Ep 40 – How David Fairs dig himself out of burn out to find balance in his life and sold out his NFT project on Solana

Hey Wicked Hunters,

I’m excited to be talking to an Australian artist who has made good wins in NFT world.

New Light Visuals is the label for all visual work by artist David Fairs. David has been a photographer, designer, animator, cinematographer, editor, sound designer and colourist for over fifteen years. Working his way up the chain to the role of Creative Director, being on sets and in studios with some of the biggest talent and crews in Australia. 

David now defines his art as an important escape from the stresses and anxiety of daily life. A process akin to meditation that has resonated with many and will now be the focus of his work going forward. Supporting mental health institutions and viewers to provide as much relief from the negative energies we all experience regularly. Taking time out to produce these images is as therapeutic witnessing them as it is appreciating them for the viewer. 

If you want to learn more about David’s work, you can find it here:

Link to social media:

• Website – Newlightvisual.com/
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• Twitter – https://twitter.com/newlightvisuals/ 
• NFT Arts – https://www.newlightvisual.com/nft-art 

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Transcription:

David Fairs  0:00  
So I really went 24/7 Like I was sleeping as little as I possibly could just so I could keep up. You know, when I when I get hold of something and with work, I go all in like I really do. And it’s kind of to my detriment sometimes. So, in January, I burned out properly like I literally couldn’t even listen to a conversation in real life

Stanley Aryanto – The Wicked Hunt  0:28  
Hey, we can do is welcome back to The Art of Photography podcast, where we share artists journey, and we get to learn how they get to where they are today and find inspiration to the journey. And today we have somebody from down under. And he’s very, he loves the ocean, he takes beautiful, beautiful photograph of the ocean. I know him from the NFT space, and you have a beautiful collection of that as well. So let’s welcome David David, how’s it going?

David Fairs  1:03  
Good. Thank you. How are you?

Stanley Aryanto – The Wicked Hunt  1:05  
Doing? Well, I see that you have a little bit of flu there. Hopefully, it’s not too bad.

David Fairs  1:12  
No, it’s got me. I’ve been out for a few days. But I’m glad to be here. And I’m happy to do the podcast, we’ll get through it.

Stanley Aryanto – The Wicked Hunt  1:20  
Yeah, you’re working too hard, man, you need to take it easy. So, you know, thanks for being here. And I know we have a little bit of mismatch to, you know, to have this recording. So I’m glad to finally, you know, sit with you and make this happen. I’ve been following your journey in the NFC journey, as well as following your, your photography and your creative world. So it’s been like an inspiration just to see that right. And that’s why I want to talk with you. I want to chat with you about your journey. I know that more often than not, you know, we don’t get to share our life story, but it’s more about the photograph or the art. So I’m excited to be able to learn more from you. Um, I guess let’s start with, you know, how did you find photography and what it is that makes you fall in love with it?

David Fairs  2:19  
That’s a good question. So it kind of fell in my lap. I have always been an artist for as long as I can remember. And I got into graphic design quite late as a career. And I worked my way up to creative director role, which was a really good, proud moment. For me, I was happy to have achieved that. And then I was working in the studio with a lot of really talented photographers and cinematographers directing shoots, and I just started to get obsessed with the gear and the settings. And you know, what we saw on set, and then the final product, and it was just, it was mind blowing to me that they could shape light and, you know, create these amazing images from what looks like a fairly rudimentary set in the studio. So I just started to go down that path, and I got sucked in big time. And little did my boss know, but I was grilling my photographers every day and finding out there settings that we’re using and what equipment I should start out with. And actually, I invested in my own little setup and just started exploring the world of photography and video. And it’s been amazing. Yeah, I fell in love with it, as you said.

Stanley Aryanto – The Wicked Hunt  3:33  
That’s amazing. And, you know, it’s, it’s interesting, you know, how everyone can fall in love with photography or fall into photography. So it’s great to hear that. And was there a moment in time where you know, you do photography, or you go out for an adventure, and you capture a photo or whatever it is in your life that makes you you know, like, was there like a time that you can put that was the turning point or that makes you like, wow, you know, I want to do this. I want to do more of this. I want to do the rest of my life.

