When we say we're on an exploration ride, we mean it! Brace yourself as we sit down with Trevor Traynor, an out-of-the-box photographer, director, and visual explorer, and venture into his stunning world of artistry. Trevor's transition from film to digital and his adventurous journey into cryptocurrency and NFTs is nothing short of fascinating. He also gives us an insight into his participation in the Click Mint Pass/One Exposure Project and how he switched gears from rap to a mesmerizing fusion of music and photography.
The conversation doesn't stop at his career, it unwraps layers of wisdom for artists stepping into the digital art space. Trevor's strong emphasis on pushing boundaries, always striving for excellence in your work, and his upcoming pizza tour in Italy, are nuggets that you won't want to miss. We also get a sneak peek into his move to Denver and the inviting community of the Click Create Discord. As we conclude this exciting talk, we reiterate the power of relationships, the art of making meaningful interactions, and the essence of keeping the connection alive. So, are you ready to get inspired and add some spice to your life? Tune in!
https://twitter.com/TrevorTraynor
When we say we're on an exploration ride, we mean it! Brace yourself as we sit down with Trevor Traynor, an out-of-the-box photographer, director, and visual explorer, and venture into his stunning world of artistry. Trevor's transition from film to digital and his adventurous journey into cryptocurrency and NFTs is nothing short of fascinating. He also gives us an insight into his participation in the Click Mint Pass/One Exposure Project and how he switched gears from rap to a mesmerizing fusion of music and photography.
The conversation doesn't stop at his career, it unwraps layers of wisdom for artists stepping into the digital art space. Trevor's strong emphasis on pushing boundaries, always striving for excellence in your work, and his upcoming pizza tour in Italy, are nuggets that you won't want to miss. We also get a sneak peek into his move to Denver and the inviting community of the Click Create Discord. As we conclude this exciting talk, we reiterate the power of relationships, the art of making meaningful interactions, and the essence of keeping the connection alive. So, are you ready to get inspired and add some spice to your life? Tune in!
https://twitter.com/TrevorTraynor
Hey everyone, welcome to this next episode of NoorCal and Shill. Today we have Trevor trainer. Trevor is a photographer, director and visual explorer. He is an avid traveler known for his extensive range of subject matter and seamless ability to blur the lines between fine art and commercial photography. His work has been featured in Contact High, a Visual History of Hip Hop, financial Times, hamburger Eyes and All American by Bruce Weber. He has won several awards, including American Photography PD in Annual and the International Photography Awards. His photographs have been exhibited globally and featured at the Getty Center, the Grammy Museum and Photoville New York.
NorCal Guy:Hey Trevor, welcome to the podcast. How are you doing?
Trevor Traynor:today. Hey, gm, thanks for having me.
NorCal Guy:Yeah, man, this is a good time. We had a good time a couple of weeks ago. Yes, indeed, click Mint Panus, one exposure project. You have the camera currently and you came up and did some pictures and I got to witness that. It was pretty sweet.
Trevor Traynor:Yeah, thank you so much. Click Mint pass number nine, honored to be a part of it. An amazing lineup of artists. Well, just to have that torch passed and to contribute to that collection is a beautiful thing.
NorCal Guy:I appreciate it. Thank you for doing it.
Trevor Traynor:I don't know if I want to go away. Too many secrets about the shot.
NorCal Guy:No, that's fine, that's fine, so I guess, just jumping into it, do you have and use a hardware wallet?
Trevor Traynor:For sure, definitely. What's that?
NorCal Guy:Bring it, run it. That's the question. That's the answer we're looking for.
NorCal Guy:What were?
NorCal Guy:your first thoughts when you heard about this digital art movement art on chain.
Trevor Traynor:Right. Well, I have to attribute finding out about anything Webster and NFT to a good friend of mine, derek G Taylor. He's kind of been on the pulse of everything tech since he was younger. He introduced me into crypto, bitcoin and Ethereum and NFTs. I remember one Christmas Eve we were hanging out and we were talking about Bitcoin. Years ago, another hang talking about crypto kiddies and when that kind of came out. And so now I'm at the point where anything Derek tells me I dive in. I dive in head first, eyes closed.
