iPhone duo Tested in the Apple Store yesterday. This could be the iPad killer? Maybe… Ricoh GR + iPhone duo = ultimate creator stack? https://dantesisofo.com/iphone-duo/ #iphoneduo #applestore #ricoh #maybe #ipad #rss #feeds #linksharing #qwibbit

Photography Is the Art of Noticing Photography Is the Art of Noticing What’s poppin’, people? It’s Dante, currently walking around Penn’s Landing here in Philadelphia. Check it out—the Delaware River. Today I’m just thinking about photography as a way to pay attention and the power of presence. When you’re in the moment and you’re photographing, you exist outside the passage of time. We have a past. We have a future. But these things aren’t of our concern. When you’re photographing and moving your body, enjoying the sights, the sounds, and the smells of the street, you exist in the eternal now. And this, to me, is where bliss is found. Photography as an Act of Gratitude I think it’s such a simple way to think about photography because it gives you that excuse to look at everything deeply and to just show appreciation for life. I treat photography as an act of gratitude for life. I treat it as a way for me to say yes to life. Thank you, God, for this day. What’s on display in the photographs I make is a direct reflection of that internal state of me simply saying thank you, of me simply saying yes. Photography is a way for me to say yes to life. It really is a powerful thing because when you go beyond the imagery and recognize that photography is a way for you to be engaged with your reality, you can find infinite ways to find meaning in life generally. Outside of the imagery, it feels like every moment is beautiful and meaningful with a camera in hand. For this, I’m eternally grateful for photography. Create Your Own World Through the act of making pictures, the outcome—the output of the images—becomes your own world. I think it’s a very powerful thing to have something like photography that gives you this superpower of creating your own world, of creating your own way of expression. And I feel like that sort of act of expression from presence is maybe the purest form of artistic expression. Because with photography, you can’t really control much of anything. You’re only really in control of walking, observing, positioning your body, and clicking the shutter at something that catches your eye. It’s a very simple medium, frankly. Nowadays, we have compact cameras that you can put into automatic mode. You don’t have to do anything to the photos. You can get a file straight out of camera that looks beautiful. Anyone can practice photography. Anyone can engage with this gift of presence in their everyday reality. And I just think it’s so empowering. The Art of Noticing If people start to frame the way they think about photography this way—as an act of being present—then I think you can pretty much overcome anything that life throws toward you externally. Of course, this is nuanced, and I’m not saying I’m impossible to destroy. But it feels like there’s nothing that can break my spirit or my love for life because when I notice that I have this camera with me, I notice everything. It’s the art of noticing and presence that brings life meaning. I essentially treat every day like it could be my last and every photograph like it could be my last. Each click of the shutter is me simply almost combating against that inevitable mortality that we’re all going to face one day. And it puts me in this place where everything becomes play. Photography becomes effortless and easy because I’m orienting the way in which I engage with the medium through an act of gratitude and presence. This fulfills me with purpose. A Place Where Time Doesn’t Exist I just wish that other people, and whoever is on the other side listening to this and watching this video, can also find this sort of place of peace. This place where time doesn’t exist. There’s only you and, essentially, the moment. I really find the art of photography to be beyond the imagery. It’s the act of noticing. And he who is most present and most engaged will then make those stronger frames. So when you think about the outcome of making a great frame, actually just reorient the way that you engage with the day through presence and gratitude. From there, I think the photos, the moments, everything will simply flow to you. Stop Hunting for Photographs I’m no longer striving or seeking or trying to find anything through hunting and being out with my camera. I’m simply allowing life to deliver these gifts to me. And then when I find these gifts, I simply say thank you and yes, and move on to the next. I’m simply allowing life to deliver these gifts to me. I think that this is the best way to engage with the day generally, despite photography. In this modern world, we have so many distractions. There’s so much news to consume. There’s so much endless media that you can be watching. Lots of things nowadays are distracting. Photography becomes this way to combat against that. For that, I’m extremely grateful. Just Start Living I find power in my day, in my everyday life, because photography gives me this sense of agency to just start living. Just start being. And then from that place where you’re simply being, observing, receptive, and sensitive to everything, that’s where you’ll start to cultivate your own authentic expression as a photographer. It requires this sort of mindset shift and this way of trying to eliminate distractions and focus on the moment. When you’re in that moment and you’re photographing, you find bliss, you find joy, and you find yourself making your own world. Being able to step into that world becomes like a superpower to combat against anything that the external world throws at you. As long as I have my camera and some curiosity, it feels like nothing can stop me. That’s the simple thought of the day. Thanks for watching. Bye. https://dantesisofo.com/photography-is-the-art-of-noticing/ #rss #feeds #linksharing #qwibbit