David Fairs  4:11  
Yeah, I think there was a couple actually. So the first was I it was a bit crazy. And I took a client on. And I’d never shot video or audio or anything before. And the client flew me from Sydney to Las Vegas to shoot a child Expo convention which was mentally I was also all my instincts. Were telling me Don’t do it, you’re going to fail, you know, it’s going to be terrible. You’re going to embarrass yourself and my wife just said just do it. You know, and this is a chance for you to find something else that you love and who knows where it will take you and so, so I did I flew to Vegas. I stuffed up so many shots and settings and audio and made all the terrible mistakes you can make under the sun. But the client were really happy Be and they, they invited me back two years subsequent after. So I did three years on that job actually. So that moment in time gave me the belief in myself that you just have to do it and you just have to, you know, do the best you possibly can with the equipment you have. And your knowledge and skill set will come as you build. And that’s what’s been, that’s what’s happened, I’ve, I’ve been able to over the past five years, just build up that skill set to a really high professional level now where I’m confident, and I don’t have that voice saying don’t do it, you’re gonna fail. You know, so that was one moment. The other moment for photography was when I got a drone, and as part of my sort of video offering, or my business, and I started to shoot more photography to just work on composition, and work out sort of angles and light. And, and that was yeah, that was a moment when I when I realised that I had a really good eye for composition in life in drone photography. And it was quite a unique thing back at the time. There were a few big accounts doing it. But now there’s, you know, 1000s, whereas before, it was more like 10s, and hundreds. And so I thought that that was a niche that I could really kind of accelerating excel in. Sorry. So yeah, those two moments really defined my journey in photography and video. And so

Stanley Aryanto – The Wicked Hunt  6:16  
wow, that’s really cool. You know, I think I already find inspiration in that. I think that’s really cool to, to take a leap of faith like that, especially if you’ve never heard shot one before, like you say, or you know, like, No, not in that setting. And you flew all the way to Las Vegas.

David Fairs  6:34  
It was terrifying.

Stanley Aryanto – The Wicked Hunt  6:37  
That is crazy.

David Fairs  6:38  
So my friend that friend lent me a Canon seven D and I literally spent two days before flying out learning how to function and the menu settings. And he gave me a quick rundown on some things, but that was it was really baptism of fire.

Stanley Aryanto – The Wicked Hunt  6:54  
You know, that’s, that’s, that’s really awesome. Because I mean, I don’t know, if you do ever have this feeling, you know, when you want to post something on the website or on Instagram, you always think like, you know, it’s, it’s not perfect, yeah, like, I need to do this. And then you know, you edit this part of Angola. I still don’t like it, it’s something about it. And you keep going back and forth, back and forth, and back and forth. You know, and you ended up not posting it anyway. Right? You ever have that moment?

David Fairs  7:26  
Yeah, definitely. I know that feeling? Well, I have pieces that I’ve been sitting on for four years that I’m still not happy with. And then some days, you know, you’ve got your own presets there that you’ve crafted over the years, and you just click a button and boom, the image is perfect. You know, so it’s, it’s funny how it works. But yeah, I know exactly what you mean.

Stanley Aryanto – The Wicked Hunt  7:46  
Yeah, that’s exactly right. And you know, this, what you did in this, it basically in, in that first key was like, literally just crush all that, you know, doubts and just go you know, what, again, I fly all the way halfway around the world. You know, for those of you for the listeners who don’t know where David is, he’s in, you’re in the East Coast, you’re in Sydney or Melbourne? Yeah, just just a little bit south of Sydney will let go of Sydney. Exactly. So you know, you flew all the way around the world and just pick up the skin so that is amazing, you know, and that just goes to show that sometimes a lot of this thing a lot of doubts are only in our head, you know, it turns out that your client really loves it even though you know you say that you just screw up a lot of settings a lot of audio and stuff like that. So that’s really awesome. So I do see a lot of your your photography are are mainly from drones, you know, there’s a lot of beautiful photos of the coast as well as you know, the wildlife especially ocean wildlife. Is that Is that something that you draw to because I know that around Sydney there’s a lot of waterfalls and stuff like that but is there a reason that makes you you know shoot because that means you follow people surfing or you know the wildlife around water

David Fairs  9:21  
so I’m a big fan of hikes and waterfalls and all things mountain as well. However, I tend to go off the track when I go out there and don’t don’t take gear or anything. I just take my family and we go and enjoy that bushwalking and just be really what mods nature so I haven’t had the chance I’ve shot some wildflowers and a few things just to play around. But I haven’t really found a passion in that side of things. I kind of tend to feel freer when I’m just out there enjoying it. That’s just personally for me, I do admire waterfall shots with the long exposure and think wow, I’d love to give that a go but I haven’t got there yet. Maybe one day um But I think the coast stuff. So I’ve always gravitated towards surfing and my dad got me into surfing when I was about five. And so it’s been a part of my life, as long as I can remember, in the photography side, it was a real tug of war because I like go to shoot sunrise, and there’ll be waves and I’ll be like, Oh, just go surfing. So I go surfing more than I go shooting still to this day. But I really do love the fact that I can be there, go for a surf, get some waves, and then, you know, come back out launch the drone and get some shots as well. Sounds fine. But it’s quite an enjoyable way to kick off the day for me for sure.

