96 Studio collaborates with select photographers to bring their important bodies of work into the NFT space. Our goal is to give collectors access to beautiful photography from a diverse selection of the top emerging, mid-career and established artists.
How we got here.
Barry Sutton came into the NFT space with a splash. A photographer for over 30 years, his work is in the private collections of Calvin Klein and David Geffen, and has appeared in numerous publications such as Vogue, Ocean Drive, Newsweek and NYTimes T Magazine. Since 2018, Barry has been the Program Director of the graduate Fashion Photography program at School of Visual Arts in New York City.
After learning about NFTs and studying the market for a few months, he launched his genesis collection 96° in the Shade on Aug 11, 2021 with no marketing or pre-launch publicity. With the support of photographer Justin Aversano and collector gmoney, the collection of 100 works sold out in three days. Since its launch, the project has achieved a sort of cult status among collectors and has been a fixture on the top 50 all-time list of NFT photography projects.
On March 1, Barry launched his first synthetic photography project, Traces of Twins, a collection of 500 1/1 NFTs. Incredibly the collection minted out in 60 seconds. He is continuing an exploration of AI, with additional collections slated for launch in 2023.
From artist to connector.
Following the success of 96° in the Shade, Barry began reaching out to artists he admired, inviting them to explore the NFT space and after a few conversations with notable photographers, created 96 Studio, as a platform for bringing artists with important bodies of work to the blockchain.
“As I have become more and more a part of the NFT photography community, it has been important for me to find ways to help elevate photography, bring more diverse and beautiful work to collectors, and to help photographers at all stages of their careers to enter the space.”
“Getting started in the NFT space is not so easy. Requiring some knowledge of cryptocurrency, the NFT ecosystem, how to get work in front of collectors and build an online community, there is a steep learning curve for traditional photographers to enter the space. 96 Studio assists select photographers to launch their work as NFTs and introduce them to the nascent web3 ecosystem of artists, collectors, DAOs, journalists and others that can help them build community around their work. Our goal is to help artists find their way in this new landscape, achieve creative sovereignty and discover a new audience for their work.”
How we work.
Depending on the needs of each artist, 96 Studio may assist in the editing and production of the work, creating the smart contract and marketing and promotion. If needed, we may provide the initial investment of cryptocurrency required for the minting process. It is our intention to help artists take charge of their creative destiny and to that end, our goal is to give them the best possible advantage to become as self-sufficient as they want to be.
Artists interested in working with 96 Studio can apply here.