Friday morning, 08:43. I have a lot to finish today so I’m working on Sunday’s newsletter a bit earlier this week.
I recently watched a video by the CEO of Patreon Jack Conte. In my mind it speaks to the value of building community around your work. He speaks about the True Fans.
The people supporting your work.
It wasn't until a few years ago when I started thinking about the folly of chasing numbers and metrics on social media. I tried to chase it when I started my Instagram account. I thought it would make my photography better somehow.
It made me rush around and I consumed tons of "5-10 tips" videos. It made me feel bad about myself and my work. Perhaps I’m biased and a little angry about my lack of success when it comes to chasing numbers. It might be the case.
I still think chasing metrics will leave you misreable as you compare your work and keep chasing trends. Dancing to the tune of the algorithm hoping it rewards you when it’s biggest goal is to sell digital advertising space.
With my rant over I wish you a happy Sunday and as you read this newsletter you are having a great day. Thank you for subscribing to my newsletter and if you enjoyed this edition please consider sharing it :)
Interview
For this week’s interview I spoke to Steffen (SirTficate on X). I started following his work on X because of his quality street photography photos. When you browse through his feed and other platforms you’ll see beautiful images of the streets of Germany, New York and London. I asked Steffen a few questions about his work and advice he’d give to anyone starting out with NFT’s.
You can find links to Steffen’s platforms and work in the links below:
Steffen | SirTificate X (Twitter) profile | Eth.co Profile | warpcast profile
Now, onto the meat and potatoes…
Hello Steffen, thank you very much for agreeing to the interview. Can you please tell us about yourself and your style of photography?
Hi, I'm Steffen from Hamburg, Germany. By day I'm working as an IT system administrator, and by night I go out and shoot street photography. On Twitter I once read the term "normal people paparazzi" and that's exactly how I'd describe myself. I like to portrait ordinary people in urban environments.
Your street photos are very good - is street photography the only type of photography you do or do you have other photography genres you also enjoy?
I enjoy looking at different styles of photography, but I don't enjoy taking landscape shots for instance. My heart belongs to street photography in all facets. I love strolling through cities, chasing the light between buildings and looking for interesting scenes and subjects.
Everything is changing constantly - the light, the people, the surroundings. When I'm outside I'm always moving and almost never stand still. When I find an interesting scene with great light, but there's no subject around I usually don't wait any longer than 2-3 minutes before I move one.
That's probably also the reason why I don't really feel like trying other genres. I'm way too impatient!
In your X bio it says you work in IT. Would you like to be a full time photographer at some point?
No, I don't intend to do that. I'm very happy in my current situation. I really enjoy my job and it provides me with a living. At work, I decide almost everything logically, based on the facts I know.
When I go out to take photos, I just let myself drift and act more according to my feelings than my head. The movement is also a great counterbalance to my desk job. If I imagined photographing for a living, I would probably quickly lose the fun of it. Suddenly you have to take care of finances, marketing and your clients.
I do my photography for myself because I enjoy it. I absolutely want to keep it that way.
Social media and web3 has been really good for photographers. What are your thoughts around NFTs? Is there any part of the process you feel can be better?
For me, NFTs are like a side-quest to photography.
Very few people will earn a lot of money to fulfill their dreams. But it can be a good motivation to develop yourself further. To learn more, improve your own skills and train your eye. On top of that, you can quickly meet like-minded people on social media and especially on the so-called Web3, with whom you can exchange ideas about your hobby and NFTs.
For people who are less tech-savvy, however, it can be very difficult to get started.You have to learn a lot about blockchains, smart contracts, hardware wallets and so on.
For example, I have explained to many people why it is a bad idea to manage everything in a browser wallet without at least linking it to a ledger. Many people on the WEB3 have, due to carelessness, and in some cases certainly out of gullibility, lost a lot of money because their wallets were hacked or they agreed to smart contracts that automatically steal all coins and NFTs.
If you're not careful, you can quickly lose everything. I think this is one of the biggest problems in Web3.
Are there any photographers which you look up to? How did this photographer influence your style?
It's hard for me to name individuals because there are so many different photographers that I admire for their eye and talent. First and foremost, there are the street photographers from New York and Chicago. I've always really liked pictures like that, even long before I even took up photography myself.
When I started with photography, Sean Tucker, Professor Hines and Pierre T. Lambert definitely made a lasting impression on me with their videos on YouTube. I had absolutely no idea how a camera worked, what compositions were or how to edit images in Lightroom. I was able to learn all of this on their YouTube channels. Since I've understood and learned the basics, I look at a lot of pictures on social media and like to be inspired by them.
My final question: do you have advice for photographers who are just starting out and want to sell their photos as NFTs?
Do. not. rush! You can VERY easily get FOMO on social media. There's a new trend every other day and it's hard to keep up with everything.
However, in the 3 years that I'm into this space I learned that none of this matters.
It's important to do everything at your own pace and to not set your expectations too high. It's highly unlikely to sell out a collection or multiple editions in a few days time, like some of the big names did in the past. I've seen many people leaving this space because they were frustrated with sales, or simply burned out from all the noise.
When you do things at your own pace and make friends along the way, it is MUCH more fun. And that's how everything in life should be: fun!
Check out
In here I share the social media channels of artists I found between while browsing the internet. Got any artists which inspire or interest you? Leave some feedback for all of us to check out.
Music
Syb ·
With all the mainstream and big channels when it comes to music it is sometimes difficult to take time and look for a smaller channel which also has a collection of entertaining music.
I usually listen to music while I’m working and jazz is a favorite of mine. I did a bit of searching and found this channel; I’ve only started listening but I’m definitely going to listen to the other track as well.
In addition to the YouTube channel I found Spotify playlist which I will link below.
Photographer
Interesting video
I decided to introduce something different here - instead of searching only for artists I will also showcase some videos which I find interesting. If you’re struggling with your photography this video be useful to you.
It’s by Teo Crawford and is part of a three video series.
The simple habit to become a better photographer.
Photos
Some of the photos I took this week. I don’t post these on other social channels and I share them with my subscribers only.
Connect
I have a few social channels I maintain. If you’d like to connect, send me a message feel free. And if you have any interesting content you’d like to share please do so.
I’m including links to my Instagram and Threads channels. If you enjoy this content please restack or share the newsletter with you friends.
If you’d like to support my work you can have a look at my Paystack page.
Thanks for reading :)