this is where i will mint all of my digital art purchase blogs as NFTs
this is where i will mint all of my digital art purchase blogs as NFTs
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Prelude:
There’s events that happened during my childhood that when they occurred I did not care about, but now decades later I do. When I was in elementary school for whatever reason one day they invited parents to come to class. My mother worked in the city and my father worked from home so my father came. They gave us a book along with a post it note and instructed the parents to write a message to their children on the post it note and stick it in the book. I recall this moment happening but it wasn’t until years ago when I found the book while cleaning my room that I saw and recalled what he wrote. He wrote the following:
Dear Jon,
Do something
Expect Nothing
Blame no one
With love,
Dad
Reading it then made me want to cry. My father is still alive, but still. Unfortunately, I no longer know where that book is so I will memorialize it here instead.
Write Up:
Let’s start by displaying the image below:
I’m gonna pull a fast one on you here. I’m not gonna write about Monica’s image. It seems I have inadvertently become a collector of NFT art. I have found that while I struggle talking about myself, I do love writing about myself so allow me to introduce myself:
Okay bro, who are you? Let’s hear the elevator pitch!
Sure. My nickname is Jonny. My actual name is Jonathan although I have not been called this since birth. Sometimes friends call me Jonathan, but using this name on me is an acquired skill. If you can master it, feel free to call me Jonathan. If you are unable to master it, Jonny works. I’m some 28 year old guy who lives in New York, NY. I grew up 40 minutes from Manhattan, went to college in the middle of nowhere (upstate NY), and have lived in Manhattan for approximately the last 5 years. I’ve been in New York my whole life. I currently work a job in accounting/finance that I would love dearly to escape!
Lit bro. How’d you get into crypto and NFTs?
So I first heard about Bitcoin when I read a GQ article about it in 2014. I believe the article was about Charlie Shrem, but I don’t remember it that well. I thought it was an interesting concept, but didn’t look into it further. In January of 2016, I read the book ‘Digital Gold: Bitcoin and the Inside Story of the Misfits’ by Nathaniel Popper. If you have not read this book, I recommend it as it gives you the story of the early days of Bitcoin and is in general a very well written and interesting book. Reading this book piqued my interest on Bitcoin and so I opened a Coinbase account on January 13th, 2016. On this day I checked the price of Bitcoin and saw that it was around $300. I then moved the chart back a couple of years and noted that at one point the price was $0.30. Upon seeing this I decided I was too late. In hindsight that was obviously a foolish attitude to have. And so as a guiding principle, I try to remind myself that it is never too late for anything. After this I did not think about Bitcoin or cryptocurrency again until September of 2017. One day at work in September of 2017, I was in a room with a bunch of co-workers and we discussed how we all wanted to get rich. One of my co-workers who was 31 years old at the time said to the group ‘You know, I grew up believing one day I would be rich. But then faster then I knew it, I was a 31 year old working a dead end job at some accounting firm. Life moves fast. If you’re gonna get rich, you better do it now.’ I was 23 years old at this point. Once he said that, our whole group then began looking for ways to get rich. And obviously, we were looking for a way to get rich that involved the least amount of effort. We started browsing stocks, but couldn’t come to a consensus with regards to which stock would make us rich. It was at that point that I remembered I had downloaded the Coinbase App back in 2016 and that perhaps crypto would be a good path to getting rich. I checked the Bitcoin chart and noted the price was around $4K. I was smitten. Remember, the last time I checked the bitcoin price before this was back in 2016 when it was $300. An asset going from $300 to $4K in such a short time frame was quite impressive. But, how, I asked myself, could I possibly get rich from Bitcoin now? It was already at $4K and it couldn’t possibly go any higher. Upon having this realization, I noted that there were two other assets trading on Coinbase at the time. They were Ethereum and Litecoin. Ethereum was trading at roughly $300 at the time. But Litecoin. Litecoin!! Litecoin was around $50. And so that was it. Litecoin was the next Bitcoin. I was gonna get rich off of Litecoin and so later that night I liquidated some assets in order to place a sizable (for me at that time) bet on Litecoin. Zero research, just the idea that if Litecoin could become the next Bitcoin I could become rich and if my investment went to $0, I left over enough money that I’d be fine. Unlimited upside, capped downside. My kind of bet. By December of 2017 my investment (bet) on Litecoin appreciated a lot. It was the most money I had ever almost made in my life. Yes, that’s right, almost. I remember in December of 2017 meeting up with friends at the Metropolitan Museum of Art here in New York and telling them about this Litecoin investment I had made. When I showed them my portfolio, they were literally screaming at me to sell. Of course, I refused because Litecoin was going to the moon. There was no doubt about it. I’ll cut to September of 2018 when I finally liquidated my Litecoin investment. As I’m sure most of you know, after January of 2018 the crypto market crashed. By September of 2018, enough family members and friends had called me an idiot for one, investing in crypto in the first place and two, not selling the top, that I decided they had a point and sold. In the end I think I came out even or maybe lost a couple hundred dollars on the investment (bet). After this, I totally forgot about crypto until March/April of 2020. Oh March of 2020, good times. I don’t need to remind you what happened to the world in March of 2020. You already know. Upon receiving my stimulus check in April of 2020 it dawned on me that I had an excess of cash and that perhaps, it may be wise to invest. I remembered how Ethereum had gone all the way up to around $1,400 back in January of 2018 and as it was sitting at roughly $180 in April of 2020, it seemed like it would potentially be a decent investment. And now this is where it all went wrong. If I was to buy ETH I wanted to do it on Gemini. I preferred the graphics on Gemini as compared to the graphics on Coinbase. Yes, you read that right. The ETH logo looked way cooler on Gemini. With that in mind, I tried to set up a Gemini account. I have no idea why, but the Gemini app just did not work on my phone. I simply could not sign up for an account. And so I said screw it and invested in stocks again. I’ll disclose the amount I had to invest at that time because it’s fun. I had $4K that I was going to invest. At a price of $180, I would’ve gotten roughly 22 ETH. But, whatever. Bottom line is I did not invest at that time. It was not until December of 2020 when I watched a Tik Tok in which a user discussed the incoming ‘Crypto Bull Run,’ that I thought about Ethereum again after April of 2020.
Fuck bro, that was long and you didn’t even cover NFTs. Can you cover how you got into those too?
Sure. In January of 2021 I liquidated a substantial portion of my life savings and invested it into ETH. In doing research, I stumbled across a video by the popular YouTube account ‘Coin Bureau’ in which he discussed NFTs and stated how they could possibly be the biggest trend in 2021. After this, I decided to follow the NFT market. I learned about the major platforms (SuperRare, OpenSea, KnowOrigin et all). I like to tell the story of how in February of 2021, I was upset at myself that I had missed the mint of the project ‘Hashmasks.’ I liked the concept that you could accrue RCT token and eventually name your own Hashmask. If I acquired one, I had planned to name mine ‘Fatherkels,’ as an homage to one of my favorite social media personalities, but I never ended up acquiring one. Somewhere along the way in February of 2021, the video of Chamath Palihapitiya discussing how he was buying ‘Non-Fungible Tokens’ went viral and JPEG mania 1.0 ensued. I recall browsing the SuperRare platform and being disappointed that there were no fashion photographers on there. I also at the time had zero experience collecting art and so I did not feel comfortable purchasing anything. I continued to track the market loosely although I will say that when JPEG mania 1.0 died down and the ‘NFTs are ded bro’ narrative took over, I was kind of a fan of that narrative. As much as I wanted them to, NFTs didn’t really click for me at the time and so to see that there were other people who weren’t fans of NFTs was comforting. Somewhere along the way, projects such as Bored Ape Yacht Club, Cool Cats, SupDucks, Doge Pound, and World of Women were released. While I was aware of them all, I did not buy any of them. I had spent the past roughly 7 months stacking a portfolio of ETH and I just could not break the psychological barrier of spending it on a JPEG. That said, I finally caved and bought my first JPEG on Sunday August 7th, 2021. It was a Pudgy Penguin. Growing up I was addicted to Club Penguin. I have always loved penguins and so I finally made the leap. As an aside, please do not misconstrue this as support for this project today in January 2021. I currently do not own any penguins. But back then, within days of purchasing I sold my penguin for a decent profit. After this I was hooked. The ensuing two months were nuts as I’m sure many of you can attest to. Another noteworthy thing happened in September of 2021 while I was on a plane scheduled to fly to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. On my Twitter feed appeared a user named Guido Disalle. I found his name interesting so I checked out his work on SuperRare. Remember when I mentioned I was disappointed in February 2021 when I couldn’t find any fashion photographers in the NFT space? Well, finding Guido Disalle made me realize this space was evolving quickly. I consider September 30th, 2021 the day the music stopped (at least for the pfp projects I owned). Suffice it to say that I’ve spent the last month or so taking losses in order to ease my tax burden. It’s been interesting to say the least. Anyway, on November 9th, 2021 I went onto Foundation and searched ‘fashion photography.’ I stumbled upon a JPEG by
Okay bro, you mentioned photography NFTs, why photography?