Trevor Traynor:Well, to be totally transparent, I think at first I was trying to understand it. I really liked the tech of it and I've done some interesting work for a handful of nonprofits who were in the tech industry one of them is X-Brise and so I've gotten to witness and interview a lot of people in the blockchain realm years and years ago. So I got in, was able to be a fly on the wall while I was working to hear and kind of absorb all this information in the early stages about what was happening. So the blockchain and cryptocurrency side it didn't take long. It'd be like, okay, this is rad, I'm with it. The NFT thing I think for me there was a bit ahead of, hesitation, I guess, not to go down too deep of a rabbit hole. But what's the film transitional to digital was? It's a good example from one of those first transitions for me, and I know a lot of colleagues friends said no, no, it's not for me, I'm going to stick with film. And so I continued to push forward, try and reinvent, to continue on and figure out new ways to adapt.
Trevor Traynor:That happened again with digital to, I'd say, mobile. Right, there was a huge mobile booth with iPhones, that camera and Instagram. And so my first yeah, hesitation with Instagram. At first I was like why don't I put my photos on here? People could just take it as if they were these precious gems that anyone cared about and I think, nfts. When that happened, it was like, well, I don't want to put a high res spot on the blockchain. Anyone can print and I think just understanding where things are going and the value of it being on the blockchain, whether it be a 101 or an edition, that's what makes it special. It's like a signed edition of print. So, yeah, it took me a bit, thank you, but I'm really excited currently about everything that's happening for me, specifically in the photography NFC community. I think it's got a lot of beautiful potential and, yeah, I'm here for it Nice.
NorCal Guy:So why did you choose art? What brought you to photography? I know you told me a little bit about the story, but I think it's very fascinating.
Trevor Traynor:Okay, let's do it so in a nutshell, I grew up in New York and my older brother was a producer music producer in the hip hop world, underground New York hip hop world, and my younger brother started a music label and so I used to rap, you know, did some rhythm and poetry. I guess the best example would just be underground backpack rap, you know was influenced by like for rap styles, like you know, like a hieroglyphics for the West Coast or like the living legends, but just a whole bunch of East Coast artists. And so we were on I was let me backtrack real quick my rap partner. He was Japanese and we met in college and we formed a duro called Dragons of Beat where I rap and I should give it rap in Japanese. There it is Kat's not the bad guy, Sweet, we may have made out the odd spot. And so we would perform in Boulder, colorado that's where we were at school. So we opened up for souls, so the members of this year, well, a jump Dean. And we recorded our album with a Japanese producer in Tokyo and that was put out on his label, low vibes. So we actually put out a product and it did great. We got some royalties and was fun.
Trevor Traynor:And so me and my two brothers at the same time were working on music and I had always loved photography. I had my dad's old Nikon and we had a dark room in the basement and so the two basically merged. And how that happened was my brother. We were looking for a 16 bar verse for hip hop song. Someone, just to you know, there's a verse and then a hook and a verse, and so in exchange I would offer, with my house, to block camera a promo shoot. So for Dress of Black, shoot, mike and I, and from freestyle fellowship, casual, from Hieroglyphics, truth, you know, lime's down with the last soul. The list goes on. Ag from DITC, a lot of these groups we would meet up and I do a shoot in their neighborhood, shoot a couple roles of film, and then they would drop a 16 bar verse on my brother's compilation that I was putting out.
Trevor Traynor:And so that was the long story, kind of. And I guess what happened was I just realized that I was a better photography rapper. So I switched it up and went full into the photography, the hip hop photography. Because, because at the time before that, I would shoot landscapes and city escapes. And when my, when I was talking with my brothers, I was like, well, I don't know how to shoot a person, I don't have to shoot people. I was like well, I'll just frame as if they weren't there, and then I'll just put them in front of it.
NorCal Guy:That's pretty straightforward, right? Yeah, I like it I like it.
Trevor Traynor:Yeah, find a really rad backdrop in the city, interesting lighting, and then just put them in front of it, and that was the most rudimentary way I could think about it. And then that's how I began shooting for rap magazines and starting a decade long passion shooting hip hop.
NorCal Guy:Yeah, so crazy. It's so interesting to hear the steps to where people got Totally, which is funny because the next question that would be a little bit before this is what jobs have you done like along the way, so like high school, as college?
Trevor Traynor:Pre-photography or like just for photo involved jobs yeah.