Why Traveling the World Will Change Your Life Why Traveling the World Will Change Your Life What’s poppin’, people? It’s Dante. I’m watching this boat pass by the Benjamin Franklin Bridge, and today I’m thinking about travel, how travel has changed my life, and essentially why everybody should travel the world, experience new things, and go new places. I think it’s one of the most impactful things that I’ve ever experienced in my life—being out there in the world, going beyond the horizon, exploring the unknown. When I zoom in all the way toward that bridge and look out into the distance, I think about what’s beyond the horizon. What’s out there? Look at this boat moving along, going out there. It’s just an inspiring thought to think about how open the world is and just how much there is to do, to see, to explore, and to photograph. To be out there and experience new things is what shapes your reality. Travel Opens Your Perception If you’re only in one place for the rest of your life and only have this one way of engaging with the day and engaging with life, you’re going to have a clouded or closed perception of what’s possible. Think of the benefits of traveling. Initially, the first thing I can consider is just having that sort of openness to new people. When you have openness to new people, new cultures, new religions, new faiths, and new ways of life, you find more appreciation for everybody and everything. One of the first things I did in my travels was travel throughout Israel and Palestine. I traveled on both sides, and this completely changed my mind about how to think about life. Of course, there’s so much conflict and so much strife in these places. But what I’ve realized is that despite the differences, we’re all kind of the same. We’re All More Similar Than Different I think that’s one of the biggest takeaways I’ve had throughout all of my traveling. We’re all pretty much the same. Of course, we all have our nuances and things that make us unique, but we all still have a tendency to feel joy, to feel pain, to be happy, to be sad, to be mad, to be glad. We all have the same sort of flawed human nature despite where you are physically in the world, what religion you subscribe to, or what nationality or ethnicity you are. We’re all more similar than dissimilar. That’s one of the biggest things I’ve learned throughout my journey. What Happens When You Come Home? One of the thoughts that I have is that once you’ve experienced a lot, once you’ve gone out there and explored the world, when you return home, it feels really, really weird. Because now I feel like I don’t need to travel. I’ve gone to so many places and experienced so many things—from Israel to Palestine, to my roots in Italy, to the slums of Mumbai, to the mountains of Mexico City, to the lakes of Hanoi, to Costa Rica, Central America, Belize, and all over the place. Since I was a little kid, I’ve been traveling and visiting my family in the south of Italy. Even after my recent trip to Tokyo, what I realized is: There is no better place than where you are now. When I’ve experienced all these things, the thought becomes: What if where you are right now is paradise after all? I think when you detach from this need for novelty, you can start truly thriving. It’s normal to seek novelty, to go to new places and experience new things. But ultimately, I now feel like there’s so much novelty just in my hometown. I’ve almost reached this point where I feel like I don’t need to travel anymore. I don’t have that same desire or that same sort of wanderlust. Of course, I still have it in me. I’m still curious about everything. It’s not like I’ve seen everything. There’s so much more to see. But after traveling and experiencing things externally, I think now I’m starting to travel more internally. Traveling Inside Your Own Mind I’m trying to do more reading and contemplating and essentially just thinking about the experiences I’ve had and how they’ve given me this sort of paradigm shift. Because with these new experiences, the way that I engage and show up each day in my own hometown has changed. Despite the external world being the same and me walking the same way, I’ve changed. My way of thinking about life is completely different now. I can kind of just travel inside my own mind and find infinite ways to return to the day and live in the same space. Your imagination is really powerful as well. You don’t really have to go far. The act of creation is interesting because you can create your own world no matter where you are. But I’m also not going to lie. I think this way of being where I don’t need to travel endlessly