Seeing Beyond the Mundane: Infinite Possibility in Everyday Photography

What’s poppin’, people? It’s Dante.

I’m walking through the park today thinking about seeing beyond the obvious and the mundane nature of everyday life. When you look at this path, you see beautiful white snow, some trees, and I’ve got my Ricoh GR III.

I can make a photo of that path and look at it one way. Or I can bend down low, look at the details, and make a photo of the cracks. Look at the small things.

Changing Perspective

I can come over here by this tree and get a different perspective by looking up. I can even use the built-in crop mode on the Ricoh GR III to 50mm, turn the flash on, switch to macro mode—make sure I get that macro mode—and photograph a pine cone at very close proximity.

Built-in crop mode.
Flash.
Macro.

And suddenly, there’s so many more photos you can make on this one small path in the park.

Infinite Ways to Play

That’s the simple message I wanted to share. There’s so much to do. There’s so much to see. Photography is limitless in the infinite possibilities of how you can articulate things.

The ultimate aim of the photographer is to find new ways to play this game every single day.

My personal way forward is photographing daily, in the same mundane places, and finding new ways to play. Finding new ways to photograph the mundane.

I like placing my camera in unfamiliar territory—even in places I think I’ve already photographed. Going close with macro. Photographing landscapes, details, and everything in between.

It might feel like you’ve seen it all, done it all, photographed it all. But there are still so many ways to look with your two eyes.

Abstracting Reality

Another way I like to use my Ricoh is by overexposing.

There’s this stick growing out of the ground. If I overexpose by about two stops, I can create a beautiful abstract shape using macro. It pulls the form out against a white background.

Looking at small details in new ways unlocks an infinite approach to photography.

I can return to photography every single day and thrive in the mundane.

One of my favorite things is photographing in this park because it challenges me to find new ways to see.

The City as a Dream

I think about familiar streets in my city, Philadelphia. It’s an urban environment—lots of people, lots going on. People moving from point A to point B. It can seem very mundane.

But when you raise the camera to your eye and start seeing differently, life becomes a dream.

There are endless opportunities to photograph.

Photography becomes a way to extract an abstract reality.

Beyond Documentation

This is how I’m thriving creatively going forward—embracing abstraction and moving beyond documentation.

I’ve spent many years traveling and photographing reality as it is. But now, making photos of what reality could be by abstracting life brings me more joy.

It doesn’t matter where I am. I find infinite possibility in the mundane.

Photographing twigs.
Photographing the sky.
Photographing trees.
Photographing the path I leave behind in the snow.

I forget everything I think I know about photography.

I’ll even throw the camera out of focus. Why not?

Embracing the Obvious

I thrive in the obvious. In places that are often photographed.

I think about Shibuya Crossing. I always heard it’s the worst place to practice street photography. Too cliché. Too many tourists. Like Times Square of Tokyo.

But when I was there, I made some of my most groundbreaking work.

By playing. By tinkering. By abstracting. By creating small slivers of faces in the light.

That was the most fun I’ve ever had practicing street photography anywhere in the world.

The Way Forward

So I challenge you to embrace the mundane nature of life.

It’s up to you.
Your perception.
Your ability to articulate.

Go slow. Let life flow toward you. Be ready with your camera.

I look at the world as a canvas. I draw with light. I wield light as the medium. The subject provides infinite opportunity.

Even looking up at the sky—sunrise, clouds, light—it becomes painterly.

Just headed to work. Hopping off the bus. And I’ve already made photographs of trees, twigs, details, and the sky.

Macro with flash.
Abstraction.
Play.

The Gospel of the Ricoh

There’s still so much to do.

Street photography often limits how we see. We get caught up in clichés and how things should be done.

I say nay.

Embrace play. Let the chips fall where they may. Treat each day as a new way to create.

The Gospel of the Ricoh.