata manifest
• compresses images
• exports lightweight printable PDF

No manual layout required.

---

PDF STRUCTURE

The generated issue includes:

1. Front cover
2. Blank inside cover
3. Protocol page
4. Blank spacer
5. 15 chronological photo pages
6. Contact sheet
7. Metadata manifest
8. Blank back cover

---

PRINT FORMAT

• 11 × 8.5 landscape
• double-sided printing
• staple left side
• office paper compatible
• lightweight PDF for sharing and archiving

---

CAPTION STRUCTURE

Each photograph automatically includes:

Top Right:

• issue number
• image sequence number

Bottom Left:

• timestamp
• photographer name
• issue/page reference

All extracted automatically from metadata.

---

PHILOSOPHY

shoot → select → sequence → publish → move on

The goal is to remove unnecessary friction between making photographs and publishing them.

The system encourages:

• daily practice
• chronological thinking
• fast decision making
• lightweight publishing
• open digital archives

---

WHAT IS FLUX

FLUX is an open-source chronological photography publishing system.

Every issue becomes a timestamped fragment of lived experience.

The archive grows over time through repetition, consistency, and movement rather than perfectionism.

---

GENERATOR

http://dantesisofo.com/flux-auto-zine/

How to See the Extraordinary in the Ordinary (Street Photography & Light)

What’s poppin’, people? It’s Dante.

Currently photographing this palm here, looking at the beautiful light and these lines and the shapes that form in the center of this beautiful plant.

Walking around South Beach, thinking today about abstraction in photography and how we can use light and our cameras to basically create anything.

There’s something so powerful about wielding light—using it to lift ordinary, mundane moments to a new height.

It’s the way that light renders upon the camera sensor that creates the surprise.

---

My Current Workflow

I’m shooting with the Ricoh GR:

• High contrast black and white JPEGs
• Automatic settings
• Everything baked into the file
• No post-processing

I crank the contrast all the way up.

And what’s incredible about this workflow is that while I’m looking at life with my eyes, what arises in the frame is a surprise.

Maybe it’s a mistake.
Maybe it’s an imperfection.

But that’s the point.

---

Let Light Do the Work

By:

• Crushing the shadows
• Exposing for the highlights

You start to reveal ambiguity and mystery.

And honestly, that’s what keeps me curious.

It’s the surprise that arises in the frames that I’m making.

When I go home and look through my photos, I’m not judging them first—I’m curious.

What did the camera see today?

---

Curiosity Over Location

A big shift for me:

I’m no longer dependent on the external world to give me something interesting.

Because let’s be real—

Most places feel boring.

Most moments feel ordinary.

But my argument is:

Maybe you’re just not curious.

What we control as photographers is how we see and feel.

Not the location.
Not the subject.

Just our attention.

---

Stop Hunting for Photos

I’m no longer:

• Chasing moments
• Waiting for perfect alignment
• Hoping something interesting happens

Instead:

I’m just there.

Prepared.

And whatever catches my eye—I respond intuitively, instinctively, quickly.

Just snapshots.

And over time?

You begin to discover how you actually see.

---

Abstraction as a Solution

Abstraction solved a big problem for me:

How do I integrate photography into everyday life?

Without needing:

• A special place
• A special subject
• A perfect moment

When you abstract the world, you unlock infinite novelty.

There is something extraordinary within the ordinary way that light casts upon everything.

---

Chip Away at Life

That’s really what this is:

Chipping away.

• A leaf blowing
• A gesture
• A glance
• Light hitting a wall

Most of the time?

Nothing is happening.

People are just walking from point A to point B.

But if you stay open…

Something always emerges.

---

The Monkey Moment

And then—out of nowhere—

A guy rides down the street with a monkey on his bike.

I missed the shot.

Completely.

Because I was talking to the camera.

And honestly?

That’s the perfect lesson.

You never know. A fucking monkey might just appear.

But you have to be there.

Ready.

Not distracted.

---

Final Thought

Don’t wait for something interesting.

Don’t rely on your location.

Don’t chase the perfect moment.

Just:

• Show up
• Stay curious
• Chip away at life

Because something is always happening.

A glance.
A gesture.
A shift in light.

And if you stay open—

you’ll see it.

---

Abstraction isn’t about removing reality.
It’s about seeing it differently.

Alright, get out there and start photographing.

And yeah—

look out for monkeys.

Why do 2012 tumblr girls make my favorite kind of music music

300

Life is extremely short

No point in sweating the details, the small stuff, being caught up in thought, over analyzing everything . Just retard max. Walk around barefoot drinking raw milk, and jump on a fire hydrant.. I can’t imagine what it’s like to be a serious photographer who’s critically analyzing everything, so deep and thought, over analyzing and never actually doing. Wondering about paper choice and wall space and who’s gonna validate what they do. I say fuck that. Let the chips fall as they may. Build your cathedral, brick by brick, just to tear that shit down again each day. 

