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NFTs, the way of the future?
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AuthorTopic: NFTs, the way of the future? Read 7892 Times
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Topical debateon: April 10, 2021 at 12:08 pm
In today’s fast developing cryptoworld, NFT are gaining new followers, collectors and creators everyday. While there are people on both sides of the fence, lovers and haters, supporters and denigrators, believers and sceptics, it is clear to me that NFTs are here to stay – as are blockchain and cryptocurrencies.
Personally, I find NFTs interesting for various reasons.
Commercially, I love the fact that hey are adding unicity to what would otherwise be just another digital file that everyone can copy, duplicate and share without recognising any compensation – or even credit – to the author.
Artistically, as a Fine Art landscape photographer who has been working for a long time on investigating the effects of time on still images, and on representing it in my photographs, I love the fact that they will stay around forever – as much as there can be such a thing as “forever” in the first place, of course – and that adds a layer of “timelessness” to my work on the effects of time. Plus, it gives me the possibility to play with moving stills in a way that the printed medium obviously doesn’t allow me to do.
Last, I love the fact that the files are “out there” divided among all and belonging to none, so to speak – the beauty of blockchain applied to art.
Therefore, I started a Foundation account where I started collecting art, and where I also will be minting my own, starting soon now that I became a creator. Here it is, for those interested: https://foundation.app/vieribottazzini
So, what do you think about NFT and their application to the art of photography? Looking forward to your thoughts, best regards
Vieri
Re: NFTs, the way of the future?Reply #1 on: April 11, 2021 at 11:47 amThe climate cost of NFT is very high, so not a fan of these or any other blockchain technology:
https://time.com/5947911/nft-environmental-toll/
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This reply was modified 3 years, 3 months ago by
John Hollenberg.
Re: NFTs, the way of the future?Reply #2 on: April 11, 2021 at 11:54 amThe climate cost of NFT is very high, so not a fan of these or any other blockchain technology:
https://time.com/5947911/nft-environmental-toll/
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This reply was modified 3 years, 3 months ago by
Hello John,
that is a concern for sure. Waiting for the day when power will come from renewable sources, on my end I decided to fund planting of trees to offset the carbon impact of the artworks I sell – is not a solution, but it helps, I believe.
Best regards,
Vieri
Re: NFTs, the way of the future?Reply #3 on: April 13, 2021 at 9:34 am“According to an estimate backed up by independent researchers, the creation of an average NFT has a stunning environmental footprint of over 200 kilograms of planet-warming carbon, equivalent to driving 500 miles in a typical American gasoline-powered car.”
“It turns out my release of six crypto-artworks consumed in 10 seconds more electricity than the entire studio over the past 2 years,” Mr. Lemercier wrote on his website. He said he was putting future NFT releases on hold. “It felt like madness to even consider continuing that practice.”
Re: NFTs, the way of the future?Reply #4 on: April 13, 2021 at 9:44 am“According to an estimate backed up by independent researchers, the creation of an average NFT has a stunning environmental footprint of over 200 kilograms of planet-warming carbon, equivalent to driving 500 miles in a typical American gasoline-powered car.”
“It turns out my release of six crypto-artworks consumed in 10 seconds more electricity than the entire studio over the past 2 years,” Mr. Lemercier wrote on his website. He said he was putting future NFT releases on hold. “It felt like madness to even consider continuing that practice.”
About the environmental issue, that is a very real one. I do fund the planting of 250 trees for every Workshop participant joining me on my trips, to offset their carbon impact, and I funded the planting of over 13.000 trees so far; for NFTs, I am going to plant 250 or 500 trees (depending to the kind of work), which will absorb an average of a tonne of carbon each during their lifetime – therefore compensating between one and two thousandfold for the impact of creating the artwork. Until power will come from renewable sources only (or from safe nuclear plants with no exhaust nuclear material problems), I believe that’s the best I can do 🙂
Best regards,
Vieri
Re: NFTs, the way of the future?Reply #5 on: April 14, 2022 at 8:04 amI have read articles on NFT, and looked at starting something with it. Each time I come back realizing the cost of creating these costs is a lot on the power grid. You even see it in the news. But, secondly, no one has shown me how to pay a mortgage with it. Where does it turn into cash that we need to survive every day. Vieri, I’d be happy to publish an article by you about your NFT experience. It would be nice to understand it from your point of view. Hope you are well out there.
Kevin Raber
Owner and Publisher of photoPXLRe: NFTs, the way of the future?Reply #6 on: April 15, 2022 at 6:55 amWithout the environmental cost I’d be interested in NFTs as I think they’re an interesting way of demonstrating ownership of a digital image and monetizing its use in the long term. Monetizing it’s legitimate use that is – if people still want to copy and use the image without paying any licence fee etc they still can. At the end of the day, demonstrating ownership of an image whether through copyright or on the blockchain only means a damn if you have the money to defend that ownership through the courts should your rights be infringed.
Tree planting sounds ok until you realise that they need to be growing for a long time in order to become effective reservoirs of carbon. You typically won’t start seeing any carbon sequestration happening for at least 10 years after they’re planted, and given that scientists generally agree that greenhouse gas emissions need to peak before 2025 at the latest, and be reduced by a quarter by 2030, even a tree planted today won’t be effective in the short term. And of course, if the forest burns down or the wood is burnt or left to rot at the end of its life, all that carbon is going to go back into the atmosphere.
