We recently connected with Yale Gurney and have shared our conversation below.

Yale, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
It started with being commissioned to shoot Coney Island for Nathan’s. Now, all of those photos grace the walls of Nathan’s corporate HQ’s in New York. Then, as an architectural and lifestyle photographer, my career took a tremendous boost as a National photographer for some incredible companies. I was traveling just about every week for 6 plus years and to new locations in and out of the US. From super large companies like ADP to niche coworking ones like Expansive. In fact, it was the coworking and workspace world (Expansive and several others) that took full advantage of working with me to streamline their photos to ensure their marketing campaigns had success. Boy did they. Then pandemic slowed my architecural photo business which afforded me opportunity in the form of Non Fungible Tokens or NFTs. I became the first photographer ever on the Stacks blockchain and because this is my current and most prevelant role in my career, is the most meaningful. It’s important to note that this takes absolutely nothing away from my past accomplishments and on some level, they are just as meaningful but the now is fine-art photo NFTs and I’m deeply proud of what I’ve been able to achieve. And it’s only the beginning of it all.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Prior to reinventing myself in to what I am today, professionally, I was always tied to the creative industry. I studied film and photography at The New School in New York City. Starting out as an intern at New York’s WCBS local sports, then a production assistant and eventually moving to second assistant director in NYC’s commercial film circuit and cameraperson operator at TV55 on Long Island. Then, directing “Homeless in the Big City” winning awards at the then Long Island Film Festival, decided to turn to the business side of all things creative. I always had a sense for both ends of the spectrum and needed to explore what I REALLY wanted out of my career. The dream and end goal? A talent agent. After receiving an offer from CAA to work in their mail room and being too young and too dumb, I turned it down thinking I’D circle back with THEM after I took my OWN route. True story. Needless to say, I never had the chance to circle back with them but had great accomplishments in related, separate arenas. I became an agent for top tier advertising creative who I termed the “stars behind the scenes”. I morphed in to a project manager in special event marketing and then an ad executive only to come back to what I now know to be true, a photographer and a deeply universal one.

Alright – so here’s a fun one. What do you think about NFTs?
NFTs are the now. NFTs are the future. NFTs are finally a way for artists of all genres to have a worldwide voice and when done properly, a long-lasting career.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
I’m always pivoting in my career. It’s a necessary and obvious choice as things in every industry evolve. If you choose not to evolve with things, you’ll become yesterday’s news and that isn’t something I’m willing to let happen. I’ve learned from some truly incredible people – I call them my board of directors – understanding that it’s okay to literally follow the very same steps that others have to get where they’ve gotten. I’ve changed careers while always ensuring it was in the same realm of creative. I’ve changed cities to ensure my family had a better lifestyle (NYC to Miami). My life changes all the time because of the choices I make, not all right but all learned from. As stated in earlier steps in my career, I’ve pivoted and intend to pivot again – it’s an ongoing process and one you must believe in.

Contact Info:

• Website: YaleGurney.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nftyale/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/YaleGurneyPictures
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yalegurney/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/NFTyale
• Other: https://discord.gg/wmgf95Pm

Image Credits
Yale Gurney