NorCal Guy:I mean pre-photography, I guess.
Trevor Traynor:Oh man. Well, let's see. I mean I've done a little bit of everything. I've done some, some demolition work with my brother. I worked at a veterinarian animal hospital. I worked. I was the. I ran a kid summer camp back in the day. That was fun.
NorCal Guy:Oh, wow, okay.
Trevor Traynor:I was a bartender for quite a while. That was the last job I had where I would start transitioning into professional photographer. I still kept bartending to kind of keep cash in the pocket. It was able to give me that bit of security. It was in San Francisco at the time. So, yeah, I would work. You know, I'd go into the bar, I set it up, work a shift, go get a late night meal and then I'd wake up early and get off to the photography stuff and I, you know, would do a lot of pop up portrait sessions out there for musicians, promotional sessions. But yeah, I had a handful of jobs. I could keep going on the list. But no, I had a babysitting company when I was a kid.
Trevor Traynor:Yeah, I all types of stuff I like. I like business and I always enjoyed just the entrepreneurial side of things, of like some fun, exciting ventures to jump into and merging the craft with, with the fact.
NorCal Guy:So yeah, so if you were an animal, what would you be and why?
Trevor Traynor:Oh man, if I was a dog I could tell you what breed. If I was an animal, I would say I've always loved turtles. I've had some turtles. I might probably be a hummingbird, I know. So I have a taxable hummingbird Probably that, moving super fast but still at the same time there's something about that and the spirituality behind it and see, yeah, I think maybe hummingbird, that's solid, but I am a tourist, so I'm. I could be stubborn and bullheaded at times. I try and keep a balance, but maybe I'm a full too. I don't know how many growth fall.
NorCal Guy:There you go, a flying bull.
Trevor Traynor:Bullish on the flying bull.
NorCal Guy:Do you have a favorite food?
Trevor Traynor:Oh man, do I? Yes, all the food. I only really exercise so I can eat pizza all day. I'm a New Yorker, irish, italian, so it's pizza, it's Italian food, it's whatever you want to call it Chicago style, detroit style, classic pizza from Naples brick oven. You know we're talking Domino's, you're talking a roller rick arcade pizza. I'll eat it, I love it. All kinds Cardboard pizza, milios, frozen pizza. You know, it's all fair play. Can I ask you your favorite?
NorCal Guy:food. I'm going to go like Mexican food.
NorCal Guy:I love.
NorCal Guy:Mexican food. I'll eat just rice and beans. I'll eat burritos, I'll eat tacos. My favorite is carne asada, but I mean I'll eat it all. I love Mexican food.
Trevor Traynor:Yes, yes, that is a close second.
NorCal Guy:So what's like the best piece of advice you've been given, or do you have like a motto or a mantra that you like live by?
Trevor Traynor:That's a great, great question. Yeah, I should get to a point where I have the answer in the pocket on that one, but I think just I mean it's I'd say, just continue to move forward. For me it's about getting uncomfortable and I think a lot of people can relate to this. It's so challenging sometimes to get outside your comfort zone and take those risks.
Trevor Traynor:You know, I'm an artist who, you know, if an agency were to look at my work, there might be a strong cohesion in a sterlk. But I'm not an artist where I mean beyond certain projects. You could see I could line up maybe 10 different projects and you could say, oh, that's all his. And I think cohesion is super, super important. But for me I just really enjoy doing different things and getting going outside my comfort zone, whether it's saying yes to a client for a project where I may not exactly know how to do it, or pushing myself to get up and get out with the camera in hand and go shoot when I might not want to, you know, when the weather's doing something spectacular but on cozy inside, is there that opportunity to get out there and create. So yeah, I think it's just keeping yourself balanced, pushing yourself and no matter what, just moving forward and you notice that's been set a bunch, but it's an easy piece of advice that I can remind myself every day, because it's so easy to just go backwards.
NorCal Guy:So yeah, true.
NorCal Guy:Do you have advice for artists coming to this digital art space?