Stanley Aryanto – The Wicked Hunt  10:41  
Ah, that’s an example that explains it. That’s why you’re, you know, you go out there take a lot of people serving so that’s, that’s really cool. You know, I’m, I try by just not that I try. I tried to get back to surfing the other day and I got rocked by the waves real hard. Like that’s, you know, we get robbed in in crypto space, but I got robbed. And you know, coming back seeing the craters base crashing and it’s just like, I felt like I almost drawn like, Okay, I still alive. But it’s man certainly is a lot of fun in capturing, I’m gonna say capturing people serving from a drone is a lot of fun. And are they it’s, it’s a lot, it’s very difficult as well to capture because, you know, like, sometimes they speed up, right, they turn and they speed up, and sometimes they came back and then slow down. So like, you kind of need to know where to go, when to stop and have that? Is it because that you know, you’re a surfer yourself that you’re able to understand that movement so that you could capture this photograph better?

David Fairs  11:58  
Yeah, I think that’s definitely the case. I see. I see a lot of guys who haven’t been in that sort of culture. And though they’ll message me and say, you know, how do you get these shots? Like, I just can’t get these guys in frame, you know, and it’s about predicting where they’re going to be. That’s a lot of it. Because you can line up a shot. And then next thing you know, they’ve dropped in and they’re out of frame, they’re gone. So yeah, even for me as a surfer, it’s really difficult. Like, I think that’s what I really love about it is the challenge. You might shoot 1000 shots and get three that you’re happy with. If that, you know you might get zero. So, I mean, that’s with everything, right? Every genre, every subject, we all put a lot of time and effort into perfecting those shots. So that’s definitely why I love it. It’s a real adrenaline rush, as well been flying a drone in the sky for one while trying to think about your settings. Think about composition, you know, light direction. All those things at once. It’s like a video game almost. It’s yeah, it’s really enjoyable.

Stanley Aryanto – The Wicked Hunt  13:01  
Yeah, no, I think you’re right. You know, a lot of people kind of see, you know, all of our beautiful images and they think you know, oh yeah, all you got to do is just get a good camera and take a few hours of lesson and take a couple of shots but what they don’t realise is the amount of shots that you take, you know, I mean, I think I have like about 200,000 shots or something on my life now and being good 10% of them you know that is that I’m really truly proud of but if that probably last year probably. Yeah, exactly. So it’s such an important important thing to kind of talk about because a lot of people don’t understand that journey and when they give that a try you know I I have taught a few students where they just given up and you’re like you know what, I’m not good enough for this because my photo is just doesn’t look like you’re so like this other people in Instagram. It’s like well, do you know how long we take us to get there? Right? So yeah, it’s such an important thing to talk about. But I see that most of your shot from drone is that is there do you actually take photo from a camera as well? Or is that where you find your passion and that’s where you get, you know, energised and excited about what photography drone

David Fairs  14:30  
but think I do shoot stills with DSLR I’ve got a mirrorless sorry, the Panasonic GH five I got that predominantly for video because it’s a it was a very affordable based on the camera like for what it was, you know for what you pay for it. I was getting 4k 60 180 frames per second attend it. This was back in 2017 So it was a beast beast of a camera and could shoot stills that it’s not the best stills camera and you know and there’s a bit of noise in there with Low light so it’s not perfect, but I do use it. But I’m most proud of those images through the drone in the they just, they sum up they summarise my art more than anything else you I still shoot with the camera there stills camera in the water, I’ve got a water housing. So I’ll jump in the surf and swim out and get some shots of surfers and I’m still not at a level with that and I’m proud of yet that’s still a very much a work in progress and a learning curve for me, which is fine, I enjoy that I’m still learning, you know, I think having a art form to practice and get better at is a gift you know, so I really enjoy that. But in terms of selling art, and putting it out there into the community, those images that you’ve seen, they’re there. They’re my best work they’re what I love to put forward and show people what I can do that’s incredible.

Stanley Aryanto – The Wicked Hunt  15:59  
You know, it’s I you know, your photo is just breathtaking it it really reminds me of the beautiful cars of Australia. I believe we have the best cars in the world. Probably I’m a bit biassed is over Australia myself. But But um, so when you think photo these surfers and stuff, how low do you go? Are you Are you not afraid of can I you know, because you got an offshore wind with the waves and all that stuff is that of concern when you fly the drone close, or do you try to kind of you know, keep the distance so that you are further away from from the from the water.

David Fairs  16:44  
So I like to get really low like one to two metres off the surface, it just, it just provides such a great image, I’ve tried other angles and things like that. And they just don’t work out quite as well, it kind of you lose that impact of the subject. And one of my favourite compositions is to shoot directly at this with a surfer silhouetted by the sunlight, but just be close enough that you can still get detail in the surfer. I will keep my distance with people I don’t know. But if I’ve got people that are local break, where I serve, everyone knows me, you know that I’m a drone photographer in that space, I quite enjoy getting shots of themselves anyway, I will get quite close. And so they’re fine with that. I try not to get above people too much. Because if it was to fail and fall out of the sky, then you’re probably going to hurt someone quite badly. So more directly in front and get sort of within I don’t know, a good a good distance that you can still see detail in the person in the subject so that they’re not too noisy.

Stanley Aryanto – The Wicked Hunt  17:52  
That’s a good advice, man. You know, I think there’s a lot of people that doesn’t consider that when they fly a drone is that when it fails, it could definitely hurt people.

