Earth 2 Virtual Reality Podcast: Leaving a Legacy

I shared my thoughts on the metaverse and how it pertains to photography and leaving a legacy with the folks at: My Name Is Human – An Earth2 Podcast. See more here:

“Earth 2 is a futuristic concept for a second earth; a metaverse, between virtual and physical reality in which real-world geolocations on a sectioned map correspond to the Earth 2 digital grid.”

– Earth 2

I started exploring Earth 2 and Decentraland in early April, excited by the possibility of merging reality with virtual worlds.  I believe in the future of VR and enjoy the highly speculative investments in such a unique adventure.  This is the first time in my life where I’ve been able to purchase part of a game and own a share in it.   I gamed until I was 30 years old, but when my career ramped up, I lost time to play, and now decades have passed. 

Through watching my son play hundreds of hours on Minecraft, I’ve been re-introduced into the virtual world. It was amazing to see his skills building Legos translate into creating digital realms. After witnessing his growing interest and dedication to coding and Minecraft, I fell deep into the virtual rabbit hole. After learning of Decentraland, I discovered Earth 2 shortly after. Then I began seeing reports on CNBC and other outlets about the growth in virtual real estate and the rise of the NFT art market. We don’t know what is going to happen in the metaverse, but I am excited to learn about the marketplace.  

I jumped in and began imagining a curated experience of creating a virtual gallery and salon of sorts living in the metaverse.  I hope to build a photo district there: a space for photographers, artists, industry folks, tech and crypto enthusiasts, and gamers to gather and incubate new ways of seeing that can unite rather than divide humanity: conversations that will spark creative thought. This is the perfect space to experiment with afro-futurism and build our own virtual Wakanda.

While no one can definitively say where this will lead, I do see this being a part of my photographic journey and legacy.