Strap in. My interest in photography in general stems from my interest in fashion photography. How did I get interested in fashion photography you ask? The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. As an aside if you hate Ed Razek, I don’t, but I respect this. If you hate the Victoria’s Secret brand, I don’t, but I respect this. Quite honestly I view the Victoria’s Secret brand as pretty irrelevant today. What made them great (Ed Razek’s vision) also ended up killing the brand. He was sclerotic. The brand suffered greatly. With the major direct to consumer brands (think Lounge) utilizing influencer marketing impeccably, I don’t see how Victoria’s Secret can or does remain relevant in today’s climate however desperately they try. Anyway yes, the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. I first stumbled upon the show in December of 2009 at 16 years old. I was completely spellbound. As time went on I researched all of the models and fell in love with them all. Alessandra, Adriana, Candice, Lily, Erin, Jasmine, Martha, Karlie, Elsa, Stella, Josephine. All of them. By 2014 I started reading books about the fashion industry. I read ‘The Beautiful Fall’ by Alicia Drake about the Paris fashion scene in the 1970s centered around Yves St. Laurent and Karl Lagerfeld and ‘DV’ the autobiography by Diana Vreeland the esteemed former editor of Vogue. I loved everything I was reading and started thinking that perhaps I may enjoy working at a modeling agency. During 2014-2015, I attempted to get one of these jobs, but ultimately was unable to. Nonetheless, my interest never faded. In 2017, I discovered the book ‘Model’ by Michael Gross. While it is intended to be an expose of the modeling industry from the 1950s through the 2000s, it literally reads as a written history of the modeling industry during this time. If you have any interest in fashion models, this book is a must. During this year I also read ‘Model Woman’ by Robert Lacey which details the story of Eileen Ford of Ford Models fame. And lastly, I read ‘Focus’ by Michael Gross which is a book about the famous fashion photographers including but not limited to Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, Peter Lindbergh, Helmut Newton, and Bert Stern. Okay so yeah, I love fashion photography.
Cool bro, so you a photographer yourself or what?
Not currently, but I am in the process of learning. Granted I’ve been ‘in the process of learning’ since February 2021. I’ve been very inefficient about it. But, let’s talk about this. In the above section I noted that in January of 2021 I liquidated a substantial portion of my assets and went all in on ETH. My plan was to eventually sell the ETH and move to Miami Beach, Florida and focus on photography full time. Essentially my idea was I wanted to make enough money from this investment that I would not need to depend on photography for any income. Over the last year, I’ve come to the conclusion that it seems far more appealing for me do something I love and make money in different ways on the side. Okay so what/who did I plan to shoot photos of upon arrival in Miami Beach. Okay so it is at this point where it is possible the reader will decide to dislike me. I’ve done a lot the past couple of weeks to build up some goodwill so I ask that you bare with me as I explain what I am about to explain. I like Instagram Models. To start, I use the term ‘Instagram Model’ not in a derogatory way but more in a descriptive way. I presume you conjure up in your head an image of a person similar to that which I conjure up in my head when I use the term and therefore I believe the term has merit. So let’s keep going. Now I know, I know. Many of you take the view that ‘Instagram killed photography’. That advancements in technology put a camera in every person’s hand such that it killed the art that once was photography. I suppose you could make a case for this. And I know that a lot of the fashion folks are not keen on the modern day ‘Instagram Models.’ I have always taken a different view. To keep this short I’ll start with the 1990s. It was the decade of the supermodel. You had names like Stephanie Seymour, Karen Mulder, Cindy Crawford, Nadja Auermann, and Claudia Schiffer leading the way. Beginning in the 2000s there was a bit of a shift and new models like Gisele Bundchen, Heidi Klum, and Tyra Banks stepped on the scene. After this around 2010, the most prevalent/famous models were the Victoria’s Secret Angels. Names like Lily Aldridge, Adrianna Lima, Alessandra Ambrosio, and Candice Swanepoel come to mind. In 2015 Victoria’s Secret still lead the way but it was newer names like Martha Hunt, Stella Maxwell, Elsa Hosk, Jasmine Tookes and Taylor Hill who were stepping onto the scene. I’d be remiss if I did not mention the rise of Kendall Jenner, Gigi Hadid, and Bella Hadid though if we are getting technical, they were not officially Victoria’s Secret Angels. Somewhere mixed in the timeframe between 2014-2018 with the advent of Instagram came the birth of a new type of model. The aforementioned Instagram Model. Models that rose to fame through posting photos of themselves to Instagram exclusively. Things are different now. The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show was cancelled after 2018. The world just doesn’t need it anymore. Brands like Boutine LA, Lounge, and Fashion Nova which are direct to consumer brands which have all executed to near perfection on influencer marketing strategies have rendered Victoria’s Secret moribund. In addition it is these brands along with online platforms like OnlyFans that have made it viable for people to be ‘Instagram Models.’ But anyway, I see the ‘Instagram Model’ era as simply another epoch in the rich history of models. Those who have heard me speak on Twitter Spaces or have read previous blog posts may be aware that I love reading about the history of the modeling industry. I see what we are going through now in the digital age as just another part of this storied history. And I want to contribute to history. And I believe I can contribute by taking photos. And who knows? Perhaps I’ll try it and not like it, but this is the point. I need to at least try or I will never know and live with regret. So this is what I wanted to do and still to this day think I want to do. If you’ve made it to this point and have not closed out of the browser, thank you. I try to approach everything in life from the perspective of understanding rather than negative judgment. My view on the ‘Instagram Model’ era reflects this larger life view. I spoke with someone recently who reminded me that having this preference or liking does not make me a bad person. I appreciated hearing this. I will say, it’s odd I feel I have to ‘admit’ to this liking and it’s odd that to this point not a single person in my life knows that this is what I want and plan to do. Along these lines, it’s even more odd that I feel most comfortable telling a bunch of people on the internet about this. But, I suppose such is life in 2022. Also, there may be a lot of blind spots and indecorous things I have unknowingly said in the above passage. If you spot things like this, let me know. Let’s talk it through. If there are ways I can improve, I’d like to do so. This was a lot of words, but bottom line is I am not a photographer yet. Let’s move on and again thank you if you are still with me.
Aight bro, let’s get to the good stuff. What do you look for in an artist when collecting?
Okay. Let’s use an example because that’s more fun, but understand that it really is a case by case basis. I like to think everything in life is a case by case basis and that there are no universal rules or principles that can be applied in every situation.
The example we will use is Jenna Dixon. I recently purchased a JPEG from Jenna. She was on my list of artists I really wanted to collect from in 2022. So why’d I collect from her? To start, Jenna is an insanely talented photographer. Look for yourself. In addition to this Jenna is a positive contributor to this whole NFT Photography Community (all about the community bro). She’s always using her platform to either feature other artists or celebrate other peoples’ wins. I like seeing this. In addition, Jenna is super nice to me. Whenever I post these write ups, Jenna is always one of the first ones to comment her support. In addition, I host a Twitter space every Sunday and Jenna is always there. Does that mean if you don’t comment on my stuff and show up to my space I won’t support you? No. But friends, I’m a person. I like what’s familiar. The more I see the name ‘Jenna Dixon’ the better it is for Jenna Dixon in terms of receiving my support. This is human behavior 101.
