• Once You Don’t Give a Fuck, You Are Finally Free
• Radically Say Yes to Life

Radically Say Yes to Life

The other day, I was basking in the glory of the sun. Thank God for spring is here. Just chilling on the corner, catching the sunset, what a beautiful scene. Children playing in the fountain, that is empty, and soon will be filled, couples, hand-in-hand, locals laying in the grass, people sitting in the park on the benches, reading, birds, chirping, and that annoying guy who is playing the flute that pollutes the park with sounds that pierce your ears.

And then, as I was photographing on this particular day, and it seems like whenever the sun comes out, especially during the winter time, in the city these days, groups of masked protesters emerge from the shadows, with frankly tired looking bodies and faces full of anger and bitterness. Like ghouls exiting from the cave, they emerge as slaves to information and media that is fed upon their screens. They scream and chant “drop bombs on Tel Aviv.”

A strange looking woman with a peculiar smirk on her face comes up to me and asks, “do you like what you’re hearing and seeing? Want to learn more?” With a communist “socialist revolution” newspaper with the hammer and sickle icon, pamphlet in hand.

And so who in their right mind would like what they hear, when it involves death, destruction, and war? Since when has it become normalized to be full of hatred, bitterness, and ugliness of the soul?

Things are getting weird. My theory is, media, photographs, television, videos, basically all of this visual, audio, information that people are indulging in, is enslaving people’s minds at scale. It’s not just a meme or some little thing to brush off that you need to stop using your phone, or go touch grass or something. Considering a simple flicker of a shadow casted upon a wall can move the physical body of mass amounts of people, despite whether the outcome of their actions is good or bad is baffling to me. The influence of this media is now getting to a point where people will inwardly destroy themselves and everything beautiful around them.

And so now those who are spending their time under fluorescent lights in the darkness, trapped in the four corners of their room indoors, scrolling on their scrying devices are receiving their revelations from the fallen angels they sought, and are now full of hatred and ugliness, moving in the direction of chaos and destruction.

And so what is the antidote to this modern degradation of the human spirit? Creating beautiful images through the power of media and art. An absolute fuck yes to life, waking up in the morning with insatiable love for life and curiosity, with pure physiological vitality after getting a good night of sleep, after breaking your fast and eating clean whole foods and red meat, being so full of power after lifting heavy weights and pulling the weight of your body up on a bar. Having balanced hormones, taking cold showers, regulating your nervous system, and spending time under the sunlight in nature away from the screen. And so when you are so radically healthy, so full of love, physical strength, testosterone, and power, the overwhelming joy that you feel can never kill your love for life.

And so the radical approach forward in the face of degeneracy and ressentiment is not wearing a mask and spreading hatred— it’s allowing the sun to kiss the skin of your face and meet God.

If a vehicle is something that carries or conveys, then the human body can be understood as the vehicle of the self.

Your body:

• carries your mind
• carries your soul
• carries your consciousness
• carries your actions through the world

So in this sense:

Your body is the vehicle through which your being moves through reality.

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Ancient Philosophy

This idea appears across many traditions.

Greek Thought

In the dialogue Phaedrus, Plato describes the soul like a charioteer guiding horses.

The image suggests:

• the soul = driver
• the body = chariot

The body carries the soul through the material world.

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Christianity

In Christian thought, the body is often described as a temple or vessel.

In the New Testament:

“Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.”

— from First Epistle to the Corinthians

Here the body is seen as the dwelling place or vessel for the divine presence.

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An asymptote is a line that a curve gets closer and closer to but never actually touches.

In mathematics (especially graphs and calculus), it describes the behavior of a function as it approaches infinity or some boundary.

Simple idea

Imagine a curve that keeps approaching a line forever but never quite reaches it. That line is the asymptote.

Example

The function:$$y=\frac{1}{x}$$y=x1​

has two asymptotes:

• Vertical asymptote: $x=0$x=0
• Horizontal asymptote: $y=0$y=0

The graph gets infinitely close to these lines but never touches them.