anymore is due to the fact that I’ve already done that thing. So maybe the simple message is: You’ve got to go out there and do that thing. Go out there and visit wherever it is that you’ve wanted to visit. Allow that experience to reshape the way that you show up and engage with your everyday life wherever you are. There’s a power to traveling. It can reshape the way you think about things, and when you return home, you’re a different person each time. I think that’s why I ultimately love traveling. It forces you to change. Living Off the Grid in Zambia I think of my time as a Peace Corps volunteer in Zambia, Africa, living off the grid with no running water or electricity. When I arrived in the village, my host father presented me with a goat hanging from a tree. I slaughtered it, and we feasted all week. I had to wake up and gather water with a bucket from a well, go to a farm, pick out a chicken, slaughter it, and cook it. These different ways I’ve engaged with the experiences I’ve had traveling are unlike anything else. I remember showing up to a Seventh-day Adventist church camp with nothing but empty land. Then, hand in hand with other brothers and people, erecting a church with sticks and tarps, creating tents with poles and found objects, and sleeping under the stars for two weeks. I lived under a thatched roof for over a year. I experienced baptisms in the lake and watched funerals unfold. I gathered in churches where people mourned and prayed. Those experiences gave me a way of thinking about life that is much more rooted in what’s most meaningful, which I find to be God, family, and sharing land. What Is Actually Meaningful? When you’re off the grid and you really aren’t connected to any government or bureaucracy and you’re living under a thatched roof, you start to see what’s most meaningful in life. None of the material things that we acquire will provide that sense of joy that God and family can provide. When I was in the villages and witnessed the people, they seemed happier than the people I personally see in the cities in America with all the abundance that we have. Despite the lack of amenities and living under a thatched roof, these people were thriving. They had a relationship to God. They had a relationship to something that provided their life with a deeper sense of meaning and purpose, which was creating family and sharing land. Everybody had their own role to play. Everybody was making their individual sacrifice each day and providing for the greater good of their tribe. There are over 70 tribes in Zambia, and I was a surrogate member of the Bemba tribe. I spoke the local language. I learned a new language. I learned new skills. I learned how to fish farm. I dug ditches and built ponds. I interacted with the school, created a basketball court, hosted small meetings with farmers and youth, and created a gym. I did so many things during my time off the grid. Because I’ve experienced those things, now when I’m here in the States, everything is set into perspective. I’m much more grounded. Travel Teaches Gratitude I remember going to play soccer at the school, and none of the kids were wearing shoes. They were barefoot. I tried to participate playing barefoot, and my feet were blistered, battered, and bloody that night. They could only afford to have one pair of shoes. They had one pair of shoes for school. They were lucky if they had two for sports. That reminds me to just be grateful to have a roof over my head, meat in my fridge, and clean water that I can drink without having to boil it, add iodine, and draw it from a well. We have the ability to reshape the way that we think about life through traveling. I think that’s much more impactful than sitting around reading anything. But once you come home from these experiences, then to start reading, contemplating, and thinking more deeply is wise. You Don’t Need to Go Far From here, it feels like infinite potential. Infinite adventure. Despite the lack of novelty, I feel like I can travel inside my mind daily just here in Philly. And I really think you don’t need to go far to experience new things. While I encourage you to go out there and explore the world, just remember you can do it close to you. You can get on a train. You can get on a bus. You can go for a walk in a new place. Traveling is something you can do externally and also internally in your mind. It Feels Like I’ve Lived 1,000 Lifetimes My experiences traveling are one of the things I’m most grateful for in life. My life feels so abundantly beautiful because, with all those experiences, I can think back and recall the photographs. I can relive those memories through the imagery. Or I can just have these stories tucked away in my mind. There’s infinite novelty within my mind. It feels like I’ve lived 1,000 lifetimes. Because I’ve experienced so many different things, I genuinely feel like this evening I could die and I would be completely fulfilled with the way that I experienced my life. And it’s because I’ve gone out there and I’ve done these things. Maybe that’s worth contemplating. I’m 30 years old, and I genuinely feel this way. That’s all I have to say. Thanks for watching, and I’ll see you soon. Peace. https://dantesisofo.com/why-traveling-the-world-will-change-your-life/ #life #benjaminfranklin #franklinbridge #rss #feeds #linksharing #qwibbit