David Fairs  18:01  
Yeah. It’s actually illegal to fly above people. So yeah,

Stanley Aryanto – The Wicked Hunt  18:06  
yeah. So it’s good that you mentioned that. Yeah. So I love to talk about, you know, some of the work that you continuously put out on, you know, on your SNMP as well as in your Twitter of, you know, whales and you know, some of the wildlife in the water. How do you go about finding this? Creatures, beautiful creatures, as well as you know? Like, what does it take to be able to capture or fine and

David Fairs  18:41  
captured? Yes, I wish I knew is the answer. It’s just potluck. It’s just like, I mean, there’s been a couple of times where I’ve been in some group chats. And people will say, you know, oh, there’s a pod coming up the coast right now, and they’re being seen at this place. So you can kind of predict, but I genuinely like just deciding like today, I’m probably going to go drive down to chi ama around Golden Hour, and hope for the best because they’re on the move at the moment. And so it’s really just about being out there and you know, experiencing what nature has to offer so I’ve gotten very lucky in the past but I’ve also lucked out a lot of times you know, you go hear these reports as Wales around blah blah blah and then you go looking for them and even if you can see them sometimes you can’t even find them with the drone. So it’s really just luck and just consistency just trying to find them by turning up and you know, there’s always something to shoot if they’re not there. So, you know, you might get another composition or the sunset or whatever. It’s just about being out there and shooting for me.

Stanley Aryanto – The Wicked Hunt  19:54  
That is a great advice, man. You know, I think a lot of us photographers put x periences For on top of all the photos that we’re going to capture, you know, so we would still go out there and take our chances, even if we might not get anything out of it. So I think that’s that’s what energises us. That’s what makes us excited about ally. So that that’s, it’s cool that you get to do more of that. And, you know, so what? What are you? You know, like you have, you have put up a few collections out on NFT. And you know, congratulations, by the way on this. On this Ilana,

David Fairs  20:39  
it does make you guys more mind blowing that was absolutely mind blowing. I couldn’t believe it. In a bear market. It was just like, what is happening. So you know, I probably focus on salida for a little bit to be honest, just at the moment, may as well ride that momentum. And it allows me to put some work out that, you know, I can, I can actually choose a bigger collection of work and curate bodies of work, because on open sea and foundation and things like that I’ve, I’ve had some sales and success, but I’ve never sold out a collection. So it’s nice to see the enthusiasm on Solana and collectors are very keen for photography. So yeah, I was blown away by that. It’s just been wild to see that actually happening. I think it was two days or 12 pieces, which is gone. So yeah, I’m dropping something this Friday, because it’s second collection, and then keep going from there.

Stanley Aryanto – The Wicked Hunt  21:34  
That’s incredible. Yeah. So for those of you who don’t know, what’s NFP, I actually have a podcast, talking about what’s in ft and the Solana and Etherium that David’s talking about, it’s basically kind of the the currency that become the platform of where you could sell the NFT. But I’d like to hear more about your NFT journey as well. You know, so what, what makes what drawn you into the NFT in the first place? And how did you find out about it?

David Fairs  22:07  
Yeah, so I was really lucky in that, I was in a great community on Instagram, with a lot of drone photographers, and just artists in general. And I built up a pretty good following on there, through just networking and sharing my work. A lot of opportunities came up through Instagram, so it was really good. And then it just started to just started to die off quite suddenly, when Facebook took over and they did you know, all the changes, and I think most photographers would understand what I’m talking about. So it just became quite discouraging. And I started to, to just, I don’t know, not get depressed that it wasn’t really a healthy space to be in for me. So I stepped away, and just focus on my family. And my job. And I was basically thinking that I had to get a pretty, you know, solid job to secure like, for security for my family that didn’t really have anything to do with art because I was like, I’ve given it a go, I’ve tried and it’s not it’s more of a side hustle. And I need to focus on my career and just get a job, you know, maybe in finance or something where there’s better money. You know, which would probably be soul crushing for someone like me. But anyway, long story short, I saw some friends get into the NFT game, and they had huge success. And my brother had told me about it the year before and I sort of thought, I don’t know what your sounds dodgy. I don’t know what you’re talking about. You know, I didn’t, I didn’t want to have to go to another platform and start again, what I’ve done with Instagram, I thought I just don’t have the energy to do that again. But I should have at that point, because it was like November 2019. And that’s when you know, everything was kind of exploding. But anyway, I saw some friends had success and then I messaged them and said, you know what’s, what’s the goal here? What’s going on? Because they sold 60 pieces overnight, you know, massive success on Aetherium. And they just ran me through everything and I thought okay, I’m gonna just go you know, I’ll just start slow and I’ll take my time and and then when I came in, everyone was just killing it like everyone was making sale. So I started to get really quite anxious and think I’ve got to get in before it’s too late. So I rushed my whole thing and like I just grabbed a whole bunch of images that I was really proud of and put them out there quite a high price as a newbie and thought, you know, all these other guys are selling work for that. Why can’t I so I launched this collection and I sold a few pieces straight off the bat. It was really quite amazing. And then it just snowballed from there. And I was like stuck with this all this art that no one was buying. And so it was a mixed journey, to be honest. But yeah, the entry was good. I launched people received it well. And I’ve just been welcomed by the community and connected with people like itself. And it’s been incredible that side of it has just been absolutely amazing. And that’s why I’m still here to be honest, because my art stalled. And I didn’t have a lot of energy to just keep marketing stuff that wasn’t going to provide me any return on investment of the time. Being a family, man, my time is so important. So I started to think, you know, what am I doing, but just the friends and everyone building each other up and connecting some positive, then something like Facebook or Instagram or any other platform, I get to talk with, you know, have these podcasts and connect on Zoom calls with other creatives. And it’s just kept me really focused as an artist to believe in myself and think you know, that this is something that’s really special that we’ve all found, and I want to stick with it. Even though times are tough right now, as you know, I think it’s important to keep focus on your art and be positive. So yeah, that’s pretty much journey, I guess, how I got into it, and why I’m still here.

