Tap Into Your Inner Child: The Secret to Better Street Photography
What’s poppin’, people? It’s Dante.
Today we’re going to be discussing how tapping into your inner child will completely transform the way that you think about life and photography — and how radical detachment from the outcome of what it is that you’re making will bring you more joy in life and help you make more impactful photographs. :contentReference[oaicite:0]{index=0}
When you’re attached to the outcome of what you’re making, it’s because you have all of these preconceived ideas in your head about what a visual image, art composition, or whatever it is that you’re making should look like.
But I say:
Let the chips fall as they may.
Play like kids again.
See what life could look like through your own personal, subjective, imperfect interpretation of reality.
Radical Detachment
Detaching from the outcome is a very important mindset shift to adopt if you want to continue practicing without burning out. :contentReference[oaicite:1]{index=1}
My ultimate aim and goal is to never burn out from photography.
I essentially want to photograph for the rest of my life in the spirit of play.
A child never burns out from playing at the playground.
They continue climbing the monkey bars, sliding down the slide, climbing the ropes — endlessly curious, endlessly engaged.
And it’s because they never killed that inner spiritedness.
That curiosity.
That enthusiasm.
As photographers, especially once you become deeply familiar with the history of photography, composition, visual language, and all the “rules” of image making, that knowledge can actually become a burden. :contentReference[oaicite:2]{index=2}
It can lock you into one way of seeing.
It can burden you with expectations.
But when you radically detach yourself from all of that and simply focus on the moment — when you focus on the inner spirit that calls you to make the photograph — that’s where joy starts to emerge.
That’s where flow appears.
Photography as a Way of Being
I find joy to be a very beautiful thing.
Ultimately, photography becomes a way for me to cultivate love, curiosity, and appreciation for life itself. :contentReference[oaicite:3]{index=3}
The photographs?
They just fall into place.
I don’t necessarily dwell on them anymore.
I’m radically detached from the images.
I’m immersed in making new ones.
And now that it’s been over three and a half years of doing this consistently, I can’t really see myself sitting around trying to figure out what it all means.
I’m much more interested in being out there in the world discovering new things.
That’s the exciting part.
The unknown.
What’s around the corner?
What am I going to photograph today?
What’s next?
Would You Still Photograph If You Never Saw the Pictures?
I’ve become so detached from the outcome these days that I almost don’t care if I ever see the photographs again. :contentReference[oaicite:4]{index=4}
And I think that’s a very interesting thought experiment:
Would you still make pictures if you never looked at the pictures?
Would you keep going?
Because if the answer is yes, then photography has transformed from an ego exercise into a way of being.
Now photography becomes a way for you to be engaged in embodied reality.
The beauty of photography isn’t the picture.
The beauty is in the everyday experience of being out there in the world.
Meeting people.
Going places.
Feeling the weather.
Looking at the light.
Noticing textures.
Walking with your mom.
Existing fully.
The photograph is just a fragment of that experience.
A byproduct.
The Art Is in the Act
For me, radical detachment means being so immersed in the act of creation that the outcome almost becomes irrelevant. :contentReference[oaicite:5]{index=5}
The photographs become:
- A byproduct of existing
- A byproduct of saying yes
- A byproduct of affirming life
The goal is no longer found in looking back at the work and saying:
“Look what I made.”
The fulfillment is found in waking up in the morning with childlike curiosity and enthusiasm for life.
That’s where meaning exists.
Not in the archive.
Not in praise.
Not in validation.
But in the act itself.
Photography has become less about producing images and more about engaging reality deeply and sensitively.
The camera is just an excuse.
An excuse to look closely.
To notice.
To feel.
To be present.
Photography as Play
That’s what I love about photography.
It gets me to the point where time disappears and all there is is now. :contentReference[oaicite:6]{index=6}
The photographs become the byproduct of a big kid stumbling through the world noticing things.
And that’s really it.
I’m not trying to impose some grand narrative onto life.
I’m not trying to say anything radical.
I’m simply reminding myself that I’m alive.
And I do that by clicking a button and saying yes to life.
That’s why I believe cultivating childlike curiosity and detaching from the outcome will completely transform the way that you think about life and photography.
Because eventually you move beyond the photographs.
You tap into that inner spiritedness.
That sensitivity.
That joy.
And the pictures simply become evidence that you were fully there.
That you were paying attention.
That you were alive.