Origin Story

Origin Story is my genesis NFT series. It is the story of my exploration of photography and my evolving understanding of art told across 5 NFT’s. Each NFT is paired with a personally meaningful image.

Motivation

In 2021, NFT’s have hyper-financialized art and collectibles. With this project I wanted to explore what it means to mint an NFT? What it is and what it isn’t? A couple things that mattered to me were:

This series should be personal. This is my genesis NFT and collection. I wanted to mint this to own, and not to mint for selling. It would be my mark on the Ethereum blockchain. Also, what if there comes a time where we no longer transact NFT’s on L1 Ethereum?
This series should be thoughtful. It was important that this series was not just a collection of bare travel pictures. I wanted it to be thoughtful and substantial. The combination of 1/1 photo’s, part biography, part philosophy, and metadata structure were my attempt in giving some meat to this work.
This series should be contextual. That means there should be references that date the work, memes that are part of the 2022 NFT culture, exact camera models, etc. It should not be created as if it were timeless or placeless.
This work should standalone physically and digitally. In addition to marrying each NFT with a 1/1 fine art print, I also attached the full resolution jpeg’s to each NFT. I strongly believe that heart of owning digital art is social consensus of digital ownership, and that the full experience of a piece digital art should be public. Right click save is a feature, not a bug. (note: commercial rights is another matter)

Thanks for exploring Origin Story.

Part #1

Art = Choice

In July 2011, I decided to buy my first camera for a weeklong hiking trip. I walked into Target with $900 in my pocket and deliberated whether I should spend it. I did.

A month later, we drove from Minnesota to Colorado to hike a small handful of 14er’s and returned with tons of memories and thousands of photos. This photo was taken near the summit of the La Plata Peak hike. To photographers, this photo is imperfect in many, many ways. To me, it encapsulates the whole experience of conquering mountains with friends, learning how to use a camera, and the start of a lifelong pursuit.

In this reflection, I’m remembering that the core of art is intention. Art does not need to be beautiful. Art needs to be intentional. Along the entire creative process, the artist must deliberate over details big and small: vibe, medium, story, etc. Perhaps most importantly, the artist must decide to start.

This is the first photo I felt proud of making.

This is my genesis photo.

This is my genesis NFT.

Origin Story Part #1 - La Plata Peak, Colorado, USA taken on 2011-08-15 (5x1 panorama). Gear: Canon Rebel T3i with EF 28mm f/2.8; Exposure: 1/200s, f/10, ISO 100; Resolution: 14400x4800

Part #2

Art = Medicine

In March 2018, I was about to start a new job and was sent to Colorado for training. At this time, I had a bit of an identity crisis, because I began disconnecting from a field that I spent 9 years studying and working. My career became my day job.

On this solo trip, I enjoyed multiple hikes and photographed mountains and trees in the middle of snowstorms. Few things are more meditative than walking alone while it's snowing cotton balls and listening the snow crunch beneath each step. It's nature's reminder to be fully present.

Reconnecting with nature during this trip was the medicine I needed. To live in the moment. To enjoy the passage of time. To make. To enjoy artistic expression. Art is an experience, a process, and a verb. Art is something we must do because art is invigorating and intoxicating. Art isn't a choice.

Origin Story Part #2 - North Tenmile Creek, Colorado, USA taken on 2018-03-29 (3x3 panorama). Gear: Canon 5D Mark II with EF 85mm f/1.8; Exposure: 1/1600s, f/4, ISO 100; Resolution: 7000x3500

Part #3

Art = History

My first night visiting Paris concluded with the 2019 fire of Notre Dame. We were observing the Eiffel Tower from the Montparnasse tower and saw a haze from behind our building. The fire just began. It was indescribable to witness a historic church catch fire and to experience thousands of people sing hymns in unity later in the night. This sort of damage is saddening, but also gives this generation of Parisians the rare, rare opportunity to contribute to the historic church.

Around this time, I’d been giving a lot of thought around the business of fine art and asking myself what are the photos that have or will last 100 years. Technology evolves, so it’s not technical excellence. Beauty is subjective and existed since the dawn of man, so pretty images isn’t enough. It’s impact. It’s story. It’s history. It’s social-political commentary. It’s intentional. It’s conceptual. It’s the stuff that inspires us to say “why?”, “how come?”, and “what if?”.

Art is deeply personal. Art is a snapshot of the artist at that exact moment in their lives and their environment. Art is the stuff that stops us and moves us to become better humans. Art is history.

Origin Story #3 - Tour Montparnasse, Paris, FR taken on 2019-04-15 (3x1 panorama). Gear: Canon 5D Mark II with EF 85mm f/1.8; Exposure: 1/400s, f/4, ISO 100; Resolution: 6750x4500

Part #4

Art = Craft x Vision

In the spring of 2019, I was in New Zealand for work. The work week was hectic, and filled with daily McDonald’s breakfasts, meeting vendors, and long drives. The weekend was beautiful enjoying the country’s landscapes and fine beef and lamb.

The camera I brought had water damage from years ago, and it finally took its toll. The LCD screen died on the first day of the trip. My digital camera turned into a film camera.

Shooting panoramas in manual mode in New Zealand got me to reconnect with the experience of photography. For a long time, I had mistaken the craft of photography with the art of photography. Photography became about the techniques, camera settings, camera specs, etc. By losing the ability to pixel peep each photo immediately after taking it, I got to enjoy the experience of visualizing, clicking the shutter, and moving on. The experience of being fully present. This was a reminder that imagining was the more important half of photography.

Mastery of a craft provides the confidence and skill to create, but craft alone is not art. The artist must marry craft with vision.

Origin Story #4 - Stirling Falls, Milford Sound, NZ taken on 2019-02-16 (1x5 panorama). Gear: Canon 5D Mark II with EF 85mm f/1.8; Exposure: 1/400s, f/8, ISO 400; Resolution: 4500x9000

Part #5

Art = Hello World

2021 was a big year. Many positive things happened in our personal life. Garyvee pulled me down the VeeFriends and NFT rabbit hole. Kevin Rose taught me the term “generative art”.

Now it’s 2022. We returned from the first VeeCon. I’m asking myself why haven’t I taken art more seriously? I’ve been in love with art and design since 4th grade, been pursuing photography for a decade, and been thinking about probability-based art since 2015 … but I never committed.

On June 22, 2022, I thought: “if not earlier, why not now? and if not now, then when?”. I fired up the manifold.xyz studio. The ericdiep collection was born.

Art requires us to imagine, to desire, and to create. Art let’s us ask “why not?” and “what if?” instead of “what’s normal?”. Art compounds concept and vision with skill and talent. Art is an experience. Art makes us better people. Art hits us. Art isn’t a choice. Art requires us to commit. Art requires us to get started.

console.log(‘hello world’)

Welcome to my genesis project. LFG.

Origin Story #5 - ASCII art for the ericdiep Collection as viewed on Etherscan. Location: Ethereum; Address: 0xF5BF1f2D75E3BDD56D39ed63ff79013f60Bf1Fe3