Photography NFTs — Spark* Your Knowledge
Date of Activity: 10 October 2022 (Monday)
Topic: Are NFTs the Future of Photography?
Author: Michael Macaulay
Source:
https://medium.com/crypto-creatives/are-nfts-the-future-of-photography-9c39619cf1c0
Photographers have found it difficult to get compensated because the Internet unlocked the creative potential for the majority of professions. Because of this, the vast majority of photographers are now limited to taking wedding shots and working other side jobs. NFTs, however, might be the breakthrough that restores photography’s viability as a profession.
People enjoy looking at things. Since the beginning of civilisation, people have made an effort to create realistic depictions of life. Then, the camera was invented and humans were able to capture images with accuracy for the first time in history. They didn’t need a professional artist to create it and yet, it was comparable to the most beautiful painting anyone has ever seen. To become good, however, takes a lot of skill and practise, just like in many creative occupations. These photographers do, after all, control what we see. It has been made known how photojournalists have had an impact on history during the 20th century, from the horrors of the Holocaust to the agony of the Great Depression. But as technology advanced, photography was displaced. The demand for moving pictures increased, and the Internet followed.
Some would say that photography was nearly destroyed by the Internet. In addition to the untold number of free images available online, smartphones made cameras accessible to everyone and because of that, photographers were treated unfairly because the majority of people can shoot decent-looking images for free. There aren’t many, if any, options for photographers to make money on the Internet. The only profitable strategy for photographers to make money was by licencing their images to large stock picture agencies; if someone purchases the rights to them, they receive a modest commission. Stock photographers are therefore in the same predicament as other creators and are bound to the platform. This is where NFTs come to the rescue.
With non-fungible tokens (NFTs), customers can invest in a photograph instead of just purchasing it, giving photographers a chance to get paid like never before. They are able to buy the work of small but talented artists in the hopes that it will appreciate in value and that they can resale it for a profit. Recently, NFT photographers have begun to use themed collections, where they will have 100 or more images centred on a single theme and sell them as a collection. There have been some successful instances where photographers have made millions of dollars by choosing a topic, shooting incredible images, selecting the best ones, editing them, creating NFTs, and then selling them on secondary NFT marketplaces like OpenSea. The beauty of NFTs is that even if a photographer’s collection doesn’t sell for much money, they will still be paid royalties as a percentage of all subsequent purchases.
Date of Activity: 11 October 2022 (Tuesday)
Topic: How do NFTs Work and Are They Bad for Photographers?
Channel Name: Pierre T. Lambert
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fVuSdoqKgw
Not knowing what happens to the work that artists send to people poses the biggest challenge today for them. For instance, if a work of art is acquired by an individual, the artist will no longer be able to track down the owner to find out if the work was replicated, given to a friend, or displayed in a public gallery. The artist won’t know how big of a community they have or what their secondary market value is because they have no idea what happens to their work once it leaves them.
What if, however, there was an invisible link that allowed the artist to see who owns their piece of work, how it is being used, whether it has been transferred to someone else, or if it has been resold and displayed in a gallery and, that link existed to prove that a specific 1/1 unique piece was produced by a specific artist? Most significantly, what if this invisible link could enable the artist to access the secondary market and earn royalties for each sale of their one-of-a-kind work? This would imply that the artist would also be able to profit from the sale of the work of art in addition to the person flipping it. What has been described may sound impossible but to simply put, that is how NFTs for photography would work.
The YouTube video’s creator, Pierre T. Lambert, stated that he first learned about NFTs in 2016, and that at the time, its use cases included insurance and land ownership among other things. When Pierre saw this, he immediately knew that NFTs have a wide range of potential applications. The term “NFT” returned on his radar in February 2021, and when NFT art entered the scene, he witnessed a tremendous explosion in the space. The sale of a Beeple for $69 million in 2021 further proves his point. People were confused by this because they thought digital art had no worth, but they didn’t realise that these pieces of art only had value because society as a whole assigned value to them. Therefore, it is safe to say that the value for how much the art should be traded for in secondary markets would be determined by the size of the group of people who believe that an NFT is valuable.
In the video, Pierre also talked about the inspiration behind his NFT collection, Crossroads 1.0, which, to put it briefly, was his desire to share his art with the public and his fans. He never shared his work with a gallery or with agencies to get it in front of the public for viewing. Even though he preferred sharing his work to concentrating only on the creation of the art, he was never actually given the chance to do so until NFTs entered the scene. As soon as that occurred, Pierre grasped what NFTs meant for photographers and how they would be able to share their work with others, allow the public to purchase their work, and — most intriguingly — display their digital work in online galleries. These online galleries are a place where collectors may show off the artwork they have acquired, such as works from photographers.
Overall, it is important to realise that, whether we like it or not, the world is changing all around us and becoming increasingly digital. Even if we might be unsure of this change, we can either accept it or condemn it. If we’re able to accept and embrace this change, then we’ll also be able to move towards the way we desire. In this digital age, artists will have numerous opportunities to prosper and create wonderful relationships with their collectors, but this will only happen if both sides are motivated to make use of these chances.
Date of Activity: 12 October 2022 (Wednesday)
Topic: Photography is a $50M market (A @tsalikhov thread)
Link: https://twitter.com/tsalikhov/status/1579836141846814720
In less than two years, NFT photography has grown to a $50 million industry. For a category that was not even present two years ago, this outcome is unquestionably outstanding. Over 1,000 photographers have entered the space and engaged with over 3,000 collectors since JN Silva’s debut drop in December 2020. Without the incredible camaraderie in the space and the entrepreneurial drive, this would not have been possible.
In less than 2 years, 100 photographers sold their works for $40 million and received $5 million in royalties. Sales of photos have remained steady despite the 35% decline from the cryptocurrency market peak in April. Nevertheless, with sales on SuperRare smashing records and 20 artists reaching new all-time highs, premium 1/1 photography is on fire. With 70% of the largest collections trading over its mint price, photography has not only been a fantastic store of value but has also greatly increased collectors’ wealth (top-25 collections are, on average, 5X above their mint prices; while Where My Vans Go and Twin Flames are up 200X). This demonstrates the power of hard effort, excellent narrative, limitless creativity, and innovation.
In NFT photography, creativity is unbounded. Along with creating incredible works of art, numerous artists have started businesses, opened galleries, and established communities, laying the groundwork for thousands of creative to succeed in Web3. It’s inspiring to see how artists are embracing and experimenting with the newest crypto technologies (fractionalizing their art, creating DAOs), working in collaboration with other artists, musicians, animators, and coders, building off one another’s work, reaching out to collectors in new ways, creating communities around significant causes, and realising shared visions. Furthermore, platforms like Quantum, Obscura, and Fellowship that have been founded by artists have assisted 2,000 people in collecting their first photographs, welcomed 100 of the most renowned photographers into Web3, created the most encouraging communities, and created a strong foundation for artists to flourish.
Despite the remarkable outcomes for the profession, there are still many issues to be resolved, including a shortage of collectors, the fact that 95% of photographers do not have access to incomes that can change their lives, and a lack of diversity. Other than that, earnings are disproportionately concentrated at the top. 39% of the total earnings went to the top ten photographers, while 77% of sales went to the top 100. Only 15% of all sales were made by female artists, and only 60 photographers made more than $100,000 in two years. The situation is even worse given the market slowdown: the top 10 photographers each earned, on average, $150,000 over the last three months, while the next 40 only made less than $15,000.
In conclusion, as exciting as it is to watch the top artists find new homes for their work during these challenging times, the NFT community still has a long way to go before it can enable thousands more photographers to earn a living in the cryptocurrency space.
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