Gotcha bro. Can you give more examples of people you’ve collected from and how that came about?
Sure. Let’s do three more.
Justin Rosenberg - I discovered Justin after Guido Disalle retweeted his work. I engaged with the retweet and Justin noticed and followed me. I saw that he followed me so I followed him back. He messaged me saying hey. This is critical. Justin was interested in talking to me. He was not messaging me to make a sale. We got into conversation. Our conversation was long. Justin started showing me some of his work. Mind you none of what he was showing me was minted and I was the one who asked him to send me some stuff. I was completely smitten by his photos. They were incredible. At times, I clenched they were so amazing. I’m not exaggerating. By the end of our conversation, I asked if he’d be willing to mint one of the photos that caught my eye. I was ready to buy on the spot. Justin explained that he was dealing with Crohn’s disease and needed to go to bed and asked if we could do the sale tomorrow. I respected this. Justin is a smart guy. I imagine he is aware that if you give someone time to think about a large purchase, there is the potential that they will back out. It just demonstrates how he was not expecting a sale at all when he messaged me. The next day we completed the sale. Justin has since become a good friend. I hope he considers joining the Meka Ape community one day as we’d love to have him in the Discord.
Monica Jalali - This image! The image this write up was supposed to be about. Remember that!? Okay so while in the above anecdote Justin messaged me first, I messaged Monica first. I like the name Monica. Monica Geller was my favorite character in the television series Friends. This gave Monica an original advantage (remember collectors are people and people are subject to strange biases or whatever). Can having a favorable view of the name Monica really make me take an initial interest in Monica the artist? Yes, I think so. Point being there is without question a degree of randomness when it comes to who a given collector collects from. Anyway, like Jenna, Monica is too a positive contributor to the community always celebrating wins and retweeting others’ work. And like, Jenna, Monica is also an insanely talented photographer. Look Here. I really wanted to collect from Monica, but as my pockets are not that deep, I have limits on the amount I am willing to spend on a given piece of art. I also do not believe in haggling with artists and asking them to lower their price. Currently, (as of 1/4/2021) the most I am willing to spend on a given piece of art is 1.5 ETH (subject to change). At the time I originally reached out to Monica she had a piece listed for 2 ETH. Now please keep in mind that regardless of artist the most I am willing to spend currently is 1.5 ETH. I am not saying that Monica’s piece at 2 ETH is not worth that. It most certainly is, but I have limits and must abide by them else I will not last in this space. Anyway, on 12/31/2021 Monica minted a piece at 1.5 ETH. I did not tell her to set the price at 1.5 ETH. This happened organically. I also love the piece that she minted and so the stars aligned and I collected.
Kendall Garrett - I discovered Kendall’s work through a retweet on Twitter. Kendall has a unique style of developing her photos and I found a photo that I fell in love with minted on Foundation. I knew absolutely nothing about Kendall before I collected from her. I had never interacted with her before collecting from her either. In fact, she had no idea her JPEG had even sold. It wasnt until a couple of days after when I posted the write up on Twitter that she realized her JPEG had sold.
So you cool if I shill you some art in the DMs?
Fuck no! But some of you are probably gonna do it anyway. So let’s party!!! But seriously. Doing this makes me think you only care about making a sale. Lemme explain. I imagine that making a sale is euphoric. And while it is euphoric, I imagine the euphoria is ephemeral. After the sale exists that existential crisis of ‘now what?’ This is where the process comes into play. Yes, the process. It needs to be more than just making sales. Tom Brady went to 10 Super Bowls and won 7 of them. This type of success is not possible without a focus on the process.
Yooo bro you started 2022 out with a BANG! You gonna continue that?
In a word, no. I cannot. If I did I would run out of money. I came into the year 2022 with a list of artists I wanted to support. As of the day I am writing this post, all of those artists now have art in my collection. As such, I will chill for a little. Longevity is and needs to be my main focus.
What’s the plan with your collection bro?
No plan. I have no idea what I’m doing. I’m having a ton of fun doing it though. This has sort of been my approach to life. I’m more comfortable following an unstructured and chaotic approach. The famous line ‘those that fail to plan, plan to fail’ is not true for everyone. I don’t believe that there is a universal approach to life that works for everyone. There is an approach however that works best for you. Lack of structure and planning works best for me.
I noticed you do write ups on some pieces you collect. Care to explain this?
Sure. I have never written on the internet in any capacity ever before in my life. This is the first time. Any ability I have in writing I credit to reading a lot. But, yes the write ups are a way for me to be heard. I often find that while I have a lot to say, it is difficult for me to say it verbally. I deal with crippling social anxiety and often times my heart beats so fast before I speak that I am literally unable to get words out. In addition to this, I sometimes find it difficult to say what I’m thinking in my head. The thoughts that are in my head come out mumbled and jumbled when spoken verbally. What I have found is that it is way easier to communicate and be heard via written text. I have a lot of ideas and thoughts and other things that I just want to put out into the world to an audience and these write ups enable me to do that. I start the write ups with a prelude which has nothing to do with the art piece I collect. I do this because it’s fun. They are about topics that interest me or are random anecdotes from my life that are fun and interesting and that I want to share with you. The actual write ups are not technical. I am not critically analyzing the photos I collect. Remember, I am not a trained photographer. Doing a critical analysis would feel weird and uncomfortable and would not be fun for me. Above all else, these write ups are supposed to be fun. Fun for me to write and fun for you to read. I often tell stories from my life that the photo I collected evoked. This is why I describe the write ups as more personal than educational.
Okay well fuck, you collected a JPEG from me and didn’t do a write up. What gives?
To start, I acknowledge that it could come off as presumptuous that I think there is a chance that someone would care that I didn’t do a write up on their piece. But, I don’t know. Maybe someone does care and so I’ll address it. I don’t have the creative energy to do a write up for every piece I collect. And so I do a write up on some.
I’m interested in having you provide feedback on my work. Can you?
Remember, I am not a trained photographer. What makes your work great is that it is your work. Therefore, I prefer to not provide feedback on your work. Along these lines, I prefer to not provide feedback on the cohesiveness of your collection. I have no experience studying collections and therefore am neither qualified nor interested in providing feedback on your collection.
What’s up with your antics on Twitter, Bro?
Observing the way Omar Robles handled the auctions on Twitter during the sale of his City Collection on Foundation was interesting. He described his use of the Twitter Feed to provide updates on the status of auctions on the collection as theatre. I found this to be an interesting way of looking at it. I felt the way Omar handled things was fun. And I want to have fun while I’m collecting. So often times, when I make a bid I will subsequently make a post similar to the one below. It seems to be fun for everyone involved:
Do you expect anything of me once you collect from me?
Yes. An ERC-20 token and I expect that you are developing a P2E game. This is a joke. No, once I collect from you I do not expect anything from you. If you’d like to maintain a relationship with me that’s cool. If you do not wish to maintain a relationship with me, that’s cool too.
Do you think you have any responsibility towards me once you collect from me?
Not really. I’m happy to promote your work and stuff, but I don’t think that once I collect from someone I am therefore responsible for anything.
If you collected a piece that appreciated a lot would you sell?
Yes. I think it would be irresponsible if I didn’t. I am not at a point where a JPEG appreciating a lot would have no impact on my life. It would and I would sell. Also, in selling it would unlock a great deal of liquidity which could be used to support even more artists. A win-win really.
Would you ever dox yourself?
Perhaps one day. Some of you already know what I look like. Some of you have already met me in person and at least one of you knows my first and last name. So technically, I’m already doxed. But, yes perhaps one day I’ll do it on the Twitter feed.
I’m new to the space, what do you think is best to do?
