A NEW MODEL FOR PHOTOGRAPHIC OWNERSHIP
Photography You Can Truly Own
Real Fungible Tokens introduce a new model for collecting significant photography, connecting ownership of the original physical master with defined rights to use and commercially license the image, documented provenance, and a continuing economic relationship with its creator
WHAT IS AN RFT?
A Real Fungible Token Begins With Something Real
A Real Fungible Token is a transferable ownership structure centered on a specific original physical photographic master. It combines ownership of that physical master with documented provenance and defined contractual rights to use the image. Those rights are held by the current collector and pass to the next collector when the RFT is transferred. The creator retains authorship and copyright subject to the RFT agreement, gives up their own future commercial exploitation of the image, and participates in qualifying future transfers through the creator royalty established by the agreement.
THE PHYSICAL MASTER
An RFT begins with an original physical photographic master. This may be an original negative, transparency, or other unique photographic object from which the work originates.
DOCUMENTED PROVENANCE
Each physical master is documented with its known history, physical characteristics, condition, and chain of custody, creating a record that remains connected to the work.
PRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
The RFT agreement gives the collector defined rights to use, reproduce, publish, exhibit, and commercially license the image while they own the RFT. A single original master can therefore support many authorized economic uses, while control of those uses remains with the current collector. When the RFT changes hands, that authority passes to the next collector.
COPYRIGHT AND THE PHYSICAL MASTER
The Photograph and the Copyright Are Different Property
Under United States copyright law, a photograph and the physical object in which it is embodied are legally distinct forms of property.
17 U.S.C. § 201 addresses ownership of copyright, while § 106 establishes the exclusive rights associated with a copyrighted work. Those rights may be transferred in whole or in part, subject to applicable law and the terms of a written agreement.
Under 17 U.S.C. § 202, transferring an original photographic negative, transparency, or other physical master does not, by itself, transfer the copyright. Likewise, transferring copyright does not, by itself, transfer ownership of the physical master.
This distinction is fundamental to collecting photographic works and to the creation of the Real Fungible Token as a solution for connecting ownership of the physical master with clearly defined rights.
An RFT identifies and documents a specific original photographic master as a collectible physical object. A separate written agreement defines the rights that accompany its transfer, while preserving the documented relationship among the physical master, the photographic work, its creator, and its ownership history.
The RFT does not attempt to eliminate the distinction between the physical master and copyright.
It is designed around that distinction.
WHY THE ORIGINAL MATTERS
The Photograph Has a Physical Beginning
Before a photograph becomes a print, a scan, or a digital image, it begins as a singular physical object. An original negative or transparency carries the image created at the moment of exposure. An RFT preserves the connection between that physical master and the photographic work that originates from it.
THE MASTER
The physical master is the object from which the photographic work originates. Its significance comes from being the actual photographic object created through the original photographic process, rather than a later representation of the image.
THE DERIVATIVES
Prints, scans, digital files, reproductions, publications, and other authorized manifestations may originate from the physical master and the image it carries. The image may also be licensed for permitted uses. Together, these can extend the image into many forms and economic uses, but none becomes the original photographic object at the center of the RFT.
LASTING SIGNIFICANCE
The physical master anchors the photographic work to a specific original object. Preserving that connection helps maintain its identity, provenance, and documented history as ownership changes over time.
HOW AN RFT WORKS
From Photographic Master to Documented Ownership
Before a physical photographic master becomes an RFT available for transfer, the object is identified, documented, and connected to a record that establishes its provenance and ownership history.
01. IDENTIFY
The original photographic master is identified as the unique physical object at the center of the RFT.
02. DOCUMENT
The master is documented through its known history, physical characteristics, condition, provenance, and supporting archival records.
03. TRANSFER
Ownership of the physical master is transferred to the collector together with its documented provenance and the rights established by the RFT agreement. Those rights give the collector authority to create and authorize multiple uses of the image, including commercial uses. When the RFT changes hands, the authority to initiate new uses passes to the next collector.
WHAT OWNERSHIP MEANS
The Original Changes Hands. The Creator Remains Part of Its Story.
An RFT creates a different economic relationship between collector and creator. The collector acquires the original physical photographic master together with defined rights to use and commercially license the image while they own the RFT. The creator retains authorship and copyright, subject to the rights and limitations established by the RFT agreement, while giving up the right to continue commercially exploiting the image.
THE COLLECTOR RECEIVES
The collector owns the original physical photographic master together with its documented provenance and ownership history. The RFT agreement also grants the collector defined rights to display, reproduce, publish, exhibit, preserve, and commercially license the image while they own the RFT. These rights allow the collector to create or authorize multiple uses of the image, including prints, publications, exhibitions, museum uses, licensing, and other permitted commercial applications, while the original physical master remains singular. When the RFT is transferred, the authority to initiate those uses passes to the new collector.