Stanley Aryanto – The Wicked Hunt  26:00  
Yeah, that’s, that’s cool. And, you know, I know that a lot of people are sceptical about the NFT. And, you know, what’s, what’s what’s possible. And it’s, it’s, it’s crazy to see what’s possible in the NFT space, because at the end of the day, it’s, it’s not a it’s not, it’s not a way to make money, it’s just a tool, and you know, how you make how you plan to use that tool, it’s really entirely up to you. So I’m really excited actually, to see, you know, where is this NFT kind of going to Def flop to, you know, in the future? Because it’s yeah, I just see that so many people already coming up with so many creative ideas. So, who are you, you know, you have a family, you, you do your photography, and you know, now you jump into the NFT world, which is, you know, going like Samsung miles per second or kilometres per hours, right? Whatever metric you’re using, how do you find the time to be able to do all that, you know, because that all of that takes time. And, you know, it’s, it’s always hard to be able to find a time to be to be active and to be present in so that you can stay relevant in the social media, let alone, you know, with everything that has happened with, you know, family and everything in real life. So how do you find the time and what it is that you do to be able to balance that?

David Fairs  27:38  
Yeah, it’s a really good question on that, I’m still figuring it out. To be honest. I just dedicate as much time as I can to my family first. But my wife is very supportive and understands the success that could the potential success in this space with web three. And so I, we’ve worked out kind of a routine around it, where I say, Do I need to do this much shooting to create art, for one, that’s the most important and then also need to do the networking and the marketing as well. And so it is, I am treating it like a business in that I lock in for a certain amount of time. I make sure I’m very productive. And then I log off. And I, you know, I’m not just scrolling my phone and all that sort of software’s. We don’t join the space. The reason I’ve gotten to that part is I learned the hard way. So when I joined the space, I was just on 24/7, like you said, it’s like moving 1000 miles per hour, my brain was absorbing, you know, information so fast that I didn’t really know how to keep up. And I burnt out to be honest. And so I joined officially joined, I rented a collection in March of 2021. And then I officially joined NFT Twitter in September, because I didn’t I have no idea that that’s where you did all your marketing. I thought you did it on open sea. So anyway, that’s another story. But I then from September, I felt like I had to play catch up because everyone was, you know, go go go. And then people were killing it. Like I was blown away at how many sales were being made every day. It was horrible. Like, I’ve never experienced anything like it before. I never want to again, and I don’t want anyone else to have to go through it. And that was just purely because I wasn’t looking after myself. And I was just focused on NF T’s. So at that point, I was forced to take a break and step away. I missed a whole lot of opportunities. I felt really horrible. And it was a really negative experience. But I’ve come back from that arrested, I focus on family and just what I could do to get myself back to normal and then now that I’m in a better place, I’m very weary of that reality and making sure that you know, my time is spent very well when I’m alone

Stanley Aryanto – The Wicked Hunt  30:00  
That’s incredible. And, you know, thanks for sharing that. You know, I think burnout is a really difficult thing to avoid, especially when you try to achieve something very hard and like, for people who are in the office, you know, if they working for to make a living when they get burnout, it’s, it’s gonna work but for us, because it’s the things that it’s our passion, it’s what energise us, though is what makes us alive. So when you burn out, you cannot lose, you know, everything and you know, lose that passion. So, I’m glad that, you know, you take your time off and reprioritize. So, how can you share with us a little bit? How, what what did you do when you when you have that burnout? You know, did you lose your passion for photography? If so, how did you get that passion back? And you know, I know that I see you more active again, you know, and of course, you’re, you’re crushing it as well with the with the NFB collection. Solana. Right. So how did you kind of spring back from that, and basically, stand stronger, and you know, taller from that experience.