300 Spartans, 300 publications,

So I just stepped away from the computer. Been pacing back-and-forth throughout my living room playing with Claude code and designing infrastructure to automate my entire photography publication, distribution, and archival workflow.  my frustration with the medium is how slow this thing is. And so the embrace of small JPEG, high contrast, workflow, compact cameras, has proven to be the only thing that can keep up with me. And so now, the main frustration is, when you have a hard drive of close to half a million photos and 15,000 photographs that you selected and put aside, do you really want to sit around and waste all of your time dwelling on the images?

Beyond good and bad

Notions of what makes or breaks a good or bad frame is extremely uninteresting to me. The reason being, is that I’ve already mastered photography. I know what it takes to get to the point where you can effectively make great frames over and over again all over the world. And so it became extremely boring and repetitive to me. And whatever Picasso said is 100% correct. He learned a master painting like Rafael, and then spent the rest of his life learning to paint like a child. I feel like the way forward is endlessly, returning to the childlike state, today one every single day, never mastering photography. I wanna be an amateur forever!

And right now what I’m doing is, fucking insane. I’ve designed a whole system around my practice from the ground up. From the way that I shoot, my philosophy, technique, approach, settings, everything in between. The one missing piece, is the distribution and publication. And so I decided OK I’ll use blurb, I’ve used it before, it was cool. It works and it’s easy enough. But even that, adds friction. Having to sit around and dwell on a sequence and contrive some sort of narrative doesn’t make any difference for me. I’m gonna be out the next day shooting 1000 frames and so who fucking cares about the photos I made yesterday. I’m not gonna sit around on my weekends looking at photos and making sequences. It’s absurd to me. Uninteresting. Basic and for the Normie‘s.

Everything in flux

My entire philosophy arrived 3 1/2 years ago when I realized that photography is endless. The way the light is always changing, and the way that life is out of my control, allows for infinite possibility within the medium of photography. You can never make the same photograph twice. And so as I began photographing with this streamlined workflow, I started to pile up stacks and stacks of pictures extremely quickly. What I would do is, shoot 1000 pictures a day, come home call through the photos and just upload them directly to my blog each day. It made sense and has become a ritual for me. Shoot, cull, published, move on.  I also really enjoyed looking at my photographs chronologically in sequences this way day by day month my month year by year. I find chronology and the passage of time to be very very interesting in terms of photography and actually creating sequences in chronology just make complete sense to me. Each photograph is merely a fragment of time. You could argue that the photograph exists outside the passage of time, but what happens when you actually stamp it within real time?

Techno futurist future

I started to play with extracting the Meta data from my files. Gathering the timeline in a CSV file. I upload everything to a website, flux.dantesisofo.com - create a timeline feature. And now browse my work by day a month by month.  it’s a very nice way of looking at the work this way as a stream in a timeline it’s just satisfying to me. But it’s time to upgrade. I’ve created a full pipeline. From shooting to publishing. Flux. You come home your dragon and drop your photos into a folder after making your selections. You then simply run a simple script command copy command P enter.  all files are uploaded to the archive online, everything is viewable downloadable. Another missing piece, the physical publication of this thing. And so when you go to upload, the script automatically determines when you have 50 new photographs ready for a publication. It organizes everything, titles, the work in sequence, flux_065 for example, and each photograph is sequence chronologically in order with captions with the date, time stamp and name. At the back of the PDF you have a viewable contact sheet and manifest document that is a one-to-one reference to the actual digital archive. There’s a QR code that you scan  that will then take you to the digital publication of that exact issue where you can download the original JPEG files. So now I’m walking around waiting for my Claude code to finish doing what it’s doing, and finish generating 304 publications.

## Shoot, print, staple

Everything open source. Instantly transferable. 10 MB PDF files. 28 sheets of paper, 50 images, double sided, 8 1/2 x 11 paper,. Simply print or PDF, stack up 28 sheets, staple, and enjoy. Doesn’t matter if you have a shitty printer, good printer, just use your basic office, printer at home and enjoy the work for free. The aesthetic qualities of the high contrast to workflow with these kind of LaserJet monochrome printers I was fucking beautiful. The imperfections actually make it more interesting. And the other thing, I even compressed my small JPEG even further, so the quality is reduced. But I find it to be fascinating. I’m just dreaming everything to pure simplicity and speed. Where I can now just keep going, keep shooting, come home, select my photos, instantly archive and publish a physical book daily.  no gatekeepers, no self publishing software or in design or print on demand bullshit.

The aesthetics of the physical object becomes bureaucratic. Simple mono space text. And I store them in manila folders. A living breathing archive. Ephemeral, reproducible, distributable, open and accessible, imperfect, because it’s not supposed to be. Rip out the pages, rearrange different PDFs however you want. The whole system is plug-in play. Do you wanna put on a show? Print out a PDF, take a piece of tape, and tape up 10 pictures to a wall somewhere. There’s your show.