Align your life towards physiological power and your physical, emotional, financial, and creative output will become expressions of your vitality https://dantesisofo.com/align-your-life-towards-physiological-power-and-your-physical-emotional-financial-and-creative-output-will-become-expressions-of-your-vitality/ #rss #feeds #linksharing #qwibbit

Create your own world and your own thoughts Delete Instagram, Tik tok, stop consuming Reddit, social media comments, reviews, etc https://dantesisofo.com/create-your-own-world-and-your-own-thoughts/ #deleteinstagram #reddit #rss #feeds #linksharing #qwibbit

Be surprised by nothing That way, when somebody talks about whatever is happening in the world, your response is simple. “Ahhh, so.” https://dantesisofo.com/be-surprised-by-nothing/ #ahhh #rss #feeds #linksharing #qwibbit

Do what brings you joy! https://dantesisofo.com/do-what-brings-you-joy/ #rss #feeds #linksharing #qwibbit

Flux Archive 019 — Photograph Your Life Flux Archive 019 — Photograph Your Life What’s poppin’, people? It’s Dante. Welcome to Flux Archive Session Number 19, where we look at some of the photographs that I’ve made along my black-and-white photography journey. Here we have some photographs made from the months of June to August of 2024. We’re looking at photographs I made throughout the summer, working in the park here. I photographed this beautiful Japanese tree, and unfortunately, we had to prune some of it and it’s no longer looking like this. However, I made this photograph before that. I spent a lot of my time working in the park throughout the summer of 2024, so maybe we’ll see some of that in the imagery. But today I simply want to share this: Photograph your life. Where Are You in Your Life Right Now? If you’re confused about what to photograph, how to photograph, where to photograph, or why you photograph, I think the simple question to ask yourself is: Where are you in your life right now? Photograph where that is. Don’t worry about the outcome. Start photographing. In my hometown, Philadelphia, I have access to walking the city streets. I genuinely enjoy walking as a flâneur and observing humanity, so you’ll find a lot of my photographs reflect that. However, I also spend a lot of time in nature. I photograph myself. I make self-portraits. I photograph dead animals that I find along my morning walk at the Schuylkill River Trail. I’m really using photography as a way to discover who I am. As much as I’m looking at the external world, once again, I’m simply photographing my own life. Bring the Camera Along for the Ride Here we have a self-portrait. Here we have a photograph of some hands. I find that the most simple way I can orient my practice is by slipping the compact camera into my front right pocket and just living my everyday life and bringing it along for the ride. I start to photograph more because I’m no longer hesitating or thinking that something I have to photograph needs to be interesting. The moment I find something, I’m prepared. I’m ready to click the shutter. Here we have this basketball dunk along Broad Street. There was a celebration and a huge event. I simply dropped low and allowed myself to frame the subjects going for the dunk against that beautiful sky between the architecture. I wasn’t necessarily expecting anything extravagant on this day. But because I’m always out there with my camera, walking, observing, and photographing, sometimes the streets will deliver you gifts. Stay in a Perpetual State of Practice I think the point is that you should be in a perpetual state of practice. Always have the camera with you. Don’t make dedicated trips just to photograph. Instead, always have the camera with you and allow the act of living your life to deliver you the surprise. Go slow. Let life flow towards you. Then you’re simply there and ready to click the shutter when the birds align mid-flight and the gesture is just right. Or when you’re walking through Central Park and you notice something, that sort of decisive moment, that composition, that thing you’re looking to create with the outcome—it arises naturally. You don’t have to force this thing. You’re simply living your life and exploring the places that bring you joy. Follow What Brings You Joy I enjoy the beach. I love going to Coney Island on the Fourth of July simply because I love the environment itself. I’m not attached to the outcome of making something interesting. I love walking through the park. I love walking through Central Park specifically. Whenever I’m in New York City, I gravitate towards this location. I go back and find myself simply following my own inner childlike curiosity. Then that reflects in the imagery. When I look at this photograph of a little boy walking through the forest, to me, that’s a reflection of myself. That’s me right there in that photograph. When you look through your images, you should see your soul. You should see yourself reflected through the images. I find that I’m able to achieve this by photographing the things that bring me joy, going to the places that bring me joy, and photographing simply because it brings me joy. There doesn’t need to be a reason. Cultivate Your Curiosity The reason is fulfilled within itself. The reason, the outcome, and the