I don’t know what is best to do, but here is what I did. Here’s my first thought. I see communication online in terms of extremes. What I mean is, it is way easier to be mean on the internet than it is to be mean in real life. Conversely, it is way easier to be nice on the internet than it is to be nice in real life. I chose to be nice to everyone. In doing this, I’ve met a ton of really cool people who I hope will end up being friends for life. This is the greatest networking opportunity in the world for introverted people in my opinion. I am an extremely introverted person and I struggle with crippling social anxiety. With that in mind it is extremely difficult for me to talk to people in real life through verbal communication. It is WAY easier for me to talk to people on the internet via written (text) communication. Because of this, I have been able to network like crazy. I host a Twitter Space with the biggest Fashion Photographer in the NFT space. I don’t say this to brag I say this to provide an example of how unique this opportunity of being here is. I see it as the opportunity of a lifetime and I hope I am able to make the most of it. Whatever that means.
Okay, let’s switch gears a bit. I have some random topics I want to discuss
On Social Anxiety:
On Friday, January 7th, 2021 I posted a thread on my dealings with social anxiety and how difficult it was for me to speak in Twitter Spaces. As a result of this thread which experienced a modicum of virality, many reached out to me saying they deal with the same thing. This does not surprise me. It seems to help us all to talk about these things. For whatever reason, I often feel a lot of shame when discussing this topic so I rarely discuss it with anyone. Though, as a result of being an extreme introvert and dealing with social anxiety, I’ve spent a great deal of time alone. I like to think that everything is neither as good or as bad as it seems. Things just are what they are. Nonetheless, I’ve enjoyed connecting with so many of you and if any of you want to talk about this topic I’m down.
On ‘having your shit together’
If I ever utter the words ‘I have my shit together,’ please punch me. I wish to be forever lost. If I ever declare that I know anything then it is completely over. A couple of years ago I was out to dinner with my mother and my sister. Growing up, I was the child that was slated to ‘succeed’ in life. I put that word in quotes because it means nothing. My sister had a learning disability and struggled in school. Whereas she was in all the basic classes getting average grades, I was in all the honors classes getting straight As. At some point it became utterly clear that that which occurred during our upbringing meant nothing. At the time of this dinner my sister was working a job in her field of ‘passion,’ public health. I was working a dead end job in accounting hating everything about it. We were discussing this and my mother said something along the lines of how lost I was. It wasn’t you are lost in a good way. It was you are lost in a bad and surprising way. But folks, don’t be upset at my mother. She is amazing and I imagine she meant well when she said this. To a degree it was true. I was kind of lost and kind of still am. I ended high school with a 4.0 GPA and was on my way to a ‘successful’ life I thought. Obviously wrong. I refer to myself as a former rule follower. In high school I truly believed if I did everything the ‘right’ way I’d succeed. I didn’t drink, I didn’t do drugs, I studied hard for every test, I went to the gym and was fit. I did everything I was supposed to do to succeed and there was no way I would not be successful. At some point everyone becomes disillusioned with what they thought to be the truth. My disillusionment came during college. In 2012, when it was time to make a decision on where to go to college, I was still of the misinformed belief that where you went to school actually mattered. Today, I am convinced it does not, but back then it mattered to me. I wanted to go to the University of Southern California. I grew up during the glory days of USC football and that always left an impression on me. It also didn’t hurt that I grew up obsessed with celebrities and pop culture. I did everything in my power to get into USC. I visited the campus, I had an in person interview, I put hours into studying for the SAT, and got straight A’s my senior year of high school to show that I was a serious student. In April of 2012, I received an acceptance letter from the University of Southern California. I got in. To this point, this is the proudest accomplishment of my life. I did not attend USC. At a certain point, two things dawned on me. One, USC is expensive as fuck. It’s a private school situated in the heart of Los Angeles, California and I did not receive any type of academic scholarship. Two, California is very far from New York. I ended up attending a cheap state school in New York. It’s called Binghamton University and I doubt you’ve heard of it. Ending up there was devastating, but perhaps very necessary. This is what lead to my disillusionment with my rule-following ways. How, I asked myself, after all of that hard work could I end up at some shitty state school in the middle of nowhere in upstate New York? It made no sense, but it provided an excellent lesson. There is no cookie-cutter approach to ‘success.’ There is no cookie-cutter definition of ‘success’ either. The world is complicated. Understanding things is complicated. Very little in the world makes ‘sense.’ And therefore, I remain of the belief that currently and forever I know nothing and have nothing figured out.
On my Twitter account growing
It has dawned on me that my Twitter account is growing. For the better part of 2021, I used to tweet something and almost regularly get 0 likes and 0 comments. The other day I posted a thread which got 388 likes, 75 retweets, and 85 comments. Things are different now. The most magical thing about this is that as my account grows, it gives me the ability to help more people. The other day I was able to use my account to get four deserving artists onto the Foundation platform. That felt really good. Pretty regularly I get people reaching out to me for advice on all sorts of things. Where I can help I try, but I am not always going to be of service to you. There are many things I simply cannot help with. I’d like to somehow make doing NFTs a part of my full-time job. I have no idea what something like this would look like. I will say though that I am incredibly skeptical of monetizing a social media account. Preternaturally skeptical. I see big accounts all the time clamoring for trust, while at the same time dumping ads on their followers. I don’t see how you can expect to get the trust of people while at the same time relying on advertisements for income. I just don’t see it. The two things are at complete loggerheads. Perhaps one day I will, but for now I do not. The other thing I am incredibly skeptical of is shill tweets. In case you have not noticed, I have never told you all that 'I’m chillin in my room and want to vibe out to some art and can you please drop your art below with no links and then also follow me retweet and tag three people and then maybe I’ll buy something’. I don’t argue that this is not an excellent way to grow an account. It is. What I do argue is that all followers and engagement is not created equal. Growing your account this way gets people to follow you for the sole purpose that there was the potential that you’d buy their art. Currently 2,929 people follow me. I imagine their reasons for following me differ, but I know it’s not because I one day provided them false hope that in exchange for engagement I MAY buy something from them. Tactics like this are incredibly one sided. The engagement farmer wins in the form of the engagement and in the end provides artists false hope that something will be bought. I understand completely that some of you believe posts like this have a place in this ecosystem. That posts like this precipitate artists sharing their work which can then possibly be discovered by someone scrolling through Twitter. Perhaps this is the case. Nonetheless, at this time I have no interest in participating in this and will continue to not do so unless I can be convinced otherwise.
On the dissonance between the voice you read and the voice you hear on Twitter Spaces
I am an unabashed moron. I like to have fun. I like to joke around and I hate professionalism. It dawned on me one day this past week while fucking around in a Twitter space that it must now be strange for people to hear that and then read the voice in these write ups. The tone I strike in these write ups is serious and somber. The tone I strike in spaces in jovial and moronic. I’m all of these things. I have struggled with this my whole life. The concept of being a different person in different situations. I't’s hard to describe, but if you hear me in a space and then come read one of my write ups and are shocked just know that I am aware of this and think that it is what it is.
Ending Thoughts
I’m really happy to be here with all of you. I believe so much of life is random. That I ended up in the thick of this Digital Renaissance is quite random. I entered the crypto market to get rich and be on my way. Along the way things changed drastically. I want to reiterate that I am so grateful to just be here. To be able to interact and connect with so many talented people is so amazing and it is difficult to expound on exactly how I feel and express it in words. As always, I am incredibly optimistic about the future of this whole experiment.
Best of luck to everyone as we continue to explore the labyrinth of the blockchain and JPEGs.
Your friend,
Jonathan
P.S. - I chose to do this format for Monica’s image because her name is Monica🤗🤗. Randomness!!!!
Postlude
Monica kinda funny tho 😳😳
Monica Jalali is a talented photographer based in Canada
She can be found on Twitter Here
Her work can be found on Foundation
While you’re here, I host a Twitter Space every Sunday at 2 PM EST with Guido Disalle and Max. If you’re interested in Photography, come join us! We typically feature a handful of speakers and open the floor to the audience to come up and ask questions.