David Fairs  31:26  
So several things have contributed to that. And one of it is the community, whatever it is a really good friend of mine that I’ve made online called Jason O’Rourke, you might know him Jason iPhoto. He literally just carried me through even though it wasn’t online, I was I was literally I couldn’t be I had deleted Twitter, I was off line completely. Because I was like, just a mess. You know, I feel so bad for my family. Because my wife had to pick up the slack. I couldn’t even help with the kids or anything. It was it was very serious. And the only reason I’m sharing this is not to be a victim, you know, feel sorry for me, it’s to let people know how serious it isn’t it what can happen. I think it’s very important for us all to kind of share those experiences and look out for each other. So Jason, he basically was my marketing manager at that point in time. And he just, he was sharing my staff while I wasn’t there and checking in with me, and, and then he was making sure everyone else was helping to. And I think that’s one of the things that kept me alive in the space is that like, you know, it’s not just about the art, it’s about the community as well. And the friends that I’ve made and the connections, everyone is generally trying to help each other succeed, which is just, I’ve never experienced anything like that before in the art space, it’s usually dog, a dog come from corporate background as well. It’s like everyone’s climbing over each other to get to the top right. So that, and I never lost the passion for art, I just was really upset that I wasn’t able to even go out and create anything, because I just couldn’t make I was just sleeping like I was so mentally exhausted, that I couldn’t even fathom driving to the beach to take some shots. So I think it was like more of a disappointment than I’d gotten to that point without realising what I was doing. And I just promised myself that it was never going to happen again. And then I would get better. And eventually, you know, it didn’t take long, it wasn’t months or anything. It was just a few weeks of rest. And then my wife said to me, like, look, I’ve got the kids, why don’t you go to wherever you want your favourite place and just shoot some photos, like just take the day and go and do some photography, because I know you miss it. And then, you know, how lucky am I to have a partner like that that’s supportive like that just, I felt guilty leaving it with the kids. But then that day is a bit that’s a very important day for me because I did get that joy back and I realised that it is a part of what I want to do and who I am. And I just loved it. I didn’t even get any photos that I was happy with. But I just really relish that day to shoot from sunrise all the way through to sunset and go home. So yeah, that would be probably the biggest point for me. And I was like, okay, I can do this now. Like, let’s go. And like I said, it’s just more balanced and more healthy approach to the whole side of it. And I’ve just been lucky to have that success. Like you said recently that fired me up. Okay, I can do this. Let’s go. Let’s go.

Stanley Aryanto – The Wicked Hunt  34:29  
That’s fantastic, man. Thanks for sharing. You know, I think it’s really important to share that thing because I know that when when people see us on social media, you know, they might not seen this, not only because not only because there’s a lot more successes we share on the social media, but also the algorithm makers so that you know, we don’t see everything so even if we share it, they might not see that so it’s exactly you know, the reason why I started this podcast is that you know, I want to share with you People who are trying to get their, to realise that it is simple, but it is not easy, you know, to get there and you just share a whole lot of jam there. So, I know Jason Jason is, is such a beautiful human is it is. So it’s great to be able to, you know, to build relationship like that through social media, right? Of all As and he’s like, all the way in Hawaii, right. So I think that’s what’s really cool about it. And, you know, a lot of people say a lot of negative thing about whatever it is. But I think if they focus on the good, they might find more benefit than focusing on the bad itself. I think at the end of the day, there’s always something bad about whatever it is we’re doing whatever it is in life, and it looks like you have that approach. So that’s, that’s incredible. Actually, when you share that story, I have like a goosebumps because I know exactly how that feel where you just go out, you know, you just you just take photo, you don’t get any photo. That’s, that’s like crazy, beautiful or anything like that. But it just feels sort of happy to be able to get that feeling back. So I’m glad that you’re able to do that made. You know, suddenly, like you have an an amazing wife, who is supportive of you showing up and that takes you through this whole thing. And you know, just hearing that I was like, Wow, maybe I should have her into podcasts.

David Fairs  36:38  
Next time. She’s, she’s an amazing woman. Yeah, she is. She’s just been such an incredible mom. And got me through some really hard times. So you have to shout it out. For sure.

Stanley Aryanto – The Wicked Hunt  36:50  
That’s fantastic. Yeah, I think that’s you know, that’s, that’s, that’s, that’s, that’s the real partner in life right? Through thick and thin. Yeah, that’s, that’s really cool. So, you mentioned earlier that there are some pieces you know, that you have, you know, that takes a long, long time for you to put out there. You know, you keep dabbling on that you keep playing around with until you finally happy with it. Is there any piece that come in mind, I would love to hear a story behind that. And what makes it so difficult to put it out there?

