The Real Source of My Street Photography Inspiration: Nature, Art, and the Divine

What’s poppin people? It’s Dante.
Going for my morning walk here in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia.

Welcome to the Horticulture Center. Got some new shoes — the Vivo Barefoot — so I can have a good work shoe and still maintain that barefoot lifestyle.

On Inspiration

Today I’m thinking about inspiration.
Where I find it.
How I find it.
What it means to me.
And why it matters.

Ultimately, I find inspiration everywhere around me.

In the details of the sticks and the trees
In the breeze that touches my skin
In that first fresh breath of air when I walk outside in nature

When you look at the word inspiration, inspirare, it means “to breathe into.”
There’s this divine essence in the word that’s actually quite intriguing — where God breathes life into you as a being, as someone capable of creating.

“We too are the ultimate creators.”

Curiosity Over Motivation

You know, I think inspiration isn’t some external force pushing me.
It’s an innate quality that comes from cultivating curiosity.

“It has nothing to do with some sort of external force. It’s about engaging with the multifaceted complexities of life.”

The sights, the sounds, the smells — all of your surroundings in the real world.

Nature is my ultimate source of inspiration.
Because nature is in flux. Constantly changing.

Each day
Each season
Each second
Minute
Millisecond

There’s always something new. Something transforming.
And that’s invigorating.

“There’s never going to be the same day twice.”

The Body and the Breath

Even our bodies reflect this change. Through fasting, autophagy, deep sleep, good meat — you literally become new.
Cells regenerate.
The body renews itself.

Motivation comes from movere — to move.
It’s external. Physical.
You feel it when lifting weights or walking.

Inspiration, though…
That comes through you.
It’s internal. Spiritual.

“Inspiration is something you can’t really perceive or describe. It comes from inside.”

The Wanamaker Organ

For two years, I listened to the Wanamaker Organ in Philadelphia.

Every day.
5:30 PM.
Without fail.

I’d stand in the center of the building — high ceiling, surrounded by grand architecture, right in front of a bronze eagle sculpture. And I’d listen to the largest playing organ in the world.

“Music, sculpture, architecture — the trifecta of art.”

That’s what inspired me.
The divine energy that filled that space.
A space to transcend.

Rome, Caravaggio, and Chiaroscuro

I also found inspiration in Rome in 2023.
I spent two months praying in churches, staring at Caravaggio’s paintings.

The light, the darkness, the biblical scenes…
There’s something otherworldly in his use of chiaroscuro. Something that goes beyond beauty.

“There’s something sublime in Caravaggio’s paintings.”

Beauty surrounds us:

In the churches
In the paintings
In birds in flight
In Goethe’s sculpture
In the philosophers who shaped civilization

It’s all fuel for the soul.

Photo Books and Traveling Minds

Don’t get me wrong — a photo book can inspire you too.
The best one I own? Larry Towell’s book on the Mennonites.
It places you in another world. A whole new narrative.

A photo book might:

Inspire you
Motivate you
Encourage you to go outside
Travel
Move

But you don’t need to hop on a plane.
You can travel within your mind.
Or just walk your own neighborhood with fresh eyes.

“Contemplation is travel.”

Try standing on a rooftop. Cross a bridge. Go to the highest point in your city.
Change your perspective — physically and mentally.

Elevation and the Horizon

I like to stand at an elevated perspective.

Looking over the river.
Crossing the Benjamin Franklin Bridge.
Peering toward the horizon.

“I remind myself how open the world is — how much there is to do, to see, to explore, and to photograph.”

Nature trail or city chaos — it doesn’t matter.

Wherever I go, I find inspiration.

Caravaggio → Metzker → Webb → Me

Coming back to Caravaggio, I’ve been trying to bring that high-contrast light and shadow into my own photography.

That’s why I’ve been looking at Ray K. Metzker — a black-and-white photographer in Philadelphia.
His work is otherworldly. Just on the aesthetic level alone.

“Some of the works that he’s made are just… beautiful in their innate quality.”

Alex Webb, one of my biggest inspirations, was inspired by Metzker.
And I was inspired by Webb.
So now I’m looking deeper — tracing the thread back to the source.

Webb → Metzker → Caravaggio → Light and Shadow → Church → Prayer → Music → Nature.

“I’m back at the source. The tree. The tree of life. What gives me breath.”

Full Circle

Without the trees,
Without the breeze,
Without the stillness of nature…

Maybe I wouldn’t even have the ability to create at all.

Maybe returning to nature is returning to the ultimate source of creation.

“Nature is my ultimate source of inspiration.”

Final Thoughts

So yeah, maybe some of these thoughts make sense to you.
Maybe not.
That’s cool too.

Just wanted to share what inspires me.
How I cultivate inspiration in my everyday life.
How I keep going.

Because inspiration, for me, comes from the walk.

And so I shall photograph it.

Beautiful pinecones.
Just listen.
Too much chatter in the city.
Just listen.