It was just past 10 PM on the wet streets of Paris as I was getting lost on purpose around the streets near the Church of the Sacred Heart. I bobbed and weaved through various little alleys, streets, and tiny bakeries (where I would just have to stop for a moment), before finding my way to this little faire. There was a small carousel spinning away with tiny little French children screaming wonderful things…
I stumbled across this image from 2012 recently and for a good few minutes I couldn’t remember where it was… or what it was. The keyword suggested maybe a bank (“banke”) but then it hit me… Hotel Banke! Well done Hotel Banke, cool foyer.
What a crazy couple of days! Those of you who read the last newsletter or some recent posts will know that I launched a new collection of NFTs on OpenSea this past Tuesday. It’s my fourth drop overall after some experimentation previously on Foundation, MakersPlace and another on OpenSea. They were all great learning experiences (and exceeded expectations) and this week was no different.
The short version is that in 2 days, split over the 50 Cities/NFTs in the collection, over $1million USD was processed. My thanks to any of you who got involved, it’s really incredible and we are full of gratitude. Today, along with there being some items still available on the first and secondary markets, there are 4 auctions ending (LA, Moscow, Tokyo and Paris) if you want to get involved in the fun.
As I’ve mentioned in previous mails, I think NFTs are certainly something artists and collectors should be getting involved with now. The potential is huge, and I think it will be a big part of the art world in the future. That, along with giving back to other artists, is why I’m now investing in other NFT projects. I know it can be a bit daunting though, so I’ll be producing a bunch of how-to videos and recaps of my experience so far for Passport Subscribers. There are already 3 or 4 available which can be viewed after signing up ($9.99 a month, cancel any time, and on top of those NFT videos you get access to all of my tutorials to stream, preset downloads, eBooks and a weekly video which can be anything from processing tips to behind the scenes of helicopter rides in 360.). Once you’re in there, check this page for quick links to the previous NFT videos.
In terms of getting yourself involved in this drop… it’s fairly simple. You’ll need an electronic wallet (MetaMask is one that works with most NFT sites, others are available so definitely read some comparison articles). You’ll also want a way to get Crypto in/out from the “real world” and services like Coinbase are used for that (again, there are alternatives so do a bit of reading to see what’s best for you). If you’ve got questions, drop into my new Discord collectors group where there are a bunch of awesome, friendly people who will be happy to help. Feel free to join and just lurk or chat too as you ease yourself into this wild new world as a collector or creator.
*On re-reading this I just realised I automatically #’d NFT… too much posting on Crypto Twitter. Time to go take a solo lockdown walk…
Hey all you awesome Passport Members will get access to a new how-to video, just like every Sunday… or in this case, Monday. Today you’ll see my fairly extreme edit of this photo from Paris near the Louvre. Enjoy!
In today’s video, you’ll see me do a rather aggressive HDR treatment and then do some final alignment in Photoshop.
I took this around midnight one evening while I was meandering around Paris. It’s really such a beautiful city to get lost in. Here’s a hot tip, btw. A lot of times. these photos will come out quite “orange” so it’s good to set your camera’s white balance to Tungsten to push the colors back into the cooler area.
If you’re a Passport Member then you’ll see a fun sneak peek of an upcoming drop over there. I have a new strategy that will either be awesome or crash and burn. We’ll see! 🙂
Here’s a sneak preview of the drop and a little bit about the pricing strategy. I don’t really know if it will work or not. I have very low expectations… so I guess we will see!
In today’s area for Passport Members, you’ll see how I combined 5 raw files from my old Nikon into the final scene!
Today’s how-to is a pretty simple one. I chose to really emphasize the way the water looks and the reflections.
This is one of my favorite areas of Paris where the Seine splits to go around this island. As with most places in the city, I just randomly walk from place to place, getting lost, and trying to find new perspectives.
A few times each night, they alight this super hardcore searchlight from the top of the Eiffel Tower and it scans the skyline. Getting a solid shot of it wasn’t the easiest thing in the world because I had to make sure the shutter speed was fast enough but keep the ISO high enough to make sure you could get all the rest of the light. Okay, camera nerd talk over.
I don’t know if this is a new installation or not but I’ve never seen it until my most recent trip to Paris. It’s less than a 5-minute walk from the Louvre and I guess I just never walked this way before. I do like how a lot of the art in the world now is interactive… I probably got a lot of that appreciation from Burning Man. Sometimes they look kind of dangerous… I can only imagine the injuries!
It’s a fun challenge to walk around the Eiffel Tower and try to get photos without tourists in them. I mean, getting some tourists in the shot is not a bad thing at all, since it kind of goes with the territory. In most cases, I would recommend finding some shrubbery and trees and getting the camera down quite low to the ground with a wide-angle lens.