Types of asymptotes

1. Horizontal asymptote – the function approaches a constant value as $x$x goes to infinity.
2. Vertical asymptote – the function blows up toward infinity near a certain $x$x-value.
3. Oblique (slant) asymptote – the function approaches a diagonal line.

Simple metaphor

Think of an asymptote like chasing perfection—you can get closer and closer forever, but never fully reach it.

If you’re curious, I can also show you why the word “asymptote” literally means “not falling together” in Greek, which is kind of beautiful philosophically.

Why Light Keeps Me Curious in Photography

What’s poppin’, people? It’s Dante.

Today I want to talk about light in photography, and look at some photographs recently made with the Ricoh GR IV monochrome. Later down in the slideshow, we’ll look at some photos made with the GR III. Everything was made with high-contrast black and white, small JPEG files, cranked to the max, point-and-shoot automatic mode.

Photography Is Drawing With Light

The thought about light is interesting.

When I think about photography—phos meaning light, graphe meaning writing or drawing—we’re drawing with light, we’re writing with light. And when I make a photograph, I’m merely curious about light.

I’m curious about the way that light goes through the lens and touches the sensor, and how an image is rendered in my camera at the end of the day. As much as I’m looking at reality in front of me, underlying all of that, I’m actually curious about how reality is interpreted through the camera—through the way that light refracts through the lens, touches the sensor, and creates the image.

I’m not only curious about life. I’m curious about how light interprets life through the camera.

Experimenting in Philadelphia

Recently, I’ve been experimenting and tinkering in the Reading Terminal Market here in my hometown, Philadelphia. I’ve been photographing at 1/4 of a second, using slow shutter speeds as a way to push the boundaries in my own personal practice.

By experimenting, tinkering, and trying new things, I remain more curious about life, and ultimately I keep practicing my photography daily.

It’s important for me to remain curious. My ultimate aim, my ultimate orientation, is to increase my curiosity by 1% each day.

Stripping Photography Down to Its Essence

By stripping the medium bare—to a Ricoh GR monochrome, automatic settings, point-and-shoot, pure instinct, light and shadow, high contrast—I’m becoming infinitely curious about how light is interpreted through my camera.

Ultimately, light is my underlying interest with photography.

As much as I am photographing life, my deeper curiosity lies in the way that light renders upon life, and how my camera interprets the world.

A More Prolific Way of Working

When I walk around and photograph, I’m photographing loosely. I’m photographing more prolifically than I ever have in my life since adopting this streamlined workflow.

Honestly, I’m finding infinite novelty in the world through photography and the way that my curiosity guides me. It has to do with the way that I’m seeing the world and interpreting life through the camera, and it has to do with my return to light.

When I throw my camera into a chaotic scene and photograph something, I’m not necessarily trying to photograph life as it is, but what it could be through my own personal, subjective interpretation of reality.

At the end of the day, I’m merely curious about how reality will manifest in a photograph.

Surprise in the Frame

When I’m photographing and tinkering, I like putting my camera up to a surface where I don’t know what I will find.

These days, I sometimes find myself photographing the reflections on cars. I think the reason why is because cars have these peculiar shapes, and when the light is bouncing across those surfaces, and you move your camera around them, there’s just a surprise in the frame.

And I think it’s really that surprise that keeps me out there photographing.

It’s the surprise in the frame that keeps me out there.

You Can Photograph Anywhere

A lot of the time, when you’re out there walking and observing life, it seems like people are just moving from point A to point B. There’s nothing to photograph. Maybe you’re walking around your hometown and don’t feel like you can find anything interesting. Maybe you live in a rural area and don’t feel yourself becoming more interested in the life around you.

But when I strip photography down to its essence, and I’m simply curious about light, it no longer matters where I’m located in the world.