Prelude:
There’s events that happened during my childhood that when they occurred I did not care about, but now decades later I do. When I was in elementary school for whatever reason one day they invited parents to come to class. My mother worked in the city and my father worked from home so my father came. They gave us a book along with a post it note and instructed the parents to write a message to their children on the post it note and stick it in the book. I recall this moment happening but it wasn’t until years ago when I found the book while cleaning my room that I saw and recalled what he wrote. He wrote the following:
Dear Jon,
Do something
Expect Nothing
Blame no one
With love,
Dad
Reading it then made me want to cry. My father is still alive, but still. Unfortunately, I no longer know where that book is so I will memorialize it here instead.
Write Up:
Let’s start by displaying the image below:
I’m gonna pull a fast one on you here. I’m not gonna write about Monica’s image. It seems I have inadvertently become a collector of NFT art. I have found that while I struggle talking about myself, I do love writing about myself so allow me to introduce myself:
Okay bro, who are you? Let’s hear the elevator pitch!
Sure. My nickname is Jonny. My actual name is Jonathan although I have not been called this since birth. Sometimes friends call me Jonathan, but using this name on me is an acquired skill. If you can master it, feel free to call me Jonathan. If you are unable to master it, Jonny works. I’m some 28 year old guy who lives in New York, NY. I grew up 40 minutes from Manhattan, went to college in the middle of nowhere (upstate NY), and have lived in Manhattan for approximately the last 5 years. I’ve been in New York my whole life. I currently work a job in accounting/finance that I would love dearly to escape!
Lit bro. How’d you get into crypto and NFTs?
So I first heard about Bitcoin when I read a GQ article about it in 2014. I believe the article was about Charlie Shrem, but I don’t remember it that well. I thought it was an interesting concept, but didn’t look into it further. In January of 2016, I read the book ‘Digital Gold: Bitcoin and the Inside Story of the Misfits’ by Nathaniel Popper. If you have not read this book, I recommend it as it gives you the story of the early days of Bitcoin and is in general a very well written and interesting book. Reading this book piqued my interest on Bitcoin and so I opened a Coinbase account on January 13th, 2016. On this day I checked the price of Bitcoin and saw that it was around $300. I then moved the chart back a couple of years and noted that at one point the price was $0.30. Upon seeing this I decided I was too late. In hindsight that was obviously a foolish attitude to have. And so as a guiding principle, I try to remind myself that it is never too late for anything. After this I did not think about Bitcoin or cryptocurrency again until September of 2017. One day at work in September of 2017, I was in a room with a bunch of co-workers and we discussed how we all wanted to get rich. One of my co-workers who was 31 years old at the time said to the group ‘You know, I grew up believing one day I would be rich. But then faster then I knew it, I was a 31 year old working a dead end job at some accounting firm. Life moves fast. If you’re gonna get rich, you better do it now.’ I was 23 years old at this point. Once he said that, our whole group then began looking for ways to get rich. And obviously, we were looking for a way to get rich that involved the least amount of effort. We started browsing stocks, but couldn’t come to a consensus with regards to which stock would make us rich. It was at that point that I remembered I had downloaded the Coinbase App back in 2016 and that perhaps crypto would be a good path to getting rich. I checked the Bitcoin chart and noted the price was around $4K. I was smitten. Remember, the last time I checked the bitcoin price before this was back in 2016 when it was $300. An asset going from $300 to $4K in such a short time frame was quite impressive. But, how, I asked myself, could I possibly get rich from Bitcoin now? It was already at $4K and it couldn’t possibly go any higher. Upon having this realization, I noted that there were two other assets trading on Coinbase at the time. They were Ethereum and Litecoin. Ethereum was trading at roughly $300 at the time. But Litecoin. Litecoin!! Litecoin was around $50. And so that was it. Litecoin was the next Bitcoin. I was gonna get rich off of Litecoin and so later that night I liquidated some assets in order to place a sizable (for me at that time) bet on Litecoin. Zero research, just the idea that if Litecoin could become the next Bitcoin I could become rich and if my investment went to $0, I left over enough money that I’d be fine. Unlimited upside, capped downside. My kind of bet. By December of 2017 my investment (bet) on Litecoin appreciated a lot. It was the most money I had ever almost made in my life. Yes, that’s right, almost. I remember in December of 2017 meeting up with friends at the Metropolitan Museum of Art here in New York and telling them about this Litecoin investment I had made. When I showed them my portfolio, they were literally screaming at me to sell. Of course, I refused because Litecoin was going to the moon. There was no doubt about it. I’ll cut to September of 2018 when I finally liquidated my Litecoin investment. As I’m sure most of you know, after January of 2018 the crypto market crashed. By September of 2018, enough family members and friends had called me an idiot for one, investing in crypto in the first place and two, not selling the top, that I decided they had a point and sold. In the end I think I came out even or maybe lost a couple hundred dollars on the investment (bet). After this, I totally forgot about crypto until March/April of 2020. Oh March of 2020, good times. I don’t need to remind you what happened to the world in March of 2020. You already know. Upon receiving my stimulus check in April of 2020 it dawned on me that I had an excess of cash and that perhaps, it may be wise to invest. I remembered how Ethereum had gone all the way up to around $1,400 back in January of 2018 and as it was sitting at roughly $180 in April of 2020, it seemed like it would potentially be a decent investment. And now this is where it all went wrong. If I was to buy ETH I wanted to do it on Gemini. I preferred the graphics on Gemini as compared to the graphics on Coinbase. Yes, you read that right. The ETH logo looked way cooler on Gemini. With that in mind, I tried to set up a Gemini account. I have no idea why, but the Gemini app just did not work on my phone. I simply could not sign up for an account. And so I said screw it and invested in stocks again. I’ll disclose the amount I had to invest at that time because it’s fun. I had $4K that I was going to invest. At a price of $180, I would’ve gotten roughly 22 ETH. But, whatever. Bottom line is I did not invest at that time. It was not until December of 2020 when I watched a Tik Tok in which a user discussed the incoming ‘Crypto Bull Run,’ that I thought about Ethereum again after April of 2020.
Fuck bro, that was long and you didn’t even cover NFTs. Can you cover how you got into those too?
Sure. In January of 2021 I liquidated a substantial portion of my life savings and invested it into ETH. In doing research, I stumbled across a video by the popular YouTube account ‘Coin Bureau’ in which he discussed NFTs and stated how they could possibly be the biggest trend in 2021. After this, I decided to follow the NFT market. I learned about the major platforms (SuperRare, OpenSea, KnowOrigin et all). I like to tell the story of how in February of 2021, I was upset at myself that I had missed the mint of the project ‘Hashmasks.’ I liked the concept that you could accrue RCT token and eventually name your own Hashmask. If I acquired one, I had planned to name mine ‘Fatherkels,’ as an homage to one of my favorite social media personalities, but I never ended up acquiring one. Somewhere along the way in February of 2021, the video of Chamath Palihapitiya discussing how he was buying ‘Non-Fungible Tokens’ went viral and JPEG mania 1.0 ensued. I recall browsing the SuperRare platform and being disappointed that there were no fashion photographers on there. I also at the time had zero experience collecting art and so I did not feel comfortable purchasing anything. I continued to track the market loosely although I will say that when JPEG mania 1.0 died down and the ‘NFTs are ded bro’ narrative took over, I was kind of a fan of that narrative. As much as I wanted them to, NFTs didn’t really click for me at the time and so to see that there were other people who weren’t fans of NFTs was comforting. Somewhere along the way, projects such as Bored Ape Yacht Club, Cool Cats, SupDucks, Doge Pound, and World of Women were released. While I was aware of them all, I did not buy any of them. I had spent the past roughly 7 months stacking a portfolio of ETH and I just could not break the psychological barrier of spending it on a JPEG. That said, I finally caved and bought my first JPEG on Sunday August 7th, 2021. It was a Pudgy Penguin. Growing up I was addicted to Club Penguin. I have always loved penguins and so I finally made the leap. As an aside, please do not misconstrue this as support for this project today in January 2021. I currently do not own any penguins. But back then, within days of purchasing I sold my penguin for a decent profit. After this I was hooked. The ensuing two months were nuts as I’m sure many of you can attest to. Another noteworthy thing happened in September of 2021 while I was on a plane scheduled to fly to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. On my Twitter feed appeared a user named Guido Disalle. I found his name interesting so I checked out his work on SuperRare. Remember when I mentioned I was disappointed in February 2021 when I couldn’t find any fashion photographers in the NFT space? Well, finding Guido Disalle made me realize this space was evolving quickly. I consider September 30th, 2021 the day the music stopped (at least for the pfp projects I owned). Suffice it to say that I’ve spent the last month or so taking losses in order to ease my tax burden. It’s been interesting to say the least. Anyway, on November 9th, 2021 I went onto Foundation and searched ‘fashion photography.’ I stumbled upon a JPEG by
Okay bro, you mentioned photography NFTs, why photography?
