Flux Photobook Breakdown: My Tokyo Visual Diary
Yo, what’s poppin’, people? It’s Dante.
Today I want to share with you behind the scenes of my Flux series that I’m producing using Blurb. These are trade books — 5×8 softcover — printed on black and white paper that feels closer to actual text paper, like something you’d find in a Penguin Classics book.
And that’s intentional.
The philosophy of Flux comes directly from Heraclitus.
“You cannot step in the same river twice.”
Everything is changing. Everything is in motion. Everything is in flux.
The Philosophy Behind Flux
We are changing constantly — biologically, mentally, spiritually.
Cells regenerating. Muscles growing. Time moving forward.
Closer to death.
That idea unlocked something for me:
You cannot make the same photograph twice.
Light is always changing. Life is always changing. The street is always changing.
And that creates endless curiosity.
The Visual Diary Approach
This work comes from a visual diary mindset.
And when I say I don’t take photography “seriously,” I mean:
- No rigid project
- No predefined theme
- No forced narrative
I’m just documenting what I encounter.
A stream of becoming. Making new photographs every day.
The goal is to stay in a perpetual flow state.
Why Tokyo?
Flux Volume 1 was born in Tokyo.
I spent 13 days there with no expectations. No plan. Just a hotel in Shinjuku.
That’s it.
I brought two cameras:
- Ricoh GR III
- Ricoh GR IIIx
And that compact, pocketable system changed everything.
It allowed me to photograph my everyday life — naturally, intimately, honestly.
The First Spark: Faces in the Light
One of the first things that struck me was the faces.
At Shinjuku Station, people emerging from light.
I noticed a sliver of light hitting a face in one frame — and that became a thread.
Faces in the light.
That idea carried the entire book.
Sequencing the Story
The story wasn’t planned. It emerged in review.
I began to see patterns:
- Faces
- Light and shadow
- Real vs artificial faces
- Isolation within chaos
Eventually, two characters appeared:
- The boy
- The girl
And I started weaving a subtle dialogue between them.
Building Visual Rhythm
The sequence moves like this:
- Abstract introduction (hand holding a book)
- Architecture and space
- Faces emerging
- Chaos of Shinjuku
- Intimate moments
The story is built through repetition and variation.
The boy appears. Then the girl. Then both.
A rhythm forms.
Technique: Light, Compression, and Chaos
One image in particular pushed me:
Using the Ricoh GR IIIx (71mm crop), I positioned myself with the sun behind me.
I compressed the scene.
And in one spontaneous frame:
- A face partially hidden
- Another face revealed behind
- Layers of ambiguity
Spontaneity guided by intention.
The Paper Matters
The black and white paper is not perfect.
- Blacks aren’t fully rich
- You see streaks
- The texture is raw
But that’s the point.
It feels like a diary.
The imperfections enhance the emotion.
Entering the Night
As the book progresses, we move into nighttime Shinjuku.
Here I experimented with:
- Slow shutter speeds
- Motion blur
- Ghost-like figures
The ghosts of Shinjuku.
Energy. Chaos. Movement.
Details of Masculine and Feminine
I started isolating details:
- Lips
- Cigarettes
- Fingernails
- Piercings
Breaking the human form into fragments.
Still maintaining that dialogue between masculine and feminine.
Abstraction and Emotion
As the sequence continues:
- Images become more abstract
- More emotional
- Less literal
It’s no longer about composition.
It’s about feeling.
Closing the Loop
The book ends where it began:
The boy and the girl.
Together again.
A quiet, intimate resolution.
A full circle.
Final Thoughts
Flux is not just a photobook.
It’s a system.
A way of living.
A way of seeing.
Photography as a daily act of awareness.
That’s pretty much all I have to say about this work.
Appreciate you for being here.
Peace.