What are NFTs – Photography vs Cinematography
What in the hell is an NFT anyway?
For starters NFT stands for “Non-fungible token”, okay cool… but what does that even mean? The best way to think of an NFT is to think of it as a unique proof of ownership over a piece of digital art or even a video clip. It’s a one-of-a-kind piece of code, that is then stored and protected on a shared public exchange. If you aren’t familiar with the blockchain, Bitcoin, or Ethereum. I would recommend starting with these articles first.
What is an NFT? The trendy blockchain technology explained
I’m going to admit that I’m still very new to NFTs, and even though I have been watching the crypto space for the last 5 years, I am only going to touch upon this vast subject as I am still learning along with everyone else. If any of the information in this post is extremely incorrect, please let me know at hello@danielconerd.com.
Photography vs Cinematography as it relates to NFTs
NFTs are unique digital assets and they can be compared to a sort of a cryptocurrency token similar to Bitcoin. But they differ significantly. Bitcoins can be swapped for other tokens, NFTs remain unique. They are a way of selling artwork over the Ethereum blockchain. The transactions retain the uniqueness and ownership of NFT.
The NFT buying process imitates the real world. Buyers purchase a unique, authentic digital copy just as they would for a physical art form. The purchased copy can further be resold in the future to earn a profit. People can use the blockchain technology to create unique contracts and decentralize the fund flow. It is like creating IP-based crypto contracts that help monetize different digital arts efficiently.
Photography perspective
As a photographer, you are only selling a picture or digital files of your art. This is different from the conventional selling of rights or prints. Photographers see it as an opportunity to reach their patrons passionate about their digital art and are willing to pay for it.
Once you sell your art for an NFT, you also get the option to receive a resale percentage for any future resale of their art. It is like a permanent link to royalty for sales of your art. The striking feature of blockchain is its transparency and traceability for all transactions.
A photographer gets to choose the number of digital files (copies) they wish to release for their art.
Ever since the beginning of photography, photographers have faced art forgery but, NFT Blockchain makes digital forgeries extremely difficult. The information regarding the origin and ownership of the NFT can easily be attained via the blockchain.
NFT marketplaces like Rarible and Foundation are the equivalent of Shopify and Etsy. There are a ton of other ones to choose from as well, but those are the two that I find myself browsing through the most.
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Local Asheville fine art photographer: Ivana Desancic has a few of her pieces for sale on Foundation
Cinematography perspective
It is certainly a boost for independent filmmakers who can directly monetize their digital assets without the need to go through conventional channels and harness contacts. While photography is limited to selling only the NFTs for their digital assets, cinematographers have a lot of stuff in the ‘related’ category like – film stills, scripts, posters, and other collectibles. Lebron James just sold a video for over $200K, along with a video clip that the artist named Beeple sold for $67,000, which was later re-sold for $6.6 million dollars! Spotify disrupted the music industry and brought about a fresh revenue stream for the records. Similarly, NFTs are expected to develop a new revenue stream for the film industry.
This is just a quick cinematograph that I created. I’ve dabbled with creating cinematographs in the past, but I never really pursued it. I might have to revisit this art form more!
The NFT craze is massive and right now everyone is trying to speculate on where it’s headed and if it will be something that will stick around. As of right now, I currently don’t have any NFTs for sale. I am however very curious to see what the future holds for digital creators.
Do you have an idea for a project? Contact me and let’s create something today!
I’m going to admit that I’m still very new to NFTs, and even though I have been watching the crypto space for the last 5 years, I only just touched upon this vast subject as I am still learning along with everyone else. If any of the information in this post is extremely incorrect, please let me know at hello@danielconerd.com.
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