Strap in. My interest in photography in general stems from my interest in fashion photography. How did I get interested in fashion photography you ask? The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. As an aside if you hate Ed Razek, I don’t, but I respect this. If you hate the Victoria’s Secret brand, I don’t, but I respect this. Quite honestly I view the Victoria’s Secret brand as pretty irrelevant today. What made them great (Ed Razek’s vision) also ended up killing the brand. He was sclerotic. The brand suffered greatly. With the major direct to consumer brands (think Lounge) utilizing influencer marketing impeccably, I don’t see how Victoria’s Secret can or does remain relevant in today’s climate however desperately they try. Anyway yes, the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. I first stumbled upon the show in December of 2009 at 16 years old. I was completely spellbound. As time went on I researched all of the models and fell in love with them all. Alessandra, Adriana, Candice, Lily, Erin, Jasmine, Martha, Karlie, Elsa, Stella, Josephine. All of them. By 2014 I started reading books about the fashion industry. I read ‘The Beautiful Fall’ by Alicia Drake about the Paris fashion scene in the 1970s centered around Yves St. Laurent and Karl Lagerfeld and ‘DV’ the autobiography by Diana Vreeland the esteemed former editor of Vogue. I loved everything I was reading and started thinking that perhaps I may enjoy working at a modeling agency. During 2014-2015, I attempted to get one of these jobs, but ultimately was unable to. Nonetheless, my interest never faded. In 2017, I discovered the book ‘Model’ by Michael Gross. While it is intended to be an expose of the modeling industry from the 1950s through the 2000s, it literally reads as a written history of the modeling industry during this time. If you have any interest in fashion models, this book is a must. During this year I also read ‘Model Woman’ by Robert Lacey which details the story of Eileen Ford of Ford Models fame. And lastly, I read ‘Focus’ by Michael Gross which is a book about the famous fashion photographers including but not limited to Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, Peter Lindbergh, Helmut Newton, and Bert Stern. Okay so yeah, I love fashion photography.
Cool bro, so you a photographer yourself or what?
Not currently, but I am in the process of learning. Granted I’ve been ‘in the process of learning’ since February 2021. I’ve been very inefficient about it. But, let’s talk about this. In the above section I noted that in January of 2021 I liquidated a substantial portion of my assets and went all in on ETH. My plan was to eventually sell the ETH and move to Miami Beach, Florida and focus on photography full time. Essentially my idea was I wanted to make enough money from this investment that I would not need to depend on photography for any income. Over the last year, I’ve come to the conclusion that it seems far more appealing for me do something I love and make money in different ways on the side. Okay so what/who did I plan to shoot photos of upon arrival in Miami Beach. Okay so it is at this point where it is possible the reader will decide to dislike me. I’ve done a lot the past couple of weeks to build up some goodwill so I ask that you bare with me as I explain what I am about to explain. I like Instagram Models. To start, I use the term ‘Instagram Model’ not in a derogatory way but more in a descriptive way. I presume you conjure up in your head an image of a person similar to that which I conjure up in my head when I use the term and therefore I believe the term has merit. So let’s keep going. Now I know, I know. Many of you take the view that ‘Instagram killed photography’. That advancements in technology put a camera in every person’s hand such that it killed the art that once was photography. I suppose you could make a case for this. And I know that a lot of the fashion folks are not keen on the modern day ‘Instagram Models.’ I have always taken a different view. To keep this short I’ll start with the 1990s. It was the decade of the supermodel. You had names like Stephanie Seymour, Karen Mulder, Cindy Crawford, Nadja Auermann, and Claudia Schiffer leading the way. Beginning in the 2000s there was a bit of a shift and new models like Gisele Bundchen, Heidi Klum, and Tyra Banks stepped on the scene. After this around 2010, the most prevalent/famous models were the Victoria’s Secret Angels. Names like Lily Aldridge, Adrianna Lima, Alessandra Ambrosio, and Candice Swanepoel come to mind. In 2015 Victoria’s Secret still lead the way but it was newer names like Martha Hunt, Stella Maxwell, Elsa Hosk, Jasmine Tookes and Taylor Hill who were stepping onto the scene. I’d be remiss if I did not mention the rise of Kendall Jenner, Gigi Hadid, and Bella Hadid though if we are getting technical, they were not officially Victoria’s Secret Angels. Somewhere mixed in the timeframe between 2014-2018 with the advent of Instagram came the birth of a new type of model. The aforementioned Instagram Model. Models that rose to fame through posting photos of themselves to Instagram exclusively. Things are different now. The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show was cancelled after 2018. The world just doesn’t need it anymore. Brands like Boutine LA, Lounge, and Fashion Nova which are direct to consumer brands which have all executed to near perfection on influencer marketing strategies have rendered Victoria’s Secret moribund. In addition it is these brands along with online platforms like OnlyFans that have made it viable for people to be ‘Instagram Models.’ But anyway, I see the ‘Instagram Model’ era as simply another epoch in the rich history of models. Those who have heard me speak on Twitter Spaces or have read previous blog posts may be aware that I love reading about the history of the modeling industry. I see what we are going through now in the digital age as just another part of this storied history. And I want to contribute to history. And I believe I can contribute by taking photos. And who knows? Perhaps I’ll try it and not like it, but this is the point. I need to at least try or I will never know and live with regret. So this is what I wanted to do and still to this day think I want to do. If you’ve made it to this point and have not closed out of the browser, thank you. I try to approach everything in life from the perspective of understanding rather than negative judgment. My view on the ‘Instagram Model’ era reflects this larger life view. I spoke with someone recently who reminded me that having this preference or liking does not make me a bad person. I appreciated hearing this. I will say, it’s odd I feel I have to ‘admit’ to this liking and it’s odd that to this point not a single person in my life knows that this is what I want and plan to do. Along these lines, it’s even more odd that I feel most comfortable telling a bunch of people on the internet about this. But, I suppose such is life in 2022. Also, there may be a lot of blind spots and indecorous things I have unknowingly said in the above passage. If you spot things like this, let me know. Let’s talk it through. If there are ways I can improve, I’d like to do so. This was a lot of words, but bottom line is I am not a photographer yet. Let’s move on and again thank you if you are still with me.
Aight bro, let’s get to the good stuff. What do you look for in an artist when collecting?
Okay. Let’s use an example because that’s more fun, but understand that it really is a case by case basis. I like to think everything in life is a case by case basis and that there are no universal rules or principles that can be applied in every situation.
The example we will use is Jenna Dixon. I recently purchased a JPEG from Jenna. She was on my list of artists I really wanted to collect from in 2022. So why’d I collect from her? To start, Jenna is an insanely talented photographer. Look for yourself. In addition to this Jenna is a positive contributor to this whole NFT Photography Community (all about the community bro). She’s always using her platform to either feature other artists or celebrate other peoples’ wins. I like seeing this. In addition, Jenna is super nice to me. Whenever I post these write ups, Jenna is always one of the first ones to comment her support. In addition, I host a Twitter space every Sunday and Jenna is always there. Does that mean if you don’t comment on my stuff and show up to my space I won’t support you? No. But friends, I’m a person. I like what’s familiar. The more I see the name ‘Jenna Dixon’ the better it is for Jenna Dixon in terms of receiving my support. This is human behavior 101.