I’m not saying don’t plant a tree, far from it, I’m just saying that it shouldn’t be offered up in mitigation for certain actions in the present – e.g. ‘I’m going on a trip to Antarctica, but it’s ok I planted 100 trees’ – your trip to Antarctica might put a couple of tons of c02 in the atmosphere inside a couple of weeks. Those trees – if they survive drought, disease, infestation, mismanagement etc – might recapture that carbon, but it will probably take at least 100 years.
Art
Re: NFTs, the way of the future?Reply #7 on: April 16, 2022 at 3:50 amHey Kevin & Art,
there is so much information out there about the real environmental costs of minting 1 NFT and so much information about how much people sell and earn that it’d be of no real use for me to share here – I recommend everyone interested in doing their own research. Everything on blockchain is transparent, you can see to the 0.0001 ETH how much one makes / sells for / etc.
What I can add here is a couple of examples: an open edition of an image of a guy that goes by Drift in the NFT space just sold over 10.000 copies, for 0.2 ETH each. Not sure how much your mortgage is, but I assume Drift doesn’t need to get one, after that sale, to buy a house.
On the other hand, there are so many photographers struggling to make sales: same as in the “real world”.
My recommendation, if someone is interested in giving NFT “a try”, is this: don’t. If, on the other hand, one is interested in making NFT a main source of their income, and therefore dedicate all (or a large part) of their energies to NFTs, then one might give it a go. In that case, I’d recommend to dedicate some months to enter the space, build community, show one’s work, without even minting one NFT. Only when one has enough momentum and “clout”, then I would release something for sale.
In short, take it as a full time job, or it will be very difficult to succeed.
Just my .02 of course. Best regards,
Vieri
Re: NFTs, the way of the future?Reply #8 on: April 16, 2022 at 9:40 amThanks, Vieri. How does one convert RTH into cash that can be used to buy things etc. If I earned enough selling some images how do I convert it to something that can buy an 800mm lens. I think that’s the part I don’t understand. I have read a lot and there seems to be a growing community of photographers that are trying this out. Some said it took a long time to make any if one sale. But the question is how do I get it into my bank account.
How have you done on selling NFT.
Thanks.
Kevin Raber
Owner and Publisher of photoPXLRe: NFTs, the way of the future?Reply #9 on: April 17, 2022 at 3:02 amThanks, Vieri. How does one convert RTH into cash that can be used to buy things etc. If I earned enough selling some images how do I convert it to something that can buy an 800mm lens. I think that’s the part I don’t understand. I have read a lot and there seems to be a growing community of photographers that are trying this out. Some said it took a long time to make any if one sale. But the question is how do I get it into my bank account.
How have you done on selling NFT.
Thanks.
Hello Kevin,
you’ll convert your ETH (I assume you meant ETH, not RTH) back to $ the same way you converted $ to ETH in the first place. Some exchanges offer credit cards. There is a ton of info out there, I’d definitely recommend you do some Google searching to find the best option for you.
Best regards,
Vieri
Re: NFTs, the way of the future?Reply #10 on: April 18, 2022 at 3:41 pmJust because you can doesn’t mean you should…
Hard to hold an NTF in your hand and admire the texture or hang it on the wall and admire how it finishes a room…
The real question to ask is why…and I’ve not heard any good answers that are meaningful to me.
If it’s not meaningful to me, screw it…
(actually the word I would use is “F&$k it” but this is mixed company)
😎
Re: NFTs, the way of the future?Reply #11 on: April 19, 2022 at 10:33 amJust because you can doesn’t mean you should…
Hard to hold an NTF in your hand and admire the texture or hang it on the wall and admire how it finishes a room…
The real question to ask is why…and I’ve not heard any good answers that are meaningful to me.
If it’s not meaningful to me, screw it…
(actually the word I would use is “F&$k it” but this is mixed company)
😎
Well, very luckily for thousands of people, just because it’s not meaningful to you it doesn’t mean it’s not meaningful for everyone.
Luckily for us artists seeing our work recognised and valued as NFT, not everyone shares your view (I do sell prints as well, by the way, for 10k euro each in 1/1 editions, and I love them). Luckily, because not everyone shares your views there are many artists making a living that couldn’t otherwise. This is especially true for artists and photographers from countries where access to making and selling prints, access to galleries and collectors, and so on, would be very difficult if not impossible, and at costs they could never afford.
Incidentally, being in NFT doesn’t exclude loving prints, producing prints, and – as I do – giving a free print to my NFT collectors if they are interested, to promote the beauty of prints to a new crowd, who would have never got to collect photography without NFTs. NFTs are just a new way to monetise art and photography, and they are not mutually exclusive with older ways to do so.
It reminds me of the advent of digital photography. Many colleagues back then said exactly what you say here, transposed to film: “WTF is digital, you can’t touch it, develop it, print it, it looks plastic, it’s all fake, etc etc”. An extremely large majority of them either are in the dinosaur cemetery now, or they ended up embracing digital.
It’s our choice whether to embrace the future, or not. The future, on the other hand, comes anyway, whether we like it or not.
Best regards,
Vieri
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