David Fairs  37:30  
Yeah, that’s a good question. There’s a few that come to mind. I guess the the pieces I have on foundation definitely fit that bill at the moment. They’re the ones that there’s a picture of Bronte rock pool that I designed as a guitar. It took me a good year to get happy with that. And to create that pace. Just because I had to keep returning from I was originally living over in northern beaches, and having to drive to Bondi and Bronte was like an hour or two like to get there in traffic. So I think I went back like seven times to get the light in the way I wanted a wave coming over the pool. And, you know, that sort of approach, it took me a lot of work to get that and then finally to get the shot, and then create the composite with the guitar image over the top. And I think there’s like hundreds of layers in Photoshop for that one. So that is the kind of thing I’m talking about in terms of like the process and, and how I just keep pushing and pushing until I’m 100% happy with it. I’m still not 100% happy with that one. Like I still see things in and I’m like, Oh, I could have got one of the shadows is slightly off. But I don’t know people don’t seem to notice. But I’ve got actually one that like I said he’s about four years old. Yeah. Which was a picture that Mr. Watson shared. I don’t know if you remember from the she’s a drone, Archie did a free FFA challenge where people could edit her work and a bunch of other people on Instagram as well. And I entered a trial to try to enter a pitch of hers I entered another shot from another photographer, which did really well but MERS one was Bromo volcano in Indonesia. And what I wanted to do is actually cut out the volcano itself, the smoke all the layers, the foreground background middle ground, I wanted to animate a 3d camera through it. And so like I’ve done the work but it’s it doesn’t look quite right. And I don’t want to share it because it’s not like to in my head, I’ve got the picture of what it needs to look like and it’s not there. So that’s one that I’ll keep working on and keep brushing up my skills on and you know, I could easily just outsource it to someone to like get you know, a really high tech animator and say hey, this is the brief and and get it done. But I’m determined to make it work myself and to keep improving those skills. So yeah, that’s probably one I’ve got heaps of others if you want to hear more stories

Stanley Aryanto – The Wicked Hunt  40:00  
Yeah, that’s, that’s awesome, man. Yeah, I think it’s, it’s, it’s cool that you have some that, you know, you just put out there and you you don’t procrastinate and you just, you know, you’re okay with those imperfection. But there’s some that you’re really close to and you have that vision in your head. I think, you know, a lot of us I think that’s, that’s what makes it makes makes it hard to put out there because we have this vision. We have been thinking about it, we have been picturing it, but it’s just doesn’t seem right. It’s like, you know, so I totally, I totally can relate to that. That’s, that’s fantastic. Well, David, so you know, you you share the law with a lot of how you get started with your photography, also, you know, where some of the struggles that you came across, and you made a lot of success in the NFT world, as well as you know, in in the Solana blockchain. What, what’s what are you excited about in the in the coming future? Is there anything that you’re excited about, you know, in real life as well as you know, maybe in the in the metaverse or in the NFT? World?

David Fairs  41:14  
Yeah, so in real life, I definitely am looking forward to this whale season and getting some more what captures around the whales, I’ve been documenting them for about five years now. So it’s been awesome to kind of follow that journey with the calves coming back down the coast in September as well, they keep having babies every year, and the numbers are getting stronger, which is really, you know, it’s such a positive thing to see in our world at the moment with, you know, a lot of doom and gloom in around the environment and nature. So I think for me, being a lover of animals and nature, seeing something positive every year happening is is very important for me to keep hoping in what’s going on around the world. So I’m excited about that. I’m excited about being a dad and raising my kids well, and, you know, just focusing more on that challenge. And you know, because I’ve sort of gravitated to work more than looking at after them because I’m good at working hard. And I can sit on the computer and edit videos and have a powerhouse behind the behind the keyboard. But when it comes to kids, it scares the hell out of me. They’re challenging, and I’m not, you know, I’m not a master of it. I don’t think anyone is. So I kind of need to, I’m excited about being a better dad and spending time with them and getting out in the on the trampoline and the, you know, the fort and watching them just enjoy life and taking them out to experience photography as well. You know, that’s something that I’m really excited about. They’re not at a level now where they can handle, you know, sunrise and sunset missions. But I think once they’re old enough, I’ve already got cameras for them. And yeah, I really want to share that with them and pass on the love of the ocean and hiking in the wilderness that my dad did to me, you know, that was one of the best gifts he ever gave me. And so if I can do that for them, I’ll be very proud. In terms of the metaverse excitement is just building that base, like you said, I think on Solana, I’ve been able to get 12 New collectors. And that’s been huge. And I’ve realised that, you know, it’s not just about the money, it’s more about connecting with people who connect with your art and building that base. And then I think eventually the business will side of it will take care of itself as long as you can get more people sharing your art and be interested in your artwork. So I’m really excited about where Solana is gonna go, actually. And yeah, like I said, we focus there a lot. The community is amazing, like the collectors, thanking me for my art and DMing me and going wow, so glad I got your piece. Thanks so much. And it’s like, I hang on No, thank you. So it’s really refreshing to see that I’ve had, you know, I’ve had some success on the theory and but like, it’s so saturated and so competitive. I think it’s a different, a different world and some other sort of more up and coming so yeah, I’m very excited about that.