It doesn’t matter if I’m in a small town or a bustling city. Ultimately, I can look up at the clouds in the sky and watch as the light peers through and touches my sensor. Then when I come home and look at the result, I have something. I’m curious about something there.

There’s something about the way I’m shooting these days that keeps me infinitely curious about the mundane.

Light Makes the Mundane Interesting

I’ll see a bus roll by on a seemingly boring day in my city, make a photograph in harsh light, and get a surprise back in the frame. I’m just curious about the way the light casts upon things, and how it etches shape and form into surfaces.

I’m snapshotting throughout the day. I’m almost like a human camera.

I ran into a street performer yesterday on the street—shout out to Red—and he was like, “Man, you’re a fiend. You’re always out here shooting.” And I’m like, “Yeah, I’m the most prolific photographer in the city.”

I’m literally like a human camera, marching through the streets every single day, just curious, in the spirit of play, wondering:

• How is this going to look photographed?
• How is that going to look photographed?

That’s what I’m doing.

I’m not hunting for a banger picture, a decisive moment, or something the street photography community will appreciate in my frames. I’m curious about the way that light renders upon my sensor.

Light Is What Guides Me

That’s really what keeps me out there—this insatiable lust for light, and of course my love for life. But really, it’s light that guides me.

Whether it’s a cloudy day, a sunny day, harsh light, or golden light, I find that the way light casts upon the world creates infinite possibility through photography.

And that’s the essence of the medium. It’s light itself.

You think about a painter using paint, or somebody drawing with charcoal. We use light.

That’s why photography is so infinitely fascinating to me. We work in embodied reality, out there in the physical world, using light as our medium. And at the end of the day, we don’t necessarily have to state a fact in the frames we make. We have the ability to interpret the world subjectively.

How Will Life Look Photographed?

When I’m out there photographing, I’m not trying to make a great photograph. I’m simply curious about how life looks photographed.

And so I encourage you to think more critically about the way that you can use light as a way to remain curious about life.

That’s my underlying curiosity these days:

How will life look photographed?
How will light be interpreted by the sensor on my camera?

And so yeah, those are my thoughts for the day.

Thank you for watching, and I’ll see you in the next one.

Peace.

Once You Don’t Give a Fuck, You Are Finally Free

So I’ve been thinking a lot about this notion of Kleos—fame, the ancient Greek idea, the pursuit of glory. I think it’s normal to find yourself striving and seeking and wishing to achieve greatness in this life of ours. We all have that inner divine force that guides us to move in the morning.

Although, I suppose going forward, we may reach a point where the majority of the population just enjoys the yummy foods, the Uber Eats, the Netflix, the social media, and sits back and consumes instead of pursuing anything, given the world of abundance that we are currently living in and moving towards.

And so when I consider fame, I think about the temporary nature and the transient nature of life. And so, when it comes to the day that you die, will you be seeking and striving to be admired by your peers while you’re gone? Or will you recognize that your body will soon become biodegradable organic matter and the flame within you has ultimately come to its end?

And so then the thought is:

Why pursue fame, worldly renown, and your name to be remembered?

Self-Deprivation

There’s certainly a reason why ancient traditions, spiritual schools, and religions promote fasting.

When you’re fasted, with no food, let’s say for 72 hours, and you’re in a forest, and there’s no food around you, and you have no shelter—at that point, when you’re deprived of the basic needs to survive, where is it that you’re going to be grasping?

Are you going to just try to find some more acorns and scrounge? I suppose so. We can scrape and dig and seek and search for the nourishment that our body needs.

But I think that ultimately, when in that deprived state of being, the only place that you will look is within.

And within you find the flame.

And so from that deprived state, alone in a forest with no food or shelter—let’s say weeks go by—and it is inevitable that you’re going to die. Are you going to simply wallow and realistically succumb to the mind, that you are merely a biodegradable flesh suit that will and must die?

Or will you have the conviction and affirmation that you are divine, and that the inner spark of flame within you doesn’t die?

Freedom

So once you have that knowledge, you are no longer a slave to the world.

