Snapshot
I. Collection Spotlight
Colors of Tokyo by Joe Friend
II. The Latest
Assembly
NFTPhotographers
Obscura x The World Today
RawDAO
III. Murmers from the Photoverse
Nefarious collecting practices
Some advice for early career artists
IV. Photographer of the Week: Casey Joiner
V. Bookshelf
Pandora’s Camera by Joan Fontcuberta
VI. Collector’s Corner
On the Artist’s Side
I. Collection Spotlight
Colors of Tokyo by Joe Friend
Commercial and documentary photographer Joe Friend’s recently released collection, Colors of Tokyo, brings viewers through the vibrant streets of Japan’s capital. Made over the course of just one week, Friend produced this collection of portraits and streetscapes that are characterized largely by their warmth of light and an eye for expressive gesture and the fashions and fabrics of daily city life.
While there are some images in the collection that feel like outliers to the romantic emotional core of the work, and a tighter overall edit may provide a more focused voice, there’s a certain lyrical quality Friend achieves in his varied narrative strategies, which allows for rich forms of storytelling to take place.
The collection is part of a larger series titled Moving Portraits Project, which Friend intends to shoot similar collections in other major cities around the world.
Visions of the Future: Auction and Curated Exhibition by Saatchi Art
Saatchi Art invites the web3 photography community to participate in their first jury-curated blockchain photography auction.
Titled “Visions of the Future”, the exhibition invites artists to create photographic works exploring the momentous changes society has undergone in the last decade — and where they expect us to go next.
In the first project of its kind, jurors will select works by 50 fine art photographers for auction as phygital items. Each NFT chosen for auction will come with a physical limited-edition print produced by Saatchi Art for its first holders. Two more physical editions may be redeemed through the end of 2022 by any subsequent holders of tokens bought on the secondary market.
Submissions close July 25th, with the auction set to go live in August 2022.
Read the artist’s brief to learn more and submit your work.
II. The Latest
Assembly
Assembly’s latest drop comes from Mississippi-based photographer Langdon Clay. The collection, titled Cars: New York City, 1974-1976 is composed of 30 images of automobiles soaked under the quasi-surreal and sci-fi-like night lights of the city’s streets. While in some respects the work represents a time capsule of Americana, the dark tones characterizes these cars with sinister undertones, leaving viewers with suspenseful visions of the stories that might surround the seemingly benign subject matter.
View Cars: New York City, 1974-1976 here
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Assembly also shared a preview of its next drop with documentary photographer Doug Dubois, which we’ll dive into next week.
RawDAO
RawDAO this week released the third episode of its podcast, RAW Review, a series of in-depth conversations with artists who have become part of the DAO’s collection. The most recent episode centered on the work of Carlo Van de Roer, following the first two conversations of the series with Justin Aversano and Shane Lavalette.
Obscura x The World Today
This week Obscura’s 10k photography collection The World Today announced that they have begun weekly dutch auctions for the remaining work in their collection. The entire 10k project consists of projects by 138 photographers, and each week the platform will be releasing the work of 5-6 photographers in this format. The model follows the previous blind-mint format for the project, and allows collectors to pinpoint specific works that they can purchase.
NFTPhotographers
NFTPhotographers continues with its Community Spaces series of thematic town halls that offer conversations around specific issues relating to being a photographer in the space. This week, their 24th space centered on the theme of Marketing Challenges for Artists, which visits from collectors to provide their perspectives on best marketing practices.
III. Murmurs from the Photoverse
We love seeing collectors share advice to artists in the space, and this week we found two threads that provide great insights into best practices.
Unknown Collector wrote a great thread this week providing advice for artists to avoid nefarious collecting practices.
Funghibull offered some good, grounded advice for artists who have just begun to enjoy their first sales.
IV. Photographer of the Week: Casey Joiner
New Orleans-based photographer Casey Joiner’s work represents visually diaristic journeys through place, analyzing the surfaces of everyday life with poetic flourishes of color and romantic peering throughout her surroundings.
After exploring the city of New Orleans in her genesis collection, Way Down Here, Joiner’s latest minted work takes viewers through Mexico City as she examines the qualities of light and human character that give shape to the city’s culture. We sent her a few questions to learn a bit more.
PhotoVerso: Can you tell us about your background as a photographer?
Casey Joiner: I found photography during a time of pain and struggle about 5 years ago. What started as a hobby and means of therapy quickly turned into a full time passion to document life as I experience it. I’ve been making pictures professionally for the last 3.5 years, and have always shot film.
PhotoVerso: What inspires you as a photographer and what do you hope audiences take away from your work?
Casey Joiner: Inspiration comes in many forms, but I think I’m always moved to try and capture the humanity in everything - even inanimate scenes. I photograph things as they are, through a lens of slow, deliberate observation. It’s tenderness that I hope pervades my work.
PhotoVerso: What's the scoop with your latest NFT drop?
Casey Joiner: The last work I dropped was my Mexico City collection on Foundation! It’s a collection of 6 images made on a visit in 2019, a documentation of very ordinary daily moments in the lives of those that call it home. It’s vibrant and colorful and I hope it gives a true sense of time and temperature of the place.
V. Bookshelf
Pandora’s Camera by Joan Fontcuberta
Joan Fontcuberta is widely recognized in the traditional photo world for his contributions to photographic practice and theory. As among the first photographers to incorporate digital editing into his work in the late 80s, Fontcuberta pioneered new ways of making and thinking about photography.
Published in 2014, Pandora’s Camera is a series of essays in which he provides insights into his own practice while expounding on the legacies of digital tools in relationship to photography while playfully and critically examining the medium’s long and fickle relationships with the truth.
VI. Collector’s Corner
On the Artist’s Side
As we acknowledged above, we’ve seen a nice recent flow of collectors giving out advice to artists via Twitter threads and Spaces talks about best practices for marketing, minting, and more.
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