Stanley Aryanto – The Wicked Hunt  44:10  
Yeah, that’s great, man. I think that’s, you know, that’s, that’s what we look for as an artist. I mean, of course, you know, it’s important to sell our art because we, you know, that’s our social currency. Like to survive, we need money, but being able to sell an art to someone who truly appreciated that, you know, that’s, that’s, that’s priceless. You know, the appreciation just, I know that feeling and I know how, how much it’s more important than than the money so that’s amazing, man. Kudos to you and massive congratulations on your success. I’m very happy for you to make that happen.

David Fairs  44:53  
That’s Thank you. I appreciate that. Thank you so much.

Stanley Aryanto – The Wicked Hunt  44:56  
No worries and you definitely deserve it because, ya know, because we were like, we’re gonna do like a podcast and you’re like, No, I’m busy doing this. I was like, yes, that’s cool. And you know, and the next thing you know, like, so that was like, it’s crazy, man. That’s awesome. Yeah, so we’re coming to the end of our podcast. Now, David. And one thing they are always asked my guess is, if there is one advice that you could give to the audience out there, whether it’s photography, advice, life advice, whatever it may be, what would that be?

David Fairs  45:33  
I think my biggest lesson that I’ve learned in his past sort of couple of years is, whatever you’re doing, I do it with intention. Like don’t just kind of, you know, social media, particularly in this this space that I’m in, we’re talking about NF T’s. You can get caught up in just doing and doing and doing and trying to get into every single thing that’s happening in a very fast kind of rapid pace environment. But one thing that’s really helped me is to sit back and breathe and go, What am I actually trying to achieve here right now in this moment, like, what am I doing? Is it going to be productive for me? Is it important? Do I need to do it right at this moment? or is there other things that I can focus on. So just bringing consciousness and awareness into your everyday routines and trying to get things done quickly and efficiently. So you have more time for enjoying the things you enjoy. And getting outdoors is very important for me, and everyone, I think, and not just trapped at a computer focused on, you know, the social media and all these things. I think that’s quite toxic for human beings to have too much of that. So yeah, that’d be my best advice is just to be really kind to yourself, look after yourself. And then those your friends and family that you love around you make sure you spend time with them. And, you know, you could balance it out them with what you’d love to do online, and we’ve got outside of things as well.

Stanley Aryanto – The Wicked Hunt  47:09  
Fantastic, man. Yeah, I think that’s really important to be able to find that balance. And you said it yourself, you know, how you kind of share your burnout. So yeah, thanks a lot for that advice. And, you know, I’m sure that audiences will find that inspiring. Now, for the people who want to learn about, you know, who you are, and your art and your photography, you know, where, where can they find you.

David Fairs  47:41  
So Twitter’s probably the best place to connect at the moment, that’s where I’m most active. So at New Light visuals is my handle. But I’m in the middle of crap, creating a link on my website, I have new light visual.com as a website, you can contact me there for anything and check out my work. And I’ll be creating a page or layer with all of my web three, as well, instead of my link tree.

Stanley Aryanto – The Wicked Hunt  48:06  
Incredible, man, that’s awesome. So we’ll Don’t worry, guys, we’ll put all of that link on, you know, on the description below. So you could literally just click on it. But thanks a lot for being here. Thanks a lot for sharing your journey, you know, not only your successes, but also the struggles that you come across. I know for every success, there’s always a struggle, I never seen somebody succeed without it. So I think it’s really important to be able to recognise that and to be able to acknowledge that so that you don’t, you know, fall to this false belief that is just an overnight success. So David, thank you very much for being here and sharing this knowledge. And, yeah, is there anything you want to share? Or before we wrap up?

David Fairs  49:01  
No, man, I just wanted to say thanks very much for having me on. I really appreciate the opportunity. And I know it took us a while to get here, but I’m stoked to finally meet up with you and see you in person. You know, you’ve been such a great supporter of me, and I love your work. And we’ve connected quite a lot online. So it’s, it’s really good. And I look forward to doing more with you there.

Stanley Aryanto – The Wicked Hunt  49:21  
That’s amazing. Yeah, I think that’s what’s really cool about the online world, you know, like, you get to connect with people all over the world. But that’s also what’s not cool about is like, when you’re in an online world, you cannot be in real life. And that’s hard balances, right? Like you say, like, I remember when I came back from Nepal and came back to Twitter, I was like, Oh, I get to see these people again and talk to these people and see there are so it’s you’re right, the balance is really difficult, and it’s really important, but I’m glad to to have met you to have seen your art and came across your art and have you here so that’s incredible. Well We can’t do this. Thank you very much for tuning in and check out David’s work. He has some incredible work I love, you know, his pieces on on the coast on Australia close, capturing this beautiful moments while people are serving as well as some of really unique moments of the wildlife that came across his drone. So that’s really incredible to be able to see that and see how much it it it energises him as a creator. But for those of you who enjoy this podcast, don’t forget to hit the subscribe button and give a little bit of review. And with that being said, I’ll see you guys next week.