goal that you seek should be found through the simple cultivation of your curiosity. I believe that’s where the most authentic expression of your photography will be born. I’m not looking for anything. I’m not seeking. I’m not striving. I’m not hunting. I’m just living my life. I’m photographing what I find. I’m walking through Chinatown and looking at gestures. I’m exploring the trails of Philadelphia with my friends Humberto and Dennis. I photographed a rock held in my hand. I wound up photographing a wound on Humberto’s hand because we were riding bikes. He hitched onto the back of my bike, fell, and hit his hand. Here’s the trail from that day, going through the streets and riding my bike with some friends. Once again, this is simply a visual diary. Timestamping Life This is what I experienced on this day in space and time—July 21st at around 1 PM. I’m timestamping these moments in time. You can see the date. You can see the time. You can see my name and when the photograph was made. There’s something special about the Flux system of timestamping and chronologically sequencing the work because when you flip through the photographs, you naturally go back through these memories and re-experience those days that you were out photographing and living your life. When I think about it, really, I wasn’t out there photographing. When I look back at these pictures, it’s not like I was out on these particular days thinking to myself, Today I’m going to make my next best frame. Today I’m going to work on my photography. No. I’m simply going for my morning walk and catching the sunrise. Then I align this sculpture at the right time for it to look a little bit more otherworldly. This photograph was made at 8 AM in July. Photography Gives Me a Reason to Live Fully The reason why I love photography is because it gives me that excuse to wake up with enthusiasm simply to catch the sunrise. To be outside at this hour and to catch the sunrise, I believe, is a privilege in life. Photography is what fuels that curiosity and eagerness for me to go out there and explore. To walk. To be outside. To see people. To interact. To experience and live life. When you’re immersed in life, living fully, present, observant, and responding, the moments will come to you. Let the Themes Emerge Naturally Here we have a photograph I made of a coworker and the silhouette of her pruning a tree and elevating something. That gesture repeats throughout this body of work. Here we have another gesture of a sculpture, an inanimate object. Going back to the photographs I made at Coney Island, we have a very similar gesture with the birds. You start to cultivate that instinctual response to click the shutter when you see these moments that trigger you. You can see the repetition. In another spread, we have the gesture of this man going to feed the birds and this boy moving through the park. We have the gesture of the woman cutting the tree, and then the gesture of this child beneath the trees, in the plants and bushes. These themes naturally emerge through your photography. There’s this sort of childlike wonder and explorative spirit that naturally reflects in my photography because I believe that’s the spirit I carry when I’m on the street. The Humanist Approach to Photography To me, that’s the essence of the humanist approach to photography. Allow your internal state—the way you feel about life and engage with the world—to reflect through the images. I’m simply living my life. I’m not out there photographing. The camera is an extension of me. The camera is always with me. I’m always photographing. But once again, I’m just living. I’m experiencing. I’m looking out my window and watching as the storm clouds come through. I’m walking through the Wissahickon Forest where I spent my youth as a child, and I’m exploring. I’m not out there photographing. I’m waking up in the morning and photographing my godmother before we go and walk along the boardwalk in Ocean City. Just Live Your Life That’s the thought of the day. Just live your life and photograph your life. You don’t have to go out there with anything particular to say. Allow whatever you have to say to reflect back through the photographs, through time and consistency, by simply doing the thing daily. I believe that’s the path to authenticity in photography. If you’d like to create your own Flux Issue, you can click the link in the description. It will take you to the Flux Issue Generator. Essentially, you upload 36 JPEG files, and the system will automatically read the timestamps, preserve the chronological order, and create an issue PDF that you can print out, share, and enjoy at home. Otherwise, you can submit the work directly to me. If I enjoy the work, I’ll add it to the catalog, print it out myself, and review it here on the YouTube channel with some commentary. If you’d like to join the Flux Discord server community, click the Join button on the YouTube channel and you’ll receive a link with access to the community. That’s pretty much all I have to say today. Thank you for watching today’s video. I’ll see you soon. Peace. https://dantesisofo.com/flux-archive-019-photograph-your-life/ #fluxarchive #photograph #life #archivesession #along #camera #sessionnumber #practice #always #perpetualstate #rss #feeds #linksharing #qwibbit