Gotcha bro. Can you give more examples of people you’ve collected from and how that came about?
Sure. Let’s do three more.
Justin Rosenberg - I discovered Justin after Guido Disalle retweeted his work. I engaged with the retweet and Justin noticed and followed me. I saw that he followed me so I followed him back. He messaged me saying hey. This is critical. Justin was interested in talking to me. He was not messaging me to make a sale. We got into conversation. Our conversation was long. Justin started showing me some of his work. Mind you none of what he was showing me was minted and I was the one who asked him to send me some stuff. I was completely smitten by his photos. They were incredible. At times, I clenched they were so amazing. I’m not exaggerating. By the end of our conversation, I asked if he’d be willing to mint one of the photos that caught my eye. I was ready to buy on the spot. Justin explained that he was dealing with Crohn’s disease and needed to go to bed and asked if we could do the sale tomorrow. I respected this. Justin is a smart guy. I imagine he is aware that if you give someone time to think about a large purchase, there is the potential that they will back out. It just demonstrates how he was not expecting a sale at all when he messaged me. The next day we completed the sale. Justin has since become a good friend. I hope he considers joining the Meka Ape community one day as we’d love to have him in the Discord.
Monica Jalali - This image! The image this write up was supposed to be about. Remember that!? Okay so while in the above anecdote Justin messaged me first, I messaged Monica first. I like the name Monica. Monica Geller was my favorite character in the television series Friends. This gave Monica an original advantage (remember collectors are people and people are subject to strange biases or whatever). Can having a favorable view of the name Monica really make me take an initial interest in Monica the artist? Yes, I think so. Point being there is without question a degree of randomness when it comes to who a given collector collects from. Anyway, like Jenna, Monica is too a positive contributor to the community always celebrating wins and retweeting others’ work. And like, Jenna, Monica is also an insanely talented photographer. Look Here. I really wanted to collect from Monica, but as my pockets are not that deep, I have limits on the amount I am willing to spend on a given piece of art. I also do not believe in haggling with artists and asking them to lower their price. Currently, (as of 1/4/2021) the most I am willing to spend on a given piece of art is 1.5 ETH (subject to change). At the time I originally reached out to Monica she had a piece listed for 2 ETH. Now please keep in mind that regardless of artist the most I am willing to spend currently is 1.5 ETH. I am not saying that Monica’s piece at 2 ETH is not worth that. It most certainly is, but I have limits and must abide by them else I will not last in this space. Anyway, on 12/31/2021 Monica minted a piece at 1.5 ETH. I did not tell her to set the price at 1.5 ETH. This happened organically. I also love the piece that she minted and so the stars aligned and I collected.
Kendall Garrett - I discovered Kendall’s work through a retweet on Twitter. Kendall has a unique style of developing her photos and I found a photo that I fell in love with minted on Foundation. I knew absolutely nothing about Kendall before I collected from her. I had never interacted with her before collecting from her either. In fact, she had no idea her JPEG had even sold. It wasnt until a couple of days after when I posted the write up on Twitter that she realized her JPEG had sold.
So you cool if I shill you some art in the DMs?
Fuck no! But some of you are probably gonna do it anyway. So let’s party!!! But seriously. Doing this makes me think you only care about making a sale. Lemme explain. I imagine that making a sale is euphoric. And while it is euphoric, I imagine the euphoria is ephemeral. After the sale exists that existential crisis of ‘now what?’ This is where the process comes into play. Yes, the process. It needs to be more than just making sales. Tom Brady went to 10 Super Bowls and won 7 of them. This type of success is not possible without a focus on the process.
Yooo bro you started 2022 out with a BANG! You gonna continue that?
In a word, no. I cannot. If I did I would run out of money. I came into the year 2022 with a list of artists I wanted to support. As of the day I am writing this post, all of those artists now have art in my collection. As such, I will chill for a little. Longevity is and needs to be my main focus.
What’s the plan with your collection bro?
No plan. I have no idea what I’m doing. I’m having a ton of fun doing it though. This has sort of been my approach to life. I’m more comfortable following an unstructured and chaotic approach. The famous line ‘those that fail to plan, plan to fail’ is not true for everyone. I don’t believe that there is a universal approach to life that works for everyone. There is an approach however that works best for you. Lack of structure and planning works best for me.
I noticed you do write ups on some pieces you collect. Care to explain this?
Sure. I have never written on the internet in any capacity ever before in my life. This is the first time. Any ability I have in writing I credit to reading a lot. But, yes the write ups are a way for me to be heard. I often find that while I have a lot to say, it is difficult for me to say it verbally. I deal with crippling social anxiety and often times my heart beats so fast before I speak that I am literally unable to get words out. In addition to this, I sometimes find it difficult to say what I’m thinking in my head. The thoughts that are in my head come out mumbled and jumbled when spoken verbally. What I have found is that it is way easier to communicate and be heard via written text. I have a lot of ideas and thoughts and other things that I just want to put out into the world to an audience and these write ups enable me to do that. I start the write ups with a prelude which has nothing to do with the art piece I collect. I do this because it’s fun. They are about topics that interest me or are random anecdotes from my life that are fun and interesting and that I want to share with you. The actual write ups are not technical. I am not critically analyzing the photos I collect. Remember, I am not a trained photographer. Doing a critical analysis would feel weird and uncomfortable and would not be fun for me. Above all else, these write ups are supposed to be fun. Fun for me to write and fun for you to read. I often tell stories from my life that the photo I collected evoked. This is why I describe the write ups as more personal than educational.
Okay well fuck, you collected a JPEG from me and didn’t do a write up. What gives?
To start, I acknowledge that it could come off as presumptuous that I think there is a chance that someone would care that I didn’t do a write up on their piece. But, I don’t know. Maybe someone does care and so I’ll address it. I don’t have the creative energy to do a write up for every piece I collect. And so I do a write up on some.
I’m interested in having you provide feedback on my work. Can you?
Remember, I am not a trained photographer. What makes your work great is that it is your work. Therefore, I prefer to not provide feedback on your work. Along these lines, I prefer to not provide feedback on the cohesiveness of your collection. I have no experience studying collections and therefore am neither qualified nor interested in providing feedback on your collection.
What’s up with your antics on Twitter, Bro?
Observing the way Omar Robles handled the auctions on Twitter during the sale of his City Collection on Foundation was interesting. He described his use of the Twitter Feed to provide updates on the status of auctions on the collection as theatre. I found this to be an interesting way of looking at it. I felt the way Omar handled things was fun. And I want to have fun while I’m collecting. So often times, when I make a bid I will subsequently make a post similar to the one below. It seems to be fun for everyone involved:
Do you expect anything of me once you collect from me?
Yes. An ERC-20 token and I expect that you are developing a P2E game. This is a joke. No, once I collect from you I do not expect anything from you. If you’d like to maintain a relationship with me that’s cool. If you do not wish to maintain a relationship with me, that’s cool too.
Do you think you have any responsibility towards me once you collect from me?
Not really. I’m happy to promote your work and stuff, but I don’t think that once I collect from someone I am therefore responsible for anything.
If you collected a piece that appreciated a lot would you sell?
Yes. I think it would be irresponsible if I didn’t. I am not at a point where a JPEG appreciating a lot would have no impact on my life. It would and I would sell. Also, in selling it would unlock a great deal of liquidity which could be used to support even more artists. A win-win really.
Would you ever dox yourself?
Perhaps one day. Some of you already know what I look like. Some of you have already met me in person and at least one of you knows my first and last name. So technically, I’m already doxed. But, yes perhaps one day I’ll do it on the Twitter feed.
I’m new to the space, what do you think is best to do?
