Jesse Dittmar of www.jessedittmar.com was first interviewed on episode 303 of the podcast. He's a commercial and editorial photographer based in NYC who has worked with clients such as The Washington Post, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, and Apple, to name a few.

A lot of his work is centred around celebrity portraiture, where he has photographed people including Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, David Letterman, Sting, Serena Williams and the cast of Star Wars, to name a few.

I loved recording that interview, especially chatting about how he became an assistant for Annie Leibowitz.

More recently, I learned that Jesse launched a non-fungible token (NFT) gallery.

He is one of the first photographers I know of to be working in this space.

Jesse says – it's potentially a huge and new revenue stream for photographers.

But added – I'm not sure if this is too far out there for your audience? It is the future of art!

I was interested to learn more, and yes, we will cover what NFT's are if you're as unsure as I was.

In this interview, discover what are NFT's, how they apply to photographers and what they could potentially mean for the future of photography and photographic art and how you can get started in the space.

NOTE: A non-fungible token (NFT) is a unit of data stored on a digital ledger, a blockchain, that certifies a digital asset to be unique and therefore not interchangeable. NFTs can represent items such as photos, videos, audio, and other types of digital files. When thinking of NFTs, think of cryptocurrency but for art.

Here's some more of what we cover in the interview:

• A brief run-through of Jesse's photography business during COVID-19


• Jesse's reason for exploring NFTs


• What is an NFT


• What is a blockchain


• Discussing ownership of a digital item with NFTs


• The difference between cryptocurrencies and NFTs


• Understanding how NFTs work


• Why NFTs are popular with the younger generation


• How the blockchain works to prevent forgeries


• How to pay for an NFT item


• What attracting artists to explore the NFT space


• How to choose which of your artwork to mint as an NFT


• Jesse's reason for preferring GIF over JPG when minting NFTs


• Understanding the value of digital art


• Why physical art will no longer matter in the future


• The process of minting and registering art to become an NFT


• The importance of doing research and asking for help from people who are in the crypto space


• How to price your crypto art


• Jesse's first NFT sale


• The possibility of having limited editions with crypto art


• Getting a commission from buyers reselling your NFT


• How copyright works with NFT art


• The importance of stipulating your terms in your smart contracts before selling NFTs


• Advertising your NFTs to drive traffic


• Are famous art subjects faster to sell as NFTs


• NFT art can be tied to physical objects when selling them


• Can wedding and portrait photographers delve into minting NFTs of their work


• Why Jesse thinks every photographer should explore the NFT space today

What is your big takeaway?

Following this interview, I’d love to know if you're taking anything away from what Jesse shared. Is there something you heard that excited or motivated you to the point where you thought, yeah, I'm going to do that! If so, let me know by leaving your thoughts in the members FB Group. What are your takeaways, what do you plan to implement in your business as a result of what you heard in today's episode?

In order to understand NFTs, you have to get your head around the idea that people are valuing digital only objects as much as they would value a physical object. – Jesse Dittmar

If you have any questions that I missed, a specific question you’d li