I’m still working and tinkering and almost finished with my concept. Once it’s launched, just look for flux. 

Mental Health & Photography

What’s poppin’, people? It’s Dante.

Today’s topic is mental health and photography—and the intersection between these two things.

Take everything I say with a grain of salt. I’m just here to share my ideas.

Physical Health is Mental Health

I believe that physical health is mental health.

When you’re in an abundantly vital state—when your legs are strong, when you’re moving—it becomes almost impossible for depression to keep up.

But this isn’t about distracting yourself.

It’s about committing to something.

The Unreachable Goal

You give yourself an audacious goal.

Something almost unattainable.

And you move toward it every single day.

Detached from whether you’ll ever reach it.

And in that process—you find purpose.

For me, that thing is photography.

Showing up daily is 99% of the game.

The Present Moment

When I’m walking and photographing…

There’s nothing going on in my head.

Just instinct.
Just movement.
Just being.

You exist outside the passage of time.

No past.
No future.

Just the present moment.

And in that moment—you find meaning.

Why Depression Can’t Keep Up

When you have something that makes you feel so good…

That you go to sleep almost mourning the end of the day…

And wake up excited for the next sunrise…

Depression doesn’t really stand a chance.

Never Miss Another Sunrise

That’s the goal.

Wake up every day in the spirit of play.

Go outside.

Start photographing.

Enthusiasm

When you look at the word enthusiasm…

It comes from being “possessed by God.”

That’s how I want to wake up.

Possessed by something greater.

Something that gives me:

• Energy
• Clarity
• Vision
• Movement

Depression vs Movement

To be depressed is to be pressed down.

Bound to your chair.
Your bed.
Your phone.

Watching life pass you by.

When you stop moving, your soul slowly dies.

But when you’re out in the world…

Walking. Seeing. Responding…

You come alive.

Say Yes to Life

So I say:

Go outside.

Catch the sun’s rays.

Walk with your camera.

Chip away at life each day.

Let photography become:

Your will to power.

Photograph From Courage

Courage comes from core—the heart.

So photograph from your heart.

Wear it on your sleeve.

Let your internal world reflect in your photos.

The Reflection

When you wake up in a state of joy…

When you’re eager to start the day…

That energy shows up in your work.

And over time…

You build a life full of meaning.

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That’s how I see mental health and photography intersecting.

Never miss another sunrise.

And keep clicking that damn shutter.

Peace.

Beginner’s Mind Photography (Why Thinking Less Changes Everything)

What’s poppin’, people? It’s Dante.

Today I’m thinking about beginner’s mind photography and why this mindset shift can completely transform your practice.

I’ve been practicing street photography for over a decade now. But over the past three and a half years, I’ve really honed in on something different — practicing with a limitless mindset.

When you think of a beginner, you think of a child.

They have infinite potential to learn and grow.

And so by forgetting everything I think I know — all the preconceived notions about what I should photograph, where I should go, or what “street photography” even is — I’ve unlocked entirely new ways of seeing.

Unlearning Through Photography

At this point, after so much consistency, I feel like the real work is to empty my mind.

Through photography, I’m unlearning.

And through that act of unlearning, I discover new things.

The goal is simple: stay curious.

When you wake up in the morning, remember that.

Stay curious. Stay enthusiastic about life.

And photography will come naturally.

Finding Beauty in the Mundane

I can be on a completely mundane street — nothing “interesting” at all — and still make a ton of photographs.

Why?

Because I slow down.

I pick up a leaf. I look at it closely. I study the veins, the way it carries life, the way light passes through it.

And suddenly…

I start photographing.

Not thinking. Just observing.

Just responding.

Shooting From Instinct

At a certain point, you stop thinking altogether.

You start photographing from your subconscious mind.

You’re not analyzing.

You’re not trying to be clever.

You’re just reacting.

And over time, with consistency compounding, your instinct sharpens.

And eventually…

Your style emerges.

You Can’t Force Style

Style isn’t something you hack.

It’s not an aesthetic trick.

It’s not presets or formulas.

It’s something that arises naturally from doing the work.

From showing up every day.

From making photographs from a blank slate.

From being a beginner — forever.

Flow State Is the Goal

To me, the peak experience in life is being in a flow state.

Fully present. Fully engaged. Creating.

And then later, when you look back at your work, you actually enjoy it — because you know it came from a pure place.

You weren’t forcing anything. You were just being.

Explore Without Labels

Forget “street photography.”

Even though my channel is literally @streetphotography — which is still wild to me — I’m telling you:

Let go of the label.

Go explore your city. Your town. Your neighborhood.

Without expectations.

Without rules.

Without trying to fit into a category.

