On January 4, 2017, I took the above photograph at 7:08 a.m. (and 43 seconds).
Two seconds later, I took this one.
Another two seconds later, I took this one.
By the end of that day, I had 133 photographs that I thought were worth keeping.
Now, I’m using all 133 photographs to demonstrate the most positive aspect of NFTs, a new technological innovation that creators are using to sell a wide range of artistic works.
Learning about NFTs is like going down the rabbit hole. On the one hand, you might think, “How can someone sell a digital image that I could just copy online?” (Excellent question.) On the other hand, here’s what Reuters wrote:
Sales volumes of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) surged to $10.7 billion in the third quarter of 2021, up more than eightfold from the previous quarter, according to data from market tracker DappRadar… NFTs use blockchain to record the ownership of digital items such as images, videos, collectibles and even land in virtual worlds.
Enough crypto-speak. Here’s what I love about NFTs: they have the potential to unite the interests of creators with their audiences, thanks to royalties. For example, I’m selling the first ten photographs in this series for $10 each, but I also set a 20% royalty on future sales of this image. That means if you buy the image now and sell it later for a higher price, I will automatically get 20% of that higher price.
In my case, I set the selling price as close to zero as was logistically possible; I’m all but giving these first images away. But if someday they appreciate in value, we will both benefit.
My intention is to demonstrate how creators can align their interests with those of the people who most enjoy their creations.
To be specific, I have no interest in making a profit from readers of this newsletter.
But I am very interested in doing three things:
Learning more about NFTs
Finding ways to learn, collaborate and co-create with you
Spend more time creating images
So, if you can afford to risk $10 on this little experiment, it might give you some pleasure and a chance to learn alongside me. You can buy my images here.
BTW, in my case, “buy” means you own all rights to this image. You can print it or sell it. You can rename it. You can use it on your website or in your blog.
It’s easy. You may have heard that cryptocurrency is complicated and bad for the environment; so far, both those statements appear to be true. That’s why I decided to sell my art through Voice, a new platform that offers a carbon neutral marketplace experience; they say their platform is 65,000 times more energy efficient than Bitcoin.
To translate this into practical terms, you don’t need cryptocurrency to buy one of my NFTs, just a credit card. If you have ever ordered something online, you can easily buy one of my photographs.
You may recall that my definition of “getting older” is anyone who’s passed the age of 35. It’s easy for those of us in this category to get set in our ways, to stop experimenting and stop learning. I never want to do this, which is why I’ve pushed past my comfort zone to not only learn about NFTs, but to also go ahead and mint some.
If these first ten sell, I’ll keep releasing more. But don’t worry, I won’t take up this much space again to talk about NFTs. Thanks for listening!
Cheers,
Bruce
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