You no longer give a fuck whether or not your name is remembered.

Because the only fame we’re seeking is from God.

And so maybe the only war worth fighting, the only opponent truly worthy of waking up and wrestling every morning, is God.

Ricoh GR IV Monochrome POV — Street Photography in Philadelphia

Today I went out into the streets of Philadelphia with the Ricoh GR IV Monochrome to do a simple street photography POV walk.

The goal of this walk was very different from the typical mindset many photographers bring to the street.

Usually, people go out hunting for photographs.

They walk quickly.
They scan aggressively.
They wait for something dramatic or interesting before pressing the shutter.

Today I approached the street differently.

Instead of hunting for the next great photograph, I reminded myself of a simple idea:

My next photograph is my best photograph.

This mindset keeps you grounded in the present moment.

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Slowing Down

One practical thing I like to do is walk slower than everyone else around me.

Most people in the city are moving quickly, rushing to wherever they need to go.

When you slow your body down, something interesting happens.

You begin to notice:

• small gestures
• reflections
• textures
• subtle interactions of light

These are the things that often get overlooked when you’re moving too quickly through the environment.

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Photographing the Mundane

Street photography doesn’t always have to be about dramatic moments.

Sometimes the most interesting photographs come from ordinary scenes.

Light hitting a surface.

Reflections on glass.

Abstract shapes created by movement.

When you remove the pressure to find something spectacular, the street opens up.

Everything becomes photographable.

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Ricoh GR IV Monochrome

For this walk I was shooting with the Ricoh GR IV Monochrome, using:

• High contrast black and white
• Small JPEG files
• A simple point-and-shoot workflow

This setup strips photography down to its essence.

Just a small black box with a shutter button.

No distractions.

Only light and instinct.

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The Flow State

Street photography becomes much more enjoyable when you stop forcing it.

Walk.

Observe.

Remain open to whatever appears in front of you.

And remember:

Your next photograph is your best photograph.

The Zen of the Ricoh Monochrome

What’s poppin, people? It’s Dante.

Currently walking around Philadelphia with the Ricoh GR IV Monochrome, thinking today about the zen of the Ricoh Mono.

You kind of realize when you go through all the different cameras and choices you have that if you’re looking for the most compact, easy point-and-shoot camera to always have with you, it’s inevitable that you wind up with Ricoh.

There’s really no other options. No other choices.

And so the ultimate creative freedom is removing decisions.

The zen of Ricoh is that it strips away all choice and leaves you with a black box with a shutter button and a lens.

That’s it.

All you’re left with is pure instinct.

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Stripping Photography Down to Its Essence

With a streamlined workflow, shooting with a monochrome sensor strips the camera down to the essence of the medium.

Photo meaning light.
Graphé meaning drawing.

Drawing with light.

Even the decision between color and black-and-white disappears when you shoot with a monochrome sensor.

And I think the Ricoh Monochrome fits perfectly within the philosophy of the Ricoh ecosystem.

It simplifies everything.

The simpler you make things, the better.

Photography doesn’t get in the way of my everyday life.

Photography is simply a joy.

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Photography as a Visual Diary

When you treat photography too seriously — wiping the lens down, going out looking to make a powerful visual story, trying to make impactful images — honestly it just becomes boring.

Photography starts to feel like a chore.

My ethos is simple:

Live your everyday life and bring the camera for the ride.

The photographs I make are simply a visual diary of my day.

I’m out walking.
The weather’s nice.
I’m commuting.

I’m not trying to photograph anything.

I’m just living my life.

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The Closest Thing to Not Having a Camera

The Ricoh slips in your pocket.

It’s the closest thing to not having a camera at all.

You can literally conceal it in your hand.

And that’s exactly what I want.

I just exist in the world, and when a moment comes, I’m ready.

I don’t have to search.

I don’t have to try.

I simply let life flow toward me.

