Interview: with an NFT Photographer.

After writing about NFTs and how to mint them, I decided to interview Femi Johnson, an NFT photographer about his success selling pictures as NFTs on Opensea, and this is what he had to say about his art, his vision and his reason for creating NFTs.

Tell us about yourself?

My name is Oluwafemi Johnson, I am a 23-year-old fashion editorial photographer based in Lagos, Nigeria. I am a final year philosophy student at the University of Lagos. I have been a photographer for 5 years now, but I started focusing on fashion editorial photography last year. I decided to switch to this type of photography because of the passion and love I have for it.

Tell us about the moment you knew you wanted to make you work an NFT?

My interest in NFTs started May 2021, luckily for me, a friend introduced me to NFTs and made me realize that I could turn my photography into NFTs, he also gave me some books to read on NFTs and this opened my eyes to the amazing opportunity within my grasp. After my friend introduced me to NFTs, I met Imitor, a 3D artist that already had some work minted on Opensea. Seeing his work on Opensea intrigued me and I increased my studying on NFTs. Three months into my research, I met another friend that was about to mint a collection of 3D drawings on Opensea and I realised that I had not yet come across any photography NFT.

Even during my research, I did not see that many photography NFT that was selling, especially portrait photography, which I specialise in. I wasn’t in a hurry because I did not want to be part of the people that posted and did not sell. I used my time to research the market to try and understand what was moving. After taking my time to understand NFTs and the market, I created my collection called Framed. This piece is important to me because it allowed me to bring fashion editorial photography into NFTs.

Do you have any advice for someone looking to get into the NFT space?

The first thing I would say is that you should take your time to understand what NFTs are, the most common questions I get are about the difference between saving someone’s work and buying it. This question can be easily answered by research and I usually tell people that I see NFTs as a long-term essential product.

The second thing I would advise is to not rush into the market, you have to learn marketing and how to connect and network with individuals in the NFT space. This is because you could have the best piece in the world but if you cannot market it, you cannot access your audience. Because I said you should connect with people, doesn’t mean you should choke people. You should not be pushy in your marketing approach, I would recommend a delicate approach with the right people. There are a lot of people in the NFT space that are willing to help, only if you approach them the right way.

What are the challenges you faced?

The biggest challenge I faced was networking. I am based in Lagos and a lot of people were initially sceptical about trusting someone from Lagos with crypto or anything monetary because of the history that Lagos has.

The second challenge I faced was the sheer amount of people on Twitter NFT Spaces, which can be daunting for a newcomer. There are often over 900 people on a Twitter Space and it can be a hassle for you to even get the opportunity to talk about your NFT, so as a newcomer you have to be prepared to scale this hurdle.

What was the process behind choosing and creating these pictures?

I initially had two photoshoots scheduled for that day, one was for a magazine and the other was a personal shoot. The magazine shoot did not go as planned, so I only did my photo shoot. The model I worked with was someone I had known for a while and the way she was portraying herself was the direct opposite of who she was and this inspired me to name it FRAMED. I wanted to convey the trope that how we see someone in a picture is how the person is. It took me a week to create a mood board and three days for me to gather everything that I needed for the shoot.

Who are your favourite photographers?

I have three favourite photographers because of their style, their retouching, and use of colour. From Nigeria, it is Lashe, he is also a fashion editorial photographer in the NFT space. The second photographer is Cvatik, he is an NFT photographer. The third person is Beacasso, she is not an NFT photographer. I have been pleading with her to mint her wonderful works but she is scared of not selling because she’s into portrait photography and it isn’t popular within the NFT space. I also really admire caesarofthe90s and his work.

Also, congratulations on your sale, my account number is in your Twitter Dm

Thank you, bro. LOL, I will see what I can do.

Thanks. Hope you get more sales

Amen.