Flux Archive 018 — Your Instinct Creates Your Style Flux Archive 018 — Your Instinct Creates Your Style What’s poppin’, people? It’s Dante. Welcome to Flux Archive Session Number 18, where we look at some of the photographs that I made along my black-and-white photography journey. Today we’re looking at photographs I made from April to June of 2024. We’re going to go through the work and discuss some thoughts about photography. Today’s thought is about instinct and why I believe your instinct is ultimately what creates your style. Style Is Not an Aesthetic Decision I want to share my thoughts on style because I don’t believe that style is necessarily an aesthetic decision of whether or not you’re photographing in black and white or color, or using this lens or that lens. I believe that our style arises through instinct. I’ve personally gotten to this point where I no longer think and I only photograph from my pure instinct. Essentially, it’s come to me through giving myself creative constraints. You can go out there and photograph with a particular focal length. You can photograph with color or black and white, try these things, dabble with these things, and try to find your style. But if you don’t commit to the constraint for an extended period of time, it’s going to be impossible for you to truly and authentically cultivate your instinct. Instinct occurs where thinking dies. It’s where you’re simply moving your body and responding quickly. The photographs you make from that state, I believe, reflect your most authentic internal state. Remove the Decisions Firstly, using the compact Ricoh GR with a 28mm focal length built into the camera eliminates so many decisions already. Which camera? Which lens? For the past four years now, I’ve committed to shooting with the Ricoh GR, shooting with the focal length glued to the camera, and photographing with automatic mode, whether P mode or AV mode. I basically have complete automatic controls on my camera. When it comes to post-processing, everything is done in camera. I shoot with the small JPEG file with the high-contrast black-and-white settings cranked to the max. I don’t do any tweaking in Lightroom. I don’t do any tweaking of the files. Everything is done straight out of camera. From the ground up, we’ve got automatic mode, post-processing baked into my JPEG file, and a camera setup that is consistent. I’m using the same focal length. Cultivating Instinct Now that I’m locked in technically and I’ve given myself this box to work in creatively, I can cultivate my instinct. I’m no longer fumbling with my camera. I’m no longer thinking about camera settings. I’m no longer thinking about whether or not this should be a color scene or a black-and-white scene. I’m not thinking about whether I should do any post-processing. I’m really not thinking about anything at all. I’m in the flow state. Because I’m using that same focal length, I know where to step and move my body in relationship to a scene to photograph something. When I look at a scene, I don’t necessarily need to line the composition up by bringing the camera to my eye. I can simply move my body and photograph a scene and know how things will align naturally because I’m in tune with my equipment. When your equipment truly becomes an extension of your body, an extension of your eye, you can start to cultivate your instinct. Style Takes Time Your style isn’t something that you can flip a switch on overnight by shooting in color or black and white. It’s not something that arrives simply by adopting creative constraints and decisions. It only arises with time. You need to be consistent. You need repetition. You need to pretty much go out there and shoot every single day. Over time, with consistency compounding and your instinct developing, you can go back through the photographs and discover your voice. You can discover what you have to say. But it’s only possible through a stretch of time spent cultivating your instincts. You Cannot Force Your Style This is the most practical way that I can share with you how to arrive at instinct. It’s essentially a way for you to cultivate your style by removing all decision-making and focusing on the embodied experience of responding intuitively to the moments in front of you. You can then much more authentically express yourself through the medium. You can’t force your style. You can’t force it by creating a post-processing style. You can’t force it by making a compositional decision. You can’t force it by doing some technique or trick. I believe you can only cultivate your authentic expression through removing all decisions and responding to instinct. That’s my radical thought about style. Style is born through consistency and instinct over a stretch of time. Discover Who You Are Internally I’ve found myself practicing this way for nearly four years straight now. I feel like my instincts are dialed in. I know what triggers me. I know what I’m looking for. By responding to instinct and no longer hesitating or thinking, I know that I’m doing everything in my power to authentically express myself. I also haven’t been consuming anything in terms of inspiration with my photography. As you can see here, I have a slug on my hand. I’ve just been spending time alone in the park. In another frame, my foot is planted