Lets get the nice stuff out of the way first lol
Today the family went to Placentia to share an early Christmas dinner with Darlenes family. It was so much fun and such a pleasure to break bread with so many loved ones. Dinner was awesome and the weather for the drive couldn’t be nicer.
Family outings are always fun, ones with such purpose are even better.
I DID take my camera with me and I did take a few photos out and about but not a lot worth sharing really. I did find this very cool abandoned motor home which immediately put me in mind of Breaking Bad lol…
Breaking Bad in outport Newfoundland, dealing with shine instead of meth, would be a show I could watch lol
Also I managed to get a interior shot of the thing…
There is something about interior places, particularly abandoned or neglected ones, that haunts me. I so much enjoy capturing these interiors, trying to replicate the mood and look within…
Guys, I want to talk a minute about NFT’s…
I never in a million years thought that an artist taking advantage of a new and exciting platform to market and sell their work would result in such pushback and dismissiveness.
At least a dozen people have either dismissed the notion, called it into questions, stated it was bullshit, or generally made fun of it. In a couple of cases I was made to feel as if I was doing something wrong or shady by stepping into this newish economy.
That stings. What stings worse is that some of the pushback has come from folks who have been in my feed for the last two years. Folks who know the struggle I have had with trying to make a go of it as a professional fine art photographer. Its not easy, I’ve had a few breaking points over the past couple of years.
Lots of successes, but I’ve had my share of self-doubt and anxiety as well.
Then I started looking into NFT’s and getting a grasp on what the platform would, or could mean to me. Control over my work, global reach, increased traffic, increased interest in print and traditional means of displaying and selling photography, and yes, a new revenue stream coming from the sale of NFT’s
I’m not going to get into justifying the price folks are paying for some of these items. It’s their money, they can do with it as the please. Personally I think its insane to spend a million on a sports card, or more than 50k on a car, or buying a house with more rooms then you will ever use. People do it all the time though. That’s their call. I would like to see folks spending that kind of money pay it forward a little, and in many cases they do. Again though, that’s not the argument I am here to make. I’m not interested in that discussion.
What I WANT to talk about is the control that the NFT market gives me over MY creative work.
When I sell a print to someone, that print is theirs. They bought it, they own it 100%. I still have a digital copy of it yes, but if lets say, I become famous tomorrow. They can turn around and sell the print they bought form me lets say double what they paid. They get all that money, I get nothing. I don’t even get to know if its been sold or not. Its a mystery to me…
NFT’s are different. When the buyer obtains an NFT from an artist, they become a shared owner of that digital item. If you look on OpenSea you will see one sale I made that says the item is now owned by two people, one is me, one is the buyer. Now, if the buyer sells that NFT, I know they have AND I get a royalty from that sale.
The artist as creator is not only protected and respected, they are compensated when the NFT is resold….
This is amazing….
Anyway, it just kind of makes me sad to see people I have known, at least virtually, make light of, or even disparage this new economy when it can, possibly, set me up for a future where I am dedicated to creation and sharing even more.
This is the other thing. There is ZERO pressure to buy and NFT, indeed, your SHOULDN’T buy one unless you love the image, not from me at any rate. I will ALWAYS share the photos on this blog, on my twitter feed and online galleries. You can enjoy the work without ever buying it either as an NFT or as a physical copy. Its there for your visual appreciation 100% free of charge and I am happy to keep on sharing what I do…
I only ask that folks respect that I am confident I know what I am doing with NFT’s, that they are a real and legitimate collectors item that real world collectors want to own, buy and trade and that the sale of them is going to be life changing for me, my family, and, lord willing if I sell enough, my community.
I only ask that if you are going to reply to a tweet I make about selling an NFT that if you are congratulating me, you don’t immediately follow it up with a ….but… I’m more than happy to discuss NFT’s with you, along with anything else I do all day long, but when you say ” I’m happy for your success but….”, then you are telling me that my success comes with the condition that you don’t like how I obtained it, and that’s not fair to me.
One last thing, I am saddened to learn I have lose some followers over my posting of NFT’s. I know this to be true because one told me as much, and I saw a large drop in followers the week I started posting about NFT’s. I wish you would stay, there will always be photos of the sort you have enjoyed for the past two years, and yes, there will be posts about my personal struggles and my family as well.
But if you feel you must leave simply due to the fact I am enjoying the possibility of success in a new platform that for whatever reason you have issue with, then ok, do what you must.
I will continue to post, and share and push what I do…
I have to…
It means everything….
Old Bones Photo 