Trevor Traynor:Yeah, I would. I mean, whether you're native or we're an artist into the digital realm, into the NFT world, or you're dipping your toes in from the traditional art world, or get it both. I'd say, get experimental. I mean, it's easy to compare yourself to other artists and to you know, obviously, put out your best work. Let me jump back in there. Put out your best work, because that represents you, you know, and when I first jumped into it I minted a project on foundation that I liked. But I created it and it was something new that I wanted to use specifically for NFTs. So it wasn't my best work. I did love it, I thought it was unique, but there was a bit of holding back. The other stuff. You know, I love my newsstands projects and that was kind of my premier Genesis collection. But before that I did put something out and man gas was high but I ended up burning it and I felt funny about it. And then I remember hearing Alejandro Cartagena talk about you know, he went through a similar introduction to NFTs put something out, it didn't bite, and then he burned it and redid it. It's kind of that learning process.
Trevor Traynor:So, yeah, I would say my advice is just jump in and you know, don't be afraid to put out your best work. If you want to test the waters, go for it. It's okay if it doesn't work out, or that one-of-one sits on chains for a bit or an addition doesn't sell out, but you know there's a lot of top artists in this arena, amongst different crafts and aesthetics and mediums, and there's room for everybody. You know, and it's, I guess. Yeah, let's go for it. And you know we're all insecure artists. But you know, just get after it and have fun with it, okay.
NorCal Guy:I like that.
Trevor Traynor:Yeah, sorry that was the long version.
NorCal Guy:So if you could live or move anywhere, where would it be, and why?
Trevor Traynor:Oh man.
Trevor Traynor:Well, ironically, I just moved to fishing to Denver and slept in my new place for the first time last night. So I'm coming to you live from the empty room sold as boxes, yeah. So yeah, I think Denver is beautiful. It's kind of a full circle moment for me. I went to school in Boulder, colorado, years and years ago and I'm a New Yorker, as I mentioned, and I did a lot of work for my art and commercial in LA over the last nine years. Yeah, I'm here in Denver for just enjoying a new transition. I really like the quality of life out here and still working in LA and New York as well as here, so it's an exciting time. But to answer your question, yeah, I guess it would be Denver for sure.
NorCal Guy:I mean I'm here.
Trevor Traynor:It'd be fun to do a. I mean, I just love traveling and it'd be fun to maybe do a longer stint in a few places, maybe Italy, and I'll do a pizza tour.
NorCal Guy:Oh, I like it. So do you have any questions for me?
Trevor Traynor:Oh man, I could. I could tune your offer for hours. What do we need to ask you? What do we need to ask you that the people don't know about the biscuit? Can I'm you know? I was honored to get to meet you and hang out and definitely had a great meal and had some good questions, good answers. Yeah, I would say, what are the people want to know? What do we need to know about you? You're I mean you're everywhere at once. You're like an octopus. You got your hands on a lot of different things and with Click, create and NorCal and Shill and NorCal and Clutch and your massive, amazing collection and just your generosity with your time and with the NFC community and the whole web through all, I mean it's just a beautiful thing to be interviewed by you, to get to know you. And yeah, I guess the people want to know what the biscuit recipe is. That's what they want to know. So what is it?
NorCal Guy:Well, it's in the Discord You're going to click Create Discord. It is there.
Trevor Traynor:You heard it folks. Click Create Discord, get in there, I'm in there, NorCal's in there, there's a solid team of people in there and I'm honored to be holding a handful of pieces and a couple of different wonderful curated collections.
NorCal Guy:All right, thanks. Thanks for joining us on the journey.
Trevor Traynor:Oh yeah.
NorCal Guy:All right. Well, I guess no questions then.
Trevor Traynor:Well, no questions, all right. Okay, what are you? What are you? How long is Clickman Pass going to run for and what are you doing next?
NorCal Guy:Oh, man, that's a hard question Because you know, initially I thought I'd be getting it every other week, type thing, but I quickly realized with the shipping and around the world stuff there's going to be like once a month, maybe, type thing. So I mean, I don't know, maybe until the camera breaks, who knows, maybe till there's like a solid collection and then maybe start a season two. I don't know.
Trevor Traynor:Who knows? Yeah, that's interesting. I did the thought, did cross my mind, to get one of the cameras and break it and shoot it and just like just that disposability of it. Yeah, it's a fragile camera but there's a lot of TLC involved and transitions between pans, so you can see it just from the packaging and the signatures and so I just love that project. I think it's such a fun idea. But what's cooking next that the people don't know about?
NorCal Guy:My podcast now, I don't know man we know.