Because the best work?

It comes from your subconscious.

Let the Work Reveal Itself

When I look back over the past few years — especially shooting in black and white — the sequences, the books, the stories…

They all emerged naturally.

Nothing was forced.

There’s something powerful about surrendering to the medium.

You just show up.

Follow the light.

Make photographs.

And over time — months, years, a lifetime — you build something meaningful.

Brick by brick.

Treat Every Day Like Day One

Each morning, wake up like it’s your first day.

Forget yesterday.

Don’t worry about tomorrow.

Just go out and affirm life through the shutter.

Make something new.

Play.

That spirit of play — that’s where authenticity lives.

Stop Thinking. Start Shooting.

That’s it.

That’s the idea.

When you’re out there, reduce friction as much as possible.

For me, that’s the Ricoh GR:

• Front right pocket
• Automatic settings
• Snap focus
• Point and shoot

No thinking.

Just doing.

Just responding.

The Camera as Interpreter

Here’s the interesting part:

You think you’re in control — but the camera is interpreting reality too.

And when I go home and look at what I made…

I’m genuinely surprised every single time.

That’s why I never get bored.

That’s why location doesn’t matter.

Because abstraction transforms everything.

Living in Flux

I live in a world I call flux.

A constant state of becoming.

Always evolving. Always moving forward.

That’s where meaning is found.

That’s where joy is found.

And photography — done this way — becomes an infinite playground.

Final Thought

Stop worrying about outcomes.

Stop overthinking photography.

Just surrender to the process.

Because over time…

You’ll find exactly what you were looking for.

And yeah — if this resonates, go deeper.

I’ve got more for you.

Check the link.

I’ll see you soon.

Peace.

How to Make Interesting Photos Out of Nothing

What’s poppin’, people? It’s Dante.

Today I wanna discuss how to make interesting photos out of nothing.

Start With What’s There

Just yesterday, we had a storm, and a rainbow appeared.

I was looking around trying to make a photo of something besides just the rainbow itself… and there was nothing.

So I stepped into the frame and made a self-portrait.

Now we have something.

Make It Personal

I was walking through a nature path, looking at leaves. I plucked a few, held them in my hand, and made a photograph.

Now when I look back at those images, I can relive those moments.

That’s the point.

Photography as memory is powerful.

In this modern world, we’re always chasing the next “best” frame. Trying to detach ourselves. Trying to be objective.

I say—do the opposite.

Radically interpret your photography from a subjective, emotional state.

Build Brick by Brick

If you keep showing up and making photos every day…

Brick by brick.
Stone by stone.

You’ll eventually have an archive that means something to you.

Detach from whether people like your photos.

Instead, see your work as:

• A visual diary
• A self-portrait
• A reflection of your internal state

The Real Secret

You want to make something interesting?

Then you have to keep making photos.

That’s it.

There’s no shortcut.

You don’t find interesting photos—you create them through repetition.

Expand Your Range

Don’t limit yourself.

• If you shoot only candid moments → try portraits
• If you shoot only landscapes → go to the city
• If you shoot only one way → break it

Versatility creates opportunity.

Think Like a Skateboarder

This is the mindset shift.

A skateboarder can look at:

• A curb
• A ledge
• A ramp

And see infinite possibilities.

Same spot. Endless tricks.

Photography is the same.

There’s a million ways to articulate a single scene.

So when you’re walking through the streets…

Think like a skateboarder.

Embrace Ambiguity

When I’m photographing plants or textures, I’m drawn to:

• Mystery
• Ambiguity
• Isolation

Crushing the background.
Letting the subject float.

Sometimes the less obvious the image is…

The more interesting it becomes.

Surrender to the Medium

Stop forcing it.

Stop hunting.

Start responding.

Surrender to photography.

That means:

• Shooting without overthinking
• Letting time pass
• Making lots of frames
• Accepting mistakes

Because eventually…

It’s inevitable.

You will make something.

Curiosity Over Outcome

If you’re in a mall, a parking lot, or anywhere “boring”—

Don’t ask:
“Is this interesting?”

Ask:

“What would this look like as a photograph?”

That question changes everything.

The Flow State

When you:

• Stay curious
• Keep shooting
• Let go of control

You enter flow.

Photography becomes effortless.

Start With Yourself

Sometimes the first photo of the day is just your own face.

You’re looking at:

• Light
• Shadow
• Expression

Then you look up.

You notice more.

You slow down.

You see the spider. The web. The detail.

And it builds from there.

Final Thought

You don’t need something interesting.

You need:

• Curiosity
• Consistency
• Openness

Ask questions. Follow instinct. Chip away at the day.

Because when you do that…

You realize:

You can make something out of nothing.

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If this resonated, join the 7-Day Photography Challenge.

Submit your work. I’ll review it. And we’ll build together.

I’ll see you in the next video.

Peace.