in the grass. I’m finding myself surrounded by nature these days. I don’t even look at photo books or study anything. I’m mostly just reading ancient philosophy. I’m walking through the parks endlessly, and I’m spending a lot of time alone so that I can discover who I am internally. When you know who you are internally, what you photograph and what reflects back externally in the imagery is your authentic expression. Stop Consuming and Comparing Remove yourself from the constant state of consumption and comparison. Stop constantly looking at photography online or in photo books, trying to study history, or trying to contrive some sort of narrative, project, or theme. Start photographing from your instinct. Give yourself that creative constraint. I think it will become inevitable that you’ll find what you have to say and find that authentic way of photographing. I really do believe that you can’t force it. It can only be delivered to you. And it will deliver itself to you over time. That’s the purest way that I can conceive of finding your style. Creative constraints + instinct + time = your style. What Photographing From Instinct Looks Like It’s crazy. It’s wild. When I photograph on the streets now, I’ll literally shift my camera into macro mode to photograph a hand. I’m on the street, holding this Ricoh up high above this guy’s head. I shift into macro mode by clicking up on the D-pad, put the camera extremely close, and photograph the details of his fingers. With another moment, I was speaking to another photographer on the street. As I was speaking, I heard this boy crying. I literally just quickly dropped the camera to the side of my leg and photographed without even looking through the viewfinder or looking at the screen. It’s a complete hip shot. When you’re in tune with your equipment, when you remove all thinking and decision-making, you can quickly grab the camera, put it in macro mode, put it above your head, and click the shutter. Or if you hear a boy crying, you can take your camera, throw it to your side, photograph from the hip, and have the composition align. That’s what it looks like to photograph from instinct. Instinct Occurs Where Thinking Dies It looks like walking down the sidewalk and suddenly hearing a woman screaming as she exits a doorway coming from the subway. You shift your body. You move. You click the shutter. You’re not thinking. You’re simply responding instinctively. That’s where I believe your style is born. It’s born from instinct. It’s not something you can contrive. It’s not something you can force. Creative Constraints + Instinct + Time That’s the major thought of the day. Here we have the contact sheet of the frames that I made and the manifest document. I didn’t really talk too much about the work today. I just wanted to discuss some philosophy around style. One of my favorite frames from the book is this tiny hand of the child going to high-five that big guy’s hand during the grease pole celebration at the South Philadelphia 9th Street Festival. It’s one of the craziest festivals that we have in the city and probably one of the best days to photograph in the streets. Here we have this incredible moment of the hands touching. There’s some good work in here. There’s a photograph I made of my friend in the Art Museum. Some clouds here, which are just beautiful, that I enjoyed. And then we have this photograph I made of a fly with macro mode. That’s pretty much it for today’s thoughts. If you want to create your own Flux Issue, visit the description for the Flux Generator. Upload 36 pictures. You can download and print out your own PDF or submit it directly to me. If I enjoy the work, I’ll add it to the Flux catalog, print out the work, and review it in a video here on my YouTube channel. Feel free to submit your Flux Issues to me. I’d love to see the work that you make, talk about the work, and share it here on my YouTube channel. Otherwise, if you want to join the Flux Discord server community, click the Join button on the YouTube channel to gain access to the server. If you’re in the Flux Discord server, feel free to leave suggestions of topics or anything you want me to discuss, and I’ll be happy to share those ideas with you. With that being said, that’s pretty much all I have to say. See you soon. Peace. https://dantesisofo.com/flux-archive-018-your-instinct-creates-your-style/ #fluxarchive #instinctcreates #style #archivesession #aestheticdecision #sessionnumber #ricoh #rss #feeds #linksharing #qwibbit

Photography Lets You See Beyond Reality Use Photography to See Beyond Reality Use photography as a way for you to peer beyond the veil of reality. So today’s thought is about going beyond—transcending the world through the medium. I find that by using light in my photography, I can achieve this goal of going beyond the mundane nature of life. Through wielding light and shooting specifically in high-contrast black and white, I can discover new things about the way that I see the world. Because with light, there is this removal of control, right? There is the unknown. When I consider light, I consider the way that it’s always in flux and changing throughout the day, throughout the seasons, and throughout our lifetime. Ultimately, I find that through stripping away color and focusing on light and