NorCal Guy:I don't know Nothing really. The other thing I got to work on is like a thread from my when I went out with Rubin to shoot that eclipse. It's what I got to want to put out a little thread about, because I didn't have the right filters, and then about, like, how Rubin approaches, how he does his shoots, because I mean, I was in that text group starting like maybe a month, two months ago, and then you know, they had an initial location but because of weather they changed it and then from there. So I had to rearrange my trip from trimming to flying and then getting a rental van and renting equipment and I didn't have the right equipment to shoot what Rubin was shooting. So I had to make do and do something else. It was good.
Trevor Traynor:Well, I'm excited to see it. Yeah, and that's good company. I mean, I saw Rubin's posts. It's phenomenal I was seeing earlier. I mean it just looks like a space cowboy movie posts or something. Yeah, yeah, he's a rad dude. I have actually never met in person. But well, two fun things. One is I'm actually in a group show with him. It's a permanent exhibition on the Nat Geo endurance and it's a collection 30 to 50 artists. It's Arctic based work. The show is called Chiang, curated by Zaria Fueming, and so it's the Lintblood Expeditions, nat Geo endurance. So it's pretty cool to have some photos on a permanent exhibition. It's also a show, so that's pretty rad. Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, so exciting times. I'm very excited to launch number nine of Clickment Pass and I got a couple other things cooking as well. Nice yeah.
NorCal Guy:All the good things. Do you want to talk about any of those projects?
Trevor Traynor:Or do you want to do any shout outs? Yeah, all right. Oh man, there's so many people to shout out, lots of love for everybody.
NorCal Guy:Let's hear about the projects you're working on.
Trevor Traynor:Yeah, cool. Well, I just did an airdrop for the Newsstand holders, which was fun. It was me in the IRL Newsstand that I built for the launch party and that's here in Denver now. So I'm hoping to pop that up for East Denver. And the fun thing about that is it doesn't have to always be Newsstand collection based. I mean you could display other collections, you could sell tangible zines, you could turn into a merch booth, so it's just fun. I think it's a versatile one. It's got some potential and I'm excited to pop it up. There is a project I want to do I'm excited about. It's a big, big Polarud project in during NFT NYC. I told you a bit about it, yes, documenting a handful of artists. I'm excited about it. It's with the 2024 Polarud camera. There's only a few of those in the world and I think that would be a really special project, so I'm stoked on that.
Trevor Traynor:And then I have something brewing when the time's right. My first drop on foundation. I started this fun little project where it's named after an airplane seat. So the first one, I think it's called seat 49A, and so it would be, from takeoff to landing, like 12 shots, and it's marked based off where the airplane is. So, for instance, I think the first one is between Denver and LA, the seat 49A. 12 pieces, yeah, and something that's reasonable for people to go to scoop it. They're reasonable at a price, yeah. So each travel would be a different seat, so it'd be a bigger collection that builds out. It could be fun.
NorCal Guy:Nice. All right, I look forward to checking that out.
Trevor Traynor:Yeah, but click mint, click mint, pass. Number nine is coming up next. Sweet, yeah, cool.
NorCal Guy:Well, yeah, I'm gonna shout out.
Trevor Traynor:Oh, man, shout out to you. Shout out to click create. Shout out to all the artists in the NFT world. Shout out to just everyone I've gotten to meet at these beautiful IRL functions. Shout out to all the newsstand holders. Shout out to everybody in the obscure freestyle no excuse me obscure fellowship All this. They're amazingly talented photographers I've met. I've met some photographers who I grew up looking through their books and drooling over their styles and you know, now they're in a conversation in this whole world and I can be a part of that conversation. I have pieces that you know. I have a Joel Meyer woods piece and that's amazing. I mean, it's just. You know, my world is the insupportography world and it's really open doors and broken down. It's a beautiful thing. So just shout out to everybody getting after it and being kind to one another and continuing to spread love and build Sweet Well, trevor, I really appreciate you coming on the show and I really enjoyed this conversation.
NorCal Guy:I really enjoyed spending time with you a week or so ago. You too, brother, and I look forward to hanging out again. Let's do it Me too, man. Thank you so much.
Trevor Traynor:I really appreciate your time, so it's showtime More Cal at the Shield podcast. What the shield Theidir papa band 해 mistake져.