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The Pinnacle of Simplicity

It really feels like we’ve arrived at the pinnacle of photography.

You can’t really simplify it any more than this.

Small JPEG files are incredibly liberating.

All the processing is done in-camera.

A 4MB file imports instantly.
Uploading is effortless.
Everything is frictionless.

Because of that:

• Zero decision fatigue
• Zero hesitation
• Zero friction

And that’s why photography fits perfectly into my everyday life.

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My Simple Ricoh Setup

Right now I’m in Rittenhouse, Philadelphia, going for a stroll.

My setup is extremely simple:

• Snap focus at 2 meters
• f/8
• Aperture Priority (AV mode)
• Multi-segment metering

If I want more dramatic images, I’ll just underexpose using the exposure compensation dial.

Usually:

• −0.3
• −0.7
• −1

Over time you become fluid with it.

You don’t think.

You just feel it.

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Handling the Camera on the Street

My grip is simple.

Sometimes I’ll hold:

• Thumb underneath the camera
• Middle finger on the shutter

This lets me hold the camera very loosely.

Then I can flick my wrist slightly to move between horizontal and vertical frames instantly.

If someone approaches from the right, I can flick into vertical.

If someone approaches from the left, I can drop my hand and shoot vertically with a subtle motion.

You can even use a claw grip:

Thumb on the side of the camera, index finger on the shutter, allowing you to make stealthy photos.

All these movements are micro-movements.

Almost invisible.

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Embracing Imperfection

If I see a subject with bright clothing and strong contrast, I might underexpose by −0.7 to make the frame darker and more dramatic.

But honestly, I don’t obsess over exposure.

There’s something beautiful about imperfection.

Overexposure.
Underexposure.
Contrast that’s a little rough.

Those imperfections often feel aesthetically powerful.

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Flow State and Instinct

Once you remove all the technical thinking, something interesting happens.

The flow state emerges.

From the flow state, your instinct appears.

And with time and consistency, your instinct compounds.

That’s where your authentic expression comes from.

That’s where your style comes from.

Your style isn’t born from aesthetic decisions.

I believe style is instinctual.

But instinct requires time.

You have to spend time responding to your instinct for it to reveal itself.

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Simplifying the Process to Find Your Style

The fastest way to access instinct is to simplify the process.

Strip everything down to its bare bones.

That’s my entire workflow.

All I’m left with is my response to life.

The camera is just along for the ride.

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Seeing Everything

When I walk around, I’m scanning everything.

Not just eye level.

I’m looking:

• Above me
• Below me
• At reflections in windows
• At textures on walls
• At discarded objects
• At architecture
• At puddles and reflections
• At gestures and faces

Everything becomes interesting when you approach photography with a blank canvas mindset.

You stop trying.

You forget what you think you know about photography.

And you move through the world with sensitivity and curiosity.

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Quantity Reveals Quality

My goal is to remain open and curious.

I don’t take the photographs too seriously.

Because the more photos I make, the more I can come back later and extract the quality.

From the quantity emerges the meaning.

Then I can decide:

• What matters
• What’s worth keeping
• What becomes a memory

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Creating a New World

Street photographers often chase fleeting moments.

Photojournalists document events.

But my interest is a little different.

Yes, I’m interested in people and moments.

But underneath all that, my deeper goal is:

To create a new world.

To extract something from reality and give birth to my own version of it.

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Photography Is Subjective

There is no objectivity in photography.

No universal definition of good or bad.

What matters is your subjective interpretation of the world.

Follow your curiosity.

Follow the inner child that just wants to play.

Ignore what’s been done before.

Ignore what people say photography should be.

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Affirming Life With Photography

Photography becomes a way of saying yes to life.

Not dwelling on photos from yesterday.

Not worrying about what you’ll photograph tomorrow.

Just being present right now when the shutter clicks.

That’s why I love photography.

And that’s why I love the Ricoh.

Because it removes everything unnecessary and leaves you with the only thing that really matters:

Instinct.