In the booming era of social media, it’s getting harder for photographers to monitor the distribution of their work without permission. Photography is an art form that goes way back to the mid-19th century when photography started to be considered an aesthetic medium. However, with the rise of the digital age in the last decade, photography had to comply with technological advancement. This new iteration of photography, however, has put a strain on how photographers and artists distributed their work. That’s where photography NFTs come into play!
NFTs have leveraged new ways of supporting and monetizing creative people’s work. From digital artworks, films, GIFs, and even memes, NFTs have done it all. No wonder why photographers are jumping on the non-fungible bandwagon.
Why Photography NFTs?
Just like art, photos and pictures are a creative form of expression. In recent years, photography has had a rough existence as an art form. Why? Well, social media have made it easy to rip off photographers, as there’s no way of telling which copy of a digital image belongs to who, or if it’s an original or not. A global infringement report stated that more than 2 billion unsolicited images were stolen every day in 2018. That is a BIG problem for photographers. Imagine the hard work put into each photo is taken solely because the photo is “digital” with no proof of ownership.
Sure, photographers can copyright their images, but no single copy of the said image can be detected as the “original” one. That makes digital photography undervalued, and basically worthless. However, photography NFTs might be a long-awaited solution to the ownership dilemma.
Photography NFTs as a Solution
Even though a picture can be duplicated endlessly, the ownership of the original image cannot. That’s exactly what NFTs bring to the table. Since NFTs are non-fungible tokens written on a blockchain, they act as a certificate of ownership. The immutability of the blockchain assures that whoever owns an NFT, it’s theirs forever.
Thus, when a photographer mints a photo as an NFT, he indisputably becomes the sole owner of the original images linked to the NFT. He can then sell and trade the photo NFT on any NFT marketplace he chooses. Photographers can opt either to sell their NFTs on curated marketplaces next to high-quality images, sell them on regular NFT marketplaces, or they can opt to create their own website. Photographers can also choose to sell the copyright of the minted image to collectors, offering more value.
Therefore, in a response to photography’s challenges, NFTs offer many eloquent solutions.
Ownership
Photography NFTs are a new and revolutionary way of selling, distributing, and owning digital photographs. A photo minted as NFT will automatically generate a certificate of ownership. That means, whoever owns the NFT will be the owner of the original and unique image, and the blockchain can validate it. Thus, an image could be copied infinitely across the internet, but the original one is owned by a single person. This increases the value of each photograph NFT making it unique and rare.
Royalties
Just like all NFTs, photography NFTs grant the original owner a percentage of royalties from all future sales of the photographs. Meaning that photographers can always benefit from sold pieces from secondary sales. In the past, this was unattainable due to the fact that there are no encoded royalties in traditional photography trades. However, thanks to NFTs’ smart contracts, photographers will always benefit from the same artwork, especially if it increases in value. Also, it’s an effortless task. The nature of smart contracts will ensure photographers take royalties without them keeping track of sales.
Decentralization
NFT trades happen on the blockchain. Thus, there is no middleman that sets requirements for photography sales, like most galleries often do. That way, photographers can sell their NFTs directly to buyers.
NFT Photographers
Photography NFTs are already booming and on the rise. Photographers from all over the world didn’t miss their chance to monetize their art and immortalize them as NFTs. So, who are the top NFT photographers out there?
Justin Aversano
Justin Aversano is one of the top and first photographers to walk the blockchain ground. His most famous collection is the “Twin Flames” which captured 100 sets of twins in honor of his fraternal twin. He was able to sell the entire collection in the span of five months for $130,000. The total volume of the collection has already exceeded 5,000 ETH! With over $10 million in earnings, Aversano has also co-founded photography NFT platforms, Save Art Space and Quantum NFT.
Jacob Riglin
Jacob Riglin is another well-known NFT photographer that made millions in trading volume for selling his breathtaking landscapes as NFTs. Riglin’s photography focuses on cities from all over the world. His famous collection “World Wonders” features 50 pictures from 50 countries accentuating the unique stories behind the beloved cities.
Issac “Drift” Wright
Issac Wright, commonly known as Drift, is probably one of the most recognizable NFT photographers in the NFT scene. Wright’s photography is jaw-dropping ariel shots from tall heights, inspiring a sense of grandiosity and humility at the same time. His collection “Where My Vans Go” is one of the best-selling photography NFT collections, granting him an incredible foothold in the NFT world. He has sold over $6 million worth of photographs!
The Grand Aperture of NFTs
NFTs have proven to be a great way for artists to monetize and control their artworks. Not just in the creative world, but NFTs have also made their way into other industries like gaming, food, and major brands. That huge accomplishment is done while NFTs are still in their infancy. And despite all of their flaws and imperfections, we might see them expand to reach even more diverse audiences.