When it comes to NFT photography, JN Silva has emerged as one of the most influential artists in the space. As we’ve seen pieces by photographers like Justin Aversano and Jacob Riglin start to sell for a premium, Silva has continued to push the envelope of how photography can be integrated with blockchain technology and experienced as NFTs.

It’s no secret that 3D renders and perfect looping GIFs tend to top the NFT sales charts. Considering these two formats are digitally native and were largely pioneered on the blockchain by some of the most influential crypto artists to date (i.e. XCOPY & Beeple) it comes as no surprise that crypto-natives find these to be some of the most appealing tokens to collect. 

Yet as we’ve seen the marketplace mature, other creative formats like photography are starting to find a foothold on the blockchain. 

“I’ve been seeing a ton of amazing collectors kind of just make that push to collect more photography. And at first I was like, ‘Oh, man, should I do my photographs as NFTs? I don’t know,’” says Silvo on his start in the NFT space. “A lot of my friends even were just like, overthinking it so much. So I think now that more and more photographers are coming into the space, we’re creating our own unified voice. I think we’ll start to see more and more…”

On this episode of the nft now podcast, JN Silva talks about adapting his photography to the NFT format, the future of making a living as a photographer and more.

As we previously talked about in our episode with ThankYouX, JN Silva’s NFT journey dates back to those first couple of collaborative drops that the two released on Nifty Gateway. Having started out with a collaborative drop, Silva was able to gauge interest in NFT photography while experiencing a win-win by entering the space with another seasoned artist. 

“One of the coolest things about the first drop with ThankYouX, was the Avenue of the Americas shot. It was one of my favorite shots… and as soon as we released it, everyone just went crazy,” says Silva. “They were like, ‘I used to work there, I was there for years, it was my favorite Avenue, I have so many memories there.’ And you have all these things that I wasn’t foreseeing so many people to connect with that particular. And I think that’s amazing thing about photography – you never know how a photo is going to impact someone.”

Silva’s photographs depict hauntingly beautiful land and cityscapes. Some are so detailed they could easily fool the naked eye into believing they were 3D renders. Having accumulated a whopping $1.6 million in sales across 800 editions (according to CryptoArt.io), Silva sits on the charts as one of the highest grossing NFT photographers in the space.

Towards the end of 2020, Silva founded an art collective called Animus – a group endeavor dedicated to advancing the future of the NFT and crypto space. With surely a lot on his plate, Silva shows no signs of slowing down, and we’re excited to see what awaits him during the next NFT bull run.

Be sure to hit subscribe and stream our full episode with JN Silva here.