shadow play, focusing on black and white, and specifically crushing the shadows and exposing for the highlights with high-contrast black and white, I start to simply notice every little fleeting moment and detail. Everything around me becomes infinitely fascinating. Enter the Flow State I think because I have this really simplified and streamlined workflow with the way that I’m shooting, I can tap into the flow state of responding and photographing intuitively and instinctually without thinking. When I enter this period of flow and start to recognize the patterns of light that are all around me, I feel like I peer beyond the veil of what’s obvious. I think that is a really powerful place to be as a photographer. Because what happens when looking at life this way is that no matter where you are in the world, and no matter how mundane things may be, you can wield this power of light with your photography to essentially cultivate infinite possibility. And what that looks like is simply using abstraction as the ultimate superpower, the ultimate solution to the practice. There Is Infinite Potential Right in Front of You I think that as street photographers, we get caught up with this preconceived notion of photographing a particular kind of subject matter or visiting a particular location that is interesting. Maybe you think of the photographs from Magnum or any of the great masters of the past who have traveled the world and photographed in certain locations. And you can have this idea in your head of: Oh, I guess that’s what I should go out there and shoot. I guess I should go to these places. I guess I should make photos that look like that. But what if we remind ourselves that there’s actually infinite potential that you can tap into right in front of you? No matter where you are and no matter where you may be, whether you’re in a bustling city like Philly or in a rural neighborhood in your backyard, it merely requires this mindset shift and this recognition of what’s in your control. What’s in my control is moving my body, recognizing moments, and photographing. What’s out of my control are the moments I’m photographing in terms of finding an interesting moment. What’s out of my control is the lighting conditions and whether or not today is going to be cloudy or sunny. And so what you’re left to do is simply move. To walk. To explore. To shoot more. Stop Hunting for the Photograph When you remove the external outcome and goal of creating a particular kind of image and start to cultivate this inner curious state where the way that light casts upon things is what triggers you and what interests you, then you’re going to simply start to do. Don’t allow your preconceptions of what you believe you should be photographing to guide you. Don’t allow the hunt for a trophy, the hunt for an interesting moment, or the hunt for a subject to be what’s guiding you in terms of going out there to chase something great. Instead, allow light and life to come towards you. From that shift in your practice, I believe you’ll start to actually shoot. If you’re waiting for something, if you’re hunting for something, well, maybe you’ll never actually shoot. But if you’re looking at the simple ways in which the light casts upon a window and the way that you can underexpose the photo, or even crop in to 71mm and get extremely close to that surface and make an image because you’re curious about the way that the light is casting upon that thing, then I think you can start to thrive. Everything Becomes Potential In the past, maybe I would never look at reflected light from a window as something interesting for me to photograph. But since adopting this workflow of stripping away color and boosting my contrast to the max, I’m now looking at that window as potential for my photography. I’m now looking at the way the light is peering from these trees, and I just simply start photographing because I’m curious about how that thing I’m photographing is going to then be rendered upon my camera sensor. Ultimately, it’s the surprise that arises in the frames that I make through embracing abstraction, through embracing the grit, the grain, and the extremities in the contrast, that gives me that curious state. It keeps me in that curious state to continue shooting. It becomes this flywheel of curiosity, movement, and simply clicking the shutter more. I just haven’t stopped photographing consistently throughout the entirety of my days since photographing this way over the past four years straight. And it’s just so fulfilling. Forget Everything You Think You Know I’m just trying to share that simple fact that when stripping everything bare to instincts, light, and shadow, you’re going to enter the flow. And it requires you to forget everything you think you know about photography generally and life itself. Then, through making pictures, you’ll start to relearn everything again from the ground up each day. You return to a blank slate—day one—each and every day. I think that’s where you thrive. It’s when you never reach the peak, but you’re just endlessly climbing, endlessly discovering, experimenting, and going headfirst into the unknown. https://dantesisofo.com/photography-lets-you-see-beyond-reality/ #reality #see #flow #use #infinite #flowstate #because #rss #feeds #linksharing #qwibbit