I don’t know what is best to do, but here is what I did. Here’s my first thought. I see communication online in terms of extremes. What I mean is, it is way easier to be mean on the internet than it is to be mean in real life. Conversely, it is way easier to be nice on the internet than it is to be nice in real life. I chose to be nice to everyone. In doing this, I’ve met a ton of really cool people who I hope will end up being friends for life. This is the greatest networking opportunity in the world for introverted people in my opinion. I am an extremely introverted person and I struggle with crippling social anxiety. With that in mind it is extremely difficult for me to talk to people in real life through verbal communication. It is WAY easier for me to talk to people on the internet via written (text) communication. Because of this, I have been able to network like crazy. I host a Twitter Space with the biggest Fashion Photographer in the NFT space. I don’t say this to brag I say this to provide an example of how unique this opportunity of being here is. I see it as the opportunity of a lifetime and I hope I am able to make the most of it. Whatever that means.
Okay, let’s switch gears a bit. I have some random topics I want to discuss
On Social Anxiety:
On Friday, January 7th, 2021 I posted a thread on my dealings with social anxiety and how difficult it was for me to speak in Twitter Spaces. As a result of this thread which experienced a modicum of virality, many reached out to me saying they deal with the same thing. This does not surprise me. It seems to help us all to talk about these things. For whatever reason, I often feel a lot of shame when discussing this topic so I rarely discuss it with anyone. Though, as a result of being an extreme introvert and dealing with social anxiety, I’ve spent a great deal of time alone. I like to think that everything is neither as good or as bad as it seems. Things just are what they are. Nonetheless, I’ve enjoyed connecting with so many of you and if any of you want to talk about this topic I’m down.
On ‘having your shit together’
If I ever utter the words ‘I have my shit together,’ please punch me. I wish to be forever lost. If I ever declare that I know anything then it is completely over. A couple of years ago I was out to dinner with my mother and my sister. Growing up, I was the child that was slated to ‘succeed’ in life. I put that word in quotes because it means nothing. My sister had a learning disability and struggled in school. Whereas she was in all the basic classes getting average grades, I was in all the honors classes getting straight As. At some point it became utterly clear that that which occurred during our upbringing meant nothing. At the time of this dinner my sister was working a job in her field of ‘passion,’ public health. I was working a dead end job in accounting hating everything about it. We were discussing this and my mother said something along the lines of how lost I was. It wasn’t you are lost in a good way. It was you are lost in a bad and surprising way. But folks, don’t be upset at my mother. She is amazing and I imagine she meant well when she said this. To a degree it was true. I was kind of lost and kind of still am. I ended high school with a 4.0 GPA and was on my way to a ‘successful’ life I thought. Obviously wrong. I refer to myself as a former rule follower. In high school I truly believed if I did everything the ‘right’ way I’d succeed. I didn’t drink, I didn’t do drugs, I studied hard for every test, I went to the gym and was fit. I did everything I was supposed to do to succeed and there was no way I would not be successful. At some point everyone becomes disillusioned with what they thought to be the truth. My disillusionment came during college. In 2012, when it was time to make a decision on where to go to college, I was still of the misinformed belief that where you went to school actually mattered. Today, I am convinced it does not, but back then it mattered to me. I wanted to go to the University of Southern California. I grew up during the glory days of USC football and that always left an impression on me. It also didn’t hurt that I grew up obsessed with celebrities and pop culture. I did everything in my power to get into USC. I visited the campus, I had an in person interview, I put hours into studying for the SAT, and got straight A’s my senior year of high school to show that I was a serious student. In April of 2012, I received an acceptance letter from the University of Southern California. I got in. To this point, this is the proudest accomplishment of my life. I did not attend USC. At a certain point, two things dawned on me. One, USC is expensive as fuck. It’s a private school situated in the heart of Los Angeles, California and I did not receive any type of academic scholarship. Two, California is very far from New York. I ended up attending a cheap state school in New York. It’s called Binghamton University and I doubt you’ve heard of it. Ending up there was devastating, but perhaps very necessary. This is what lead to my disillusionment with my rule-following ways. How, I asked myself, after all of that hard work could I end up at some shitty state school in the middle of nowhere in upstate New York? It made no sense, but it provided an excellent lesson. There is no cookie-cutter approach to ‘success.’ There is no cookie-cutter definition of ‘success’ either. The world is complicated. Understanding things is complicated. Very little in the world makes ‘sense.’ And therefore, I remain of the belief that currently and forever I know nothing and have nothing figured out.
On my Twitter account growing
It has dawned on me that my Twitter account is growing. For the better part of 2021, I used to tweet something and almost regularly get 0 likes and 0 comments. The other day I posted a thread which got 388 likes, 75 retweets, and 85 comments. Things are different now. The most magical thing about this is that as my account grows, it gives me the ability to help more people. The other day I was able to use my account to get four deserving artists onto the Foundation platform. That felt really good. Pretty regularly I get people reaching out to me for advice on all sorts of things. Where I can help I try, but I am not always going to be of service to you. There are many things I simply cannot help with. I’d like to somehow make doing NFTs a part of my full-time job. I have no idea what something like this would look like. I will say though that I am incredibly skeptical of monetizing a social media account. Preternaturally skeptical. I see big accounts all the time clamoring for trust, while at the same time dumping ads on their followers. I don’t see how you can expect to get the trust of people while at the same time relying on advertisements for income. I just don’t see it. The two things are at complete loggerheads. Perhaps one day I will, but for now I do not. The other thing I am incredibly skeptical of is shill tweets. In case you have not noticed, I have never told you all that 'I’m chillin in my room and want to vibe out to some art and can you please drop your art below with no links and then also follow me retweet and tag three people and then maybe I’ll buy something’. I don’t argue that this is not an excellent way to grow an account. It is. What I do argue is that all followers and engagement is not created equal. Growing your account this way gets people to follow you for the sole purpose that there was the potential that you’d buy their art. Currently 2,929 people follow me. I imagine their reasons for following me differ, but I know it’s not because I one day provided them false hope that in exchange for engagement I MAY buy something from them. Tactics like this are incredibly one sided. The engagement farmer wins in the form of the engagement and in the end provides artists false hope that something will be bought. I understand completely that some of you believe posts like this have a place in this ecosystem. That posts like this precipitate artists sharing their work which can then possibly be discovered by someone scrolling through Twitter. Perhaps this is the case. Nonetheless, at this time I have no interest in participating in this and will continue to not do so unless I can be convinced otherwise.
On the dissonance between the voice you read and the voice you hear on Twitter Spaces
I am an unabashed moron. I like to have fun. I like to joke around and I hate professionalism. It dawned on me one day this past week while fucking around in a Twitter space that it must now be strange for people to hear that and then read the voice in these write ups. The tone I strike in these write ups is serious and somber. The tone I strike in spaces in jovial and moronic. I’m all of these things. I have struggled with this my whole life. The concept of being a different person in different situations. I't’s hard to describe, but if you hear me in a space and then come read one of my write ups and are shocked just know that I am aware of this and think that it is what it is.
Ending Thoughts
I’m really happy to be here with all of you. I believe so much of life is random. That I ended up in the thick of this Digital Renaissance is quite random. I entered the crypto market to get rich and be on my way. Along the way things changed drastically. I want to reiterate that I am so grateful to just be here. To be able to interact and connect with so many talented people is so amazing and it is difficult to expound on exactly how I feel and express it in words. As always, I am incredibly optimistic about the future of this whole experiment.
Best of luck to everyone as we continue to explore the labyrinth of the blockchain and JPEGs.
Your friend,
Jonathan
P.S. - I chose to do this format for Monica’s image because her name is Monica🤗🤗. Randomness!!!!
Postlude
Monica kinda funny tho 😳😳
Monica Jalali is a talented photographer based in Canada
She can be found on Twitter Here
Her work can be found on Foundation
While you’re here, I host a Twitter Space every Sunday at 2 PM EST with Guido Disalle and Max. If you’re interested in Photography, come join us! We typically feature a handful of speakers and open the floor to the audience to come up and ask questions.
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