Light Painting Photographer Eric Pare is known for pushing the boundaries and taking things to the next level in his Light Painting Work! Eric can now add being one of the first Light Painters to successfully venture into the world of NFT’s to his resume with his first NFT Drop that completely sold out! After learning about this amazing launch (that I wish I would have got in on in time to get one) I reached out to Eric to share his experience in the NFT space with the Light Painting Community! Below is the interview that Eric was kind enough to answer, hopefully your can learn a thing or two and maybe try your luck with this exciting new way to make some money from your Light Painting Photography!

LPP ∇  Hey Eric thank you for taking the time to answer some questions about this exciting new opportunity for Light Painting Artist! My first question is how would you explain what an NFT is to someone who has never heard of one before?

EP ∇  An NFT is a certificate of ownership of a digital asset on the blockchain. The example that is always used is the Mona Lisa. There is a single one of this. You can take a picture of the Mona Lisa, but it doesn’t hold any value. A NFT is a digital version of this. It is a unique contract that defines the ownership of the piece. This has nothing to do with copyrights or commercial rights.

LPP ∇  Was selling NFT’s something that you were actively seeking out to do for yourself or were you approached by someone or some entity to do your first NFT drop?

EP ∇  I was curious about NFTs just as most of the photographers out there. I worked with Sloika.xyz for my first drop as I had no experience or knowledge about NFTs back then. They made the whole process very smooth and they made sure that the contract was properly made for my needs. My second drop was on Foundation which was quite straightforward as I had much more experience at that point.

LPP ∇  On a technical level from scale of 1-10 One being super easy and ten being extremely difficult how hard was it to “Mint” your NFT’s?

EP ∇  Easier than it sounds! There’s a whole bunch of new things to learn when it comes to NFTs, but there are plenty of tutorials available, and the community is very helpful. The best place to learn is through the Twitter Spaces (audio conversations)

LPP ∇  Does minting the NFT cost anything on the front end before you actually make a sale?

EP ∇  Yes! It can cost a couple of hundred dollars just to mint one piece (gas fees). There are other platforms on which it is possible to mint for cheaper, but the main ones are on the Ethereum crypto currency and gas fees are quite expensive at the moment

LPP ∇  How were your NFT’s sold, did you do an auction format or did you pick a set price for your images? If you did the set price how did you come up with your price tag for the NFT’s?

EP ∇  My first collection of 9 items has been sold on Sloika within a few days for a total of 1.8E (7400$USD), and some of the items have been placed for sale by the new owners for up to 5E. Then on Foundation, I set my first piece at 2E (8200$USD) and it got sold within a week. We did the promotion mostly on Twitter.

LPP ∇  Without getting too much into the technical aspects, I understand that within the contract of an NFT you will also benefit from the future sales of your work! I think this is the greatest aspect of the NFT from a creators perspective, can you tell me a little bit more about what you will receive from the future sales of your work?

EP ∇  What’s interesting here is that the creator gets 10% of the secondary sales. But the secondary sale can be way above the initial price, meaning that the revenues are sometimes significant. That being said, photographies are not traded that much (as opposed to the craziness we see with PFP projects like Cryptopunks or BoredApes)

LPP ∇  Thats exciting! Last question, what advice would you give to someone looking to mint their first NFT?

EP ∇  Get on Twitter, follow successful NFT photographers and spend weeks learning about the topic. Join their Twitter Spaces, interact with them, interact with other newcomers. It’s complex, it’s new, it’s modern, it’s a totally different mindset. NFTs are part of the Web3 and a fundamental part of this is the “WGMI” (we’re going to make it). It’s a collective project. It’s far from the “Instagram influencer” business model we’re used to hearing about.

Don’t mint anything right away thinking you’re going to make a couple of ETH. Take the time to really craft your art and have a solid story. Be part of the community, help others, interact with collectors.

Once you take the plunge into NFTs, you’ll stop thinking about irrelevant things like when to post on Instagram or your number of followers. Your art is going to be your priority. Fine tune your best pieces as you know that once you’re going to mint them, they’ll be forever part of the blockchain.

As a reference, here’s what I prepared for my NFTs (for my collectors)
https://ericpare.com/night-reflection-one
https://ericpare.com/frzn

LPP ∇  Thank you again for taking the time to answer these questions and share your knowledge with the community!  Congratulations on all your success and I am sure you will have many more successful drops in the future!