THE CREATOR RETAINS
The creator remains identified as the author of the work and retains copyright, subject to the rights and limitations established by the RFT agreement. The creator may identify and display the image as part of their creative history and portfolio, but may no longer commercially reproduce, license, sell, or otherwise monetize the image.
WHY FUNGIBLE?
One Original - Many Authorized Uses
The physical master at the center of an RFT remains singular, but the rights held by its collector are economically productive. While owning the RFT, the collector may create or authorize multiple permitted uses of the image, including reproductions, publications, exhibitions, and commercial licenses. Those uses can generate economic value without multiplying the original itself. The original remains one. Its authorized uses can be many.
PROVENANCE & AUTHENTICATION
The History of the Object Travels With It
Provenance records what is known about a photographic master from its creation through each transfer of ownership. An RFT brings that history together with documentation of the object itself, creating a continuing record of the physical master, its ownership, and the succession of rights established by the RFT agreement as ownership passes from one collector to the next.
01. ORIGIN
The record identifies what is known about the creation of the photographic master, including its creator, date, location, medium, and other available production information.
02. PHYSICAL RECORD
The master’s physical characteristics and condition are documented, including identifying features that may help distinguish the original object from reproductions or other photographic materials.
03. CHAIN OF CUSTODY
Each documented transfer adds to the ownership history of the physical master, preserving a continuing record of its custody as the object passes from one owner to the next.
WHAT MAKES AN RFT DIFFERENT?
The Original Creates a Different Relationship
An RFT brings together three elements that are usually separated in photographic collecting: ownership of an original physical master, defined rights to use and commercially license the image, and a continuing connection between the work and its creator as ownership changes.
THE ORIGINAL REMAINS SCARCE
The RFT begins with a specific physical photographic master rather than a digital substitute. Copies may carry the image, but they do not become the original object at the center of the RFT.
THE COLLECTOR GAINS PRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
The RFT agreement gives the collector defined rights to use, display, reproduce, publish, exhibit, preserve, and commercially license the image while they own the RFT. Those rights can support multiple authorized uses and commercial applications from one original photographic master, while the creator gives up their own future commercial exploitation of the image.
THE CREATOR REMAINS CONNECTED
The creator remains identified as the author of the work and retains copyright subject to the RFT agreement. When the RFT is resold, the creator or their assigns participates through the royalty established for qualifying transfers rather than by resuming commercial exploitation of the image.
AN RFT IN PRACTICE
The Physical Master Is the Beginning of the Record
RFT #4 demonstrates how a physical photographic master becomes the foundation of a Real Fungible Token. This original camera negative has remained in the Karen Images archive since its creation and processing in 1997. In September 2026, the physical master was formally documented as RFT #4, establishing its object record of known provenance, present condition, and identifying physical characteristics.
RFT #4 — Original 4 × 5 Kodak HIE negative photographed on a light board. The illuminated area shows the complete physical boundaries of the original negative.
RFT #4
Memorial Garden, Christ Church
St. Simons Island, Georgia
July 1997
Original 4 × 5 Kodak High Speed Infrared (HIE) negative
Sinar F1 • Rodenstock 65mm
Karen Images
This original camera negative has remained in the Karen Images archive since its creation and processing in 1997. In September 2026, the physical master was formally documented as RFT #4, establishing a permanent object record of its known provenance, present condition, and identifying physical characteristics.
PHYSICAL MASTER STATUS
Original negative identified • Documented • Archived • In the custody of Karen Images
WHEN AN RFT CHANGES HANDS
The Object Moves. The Record Continues
01. OWNERSHIP TRANSFERS
The new collector acquires the physical photographic master together with its documented provenance and the rights established by the RFT agreement. At the close of the transaction, authority to initiate new uses of the image passes from the outgoing collector to the new collector.
02. THE CREATOR PARTICIPATES
For a qualifying resale, the new collector pays the creator royalty established by the RFT agreement in addition to the purchase price of the RFT. The creator or their assigns participates in the transfer without resuming commercial exploitation of the image.
03. THE RECORD CONTINUES
The new collector becomes the next documented owner of the physical master and assumes the rights and obligations established by the RFT agreement. The transfer is added to its provenance, preserving continuity between the original object, its creator, and each collector in its history.
THE RFT ARCHIVE
Every Original Has a Story
The Real Fungible Token Archive documents photographic masters as physical objects with histories of their own. Each RFT preserves the connection between the original object, the photograph it carries, its creator, its provenance, and the succession of collectors who become part of its continuing story.
© 2026 Real Fungible Token. Built by Karen Images