Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dynp4F6msqk&list=PLOQvdw7d0cd9RZZkd2lZy2hmrnJv-cfLI&index=62
Evan: so we are back here on the Jews nine five four podcast episode 39 with local photographer no welded Christian in his gallery in the heart of downtown Hollywood right before the Hollywood Art Walk which takes place tonight once every month for free if you didn't know about choose nine five four we started the social movement it's a cultivate culture and community in Broward County to keep people to know with all the great things that are going on in an effort to make this a better place to live and not just better place to vacation the point of the podcast is to connect you with incredible people like him doing amazing things you're about to find out some more about this podcast is sponsored by the thousand remains artists reef project a eco art public art conservation project aiming to help save the creeks locally and throughout the world to find out more you can log on to WWE and mermaids calm that's number one zero zero zero mermaids calm but without much further ado tell us a little bit about yourself at a high level
Noel De Christian: well originally from Miami I grew up regular standard kid growing up in a big city and never really wanted to be a photographer originally as a kid I traveled a lot as a young man as a kid never even took a camera to be honest with you and then my grandfather died and I was depressed about that he was very close to me and we were very close and I decided that I needed to make some changes in my life and so just that same afternoon I went to the mall and I went to that there was camera stores by granny and I bought the best camera I could possibly afford and it started my microtonic already broke with that camera it was a Canon 630 if I'm not mistaken they don't make this anymore what is film of course
Evan: sure interesting so then what was the kind of the evolution of the process kind of from there to where we are now
Noel De Christian: it was a huge evolution like most photographers are people who like photography I started photographing anything that stepped in front of my camera mainly my poor sister she was my my model and you know but I thought about everything in flowers insects cars everything in anything and that's very common when they start it takes years to find your niche where you feel comfortable doing that for the rest of your life
Evan: sure
Noel De Christian: and professionally I was people photographer up until recently about three years ago I decided I needed a change in my life and I just got tired photographing people and I decided well let's get the time increase my second passion so why not make you know and so
Evan: you're you're on to latest tips now we live in South Florida with no shortage of beautiful landscapes and I see some mountains in some of these photos so obviously not all that South Florida but what some of your kind of motivation or inspiration or thought behind our future
Noel De Christian: well it's like everything else you get accustomed to the beautiful beaches because this is all you've seen all your life so what is very beautiful for the visitors coming here for me it's kind of like a nice Beach so so I need to go find the stuff that I don't normally see because it's what triggers they created a part of me so I love mountains and I like cold environments and and I also like cityscapes but particularly nature and and I like to get away from from say the downtown area as it stuff like that it's just it's what motivates me and I first need to please myself and number two comes to making a living from but I need to first motivate and please myself and I get inspiration from mainly natural places and places that I haven't been to before or places that I kind of obscure or out of the way like I just went for instance a lot of photographers go to Iceland and it's one of those places where just so photogenic but I can tell you that photographically it almost changed my life it was that beautiful in that the power of nature there's just something move that around that 3 year ago mark that was 2 years ago
Evan: ok
Noel De Christian: yeah yeah I was before I opened the gallery but after I decided that this was the rough for me to take Burt and I went all alone and there was like 12 13 days best time by myself no one to hurry me or to slow me down or you know and I just photographed to my heart since quick
Evan: yeah they say one of the best ways to find yourself is to get lost
Noel De Christian: that is correct it is and I think it must write that in another country in another world for those that I guess no photography and or appreciate what do you shoot with now and and what do you print on
Noel De Christian: right now I shoot with a canon 6d my - and I have a couple of those bodies you always have to have a couple of them in case something happens when you're traveling and a only sure that's not true I also shoot with Canon lenses and Sigma lenses but it just recently I acquired a few Sigma lenses which I would really so I should bow they used to be I own I would only shoot the cannon but not anymore
Evan: and what what effect or what what did those provide
Noel De Christian: they basically provide a great image equally as good as the Canon lenses but for a little less money you know they cost just a little less but I have to tell you that the quality is amazing and I am truly in love with now though I still like sure the quality is amazing and
Evan: one of the things we can attribute quality to it is obviously the printing so for those that are tuning in that can see it we have a few different prints behind us so what do you print on and what are some of the different styles or processes that you do
Noel De Christian: most of the prints here in the gallery are either printed on aluminum metal or on luma chrome paper which is a very high-end paper with a acrylic talked to them so there is going to be one or the other such as once did you see then it here these are aluminum prints which I love and then the acrylic on top acts that's a layer of stability and also adds dimension to the photograph
Evan: one of the things that our dear friend mr. Richard Evan told us told me is that with I guess the current technology of printing and the materials you use the images can be protected or served for no matter the light exposure or no matter fingerprints are no and so they're good for about a hundred years they don't fade or obviously they don't Worr you can also place them in moisture rich areas like bathrooms and I actually have clients that will place on the outside of their home but nothing happens to those prints would you care to tell us about one of these behind us
Noel De Christian: well this one right behind us with the green this is actually in the Orlando area actually north of Orlando ok it's called Blue Springs and it's a beautiful beautiful place these are mineral springs where manatees live they started out with like 40 or 50 manatees and now there's over 300 of them it's going just so so awesome they've done a great job at conservation I'm so happy about them and there's another picture here a smaller picture where there is a mom manatee with a baby and that is just the cutest little thing anyway it's just an awesome place to photograph it but it's really mother nature that it's very peaceful to photograph there was actually a lot of people around me you can't tell nicely from the picture but that was on a weekend and there were literally thousands of people there and around me there were a good 40 or 50 people just standing next to me this one is 21 by 50 promo print under anti-glare acrylic glass right the acrylic comes in either normal acrylic or anti-glare and i always suggest anti for people who are placing those images in areas where there's a lot of you know obviously light coming in from the outside
Evan: sure because the glare can be very distracting and I think one of the interesting things and thank you for bringing this over is that you have them in various different sizes as well
Noel De Christian: yeah this this smaller size is against then is that mommy with the with the little baby manatees so cool but the printer are metal like this particular one is aluminum then it has a sintra backing which is a very sturdy backing so all you really need is one nail but this will last in various shapes sizes price points
Evan: ranging from
Noel De Christian: yeah they range from about a hundred and seventy-five these smaller prints to about two ninety five so it kind of depends it depends on the print this these types of prints are really cool because this is acrylic and there's the one-inch thick acrylic acrylic tends to be acrylic tends to be a little more they say it high-end if you will and gives it almost a three-dimensional shape or design
Evan: it does you know you don't need anything to you set it down you don't need obviously you can put it on the wall or anything and I just its weight is what keeps it in place so it's really cool
Noel De Christian: that's free and all you need to clean it is just a moist you know and even smaller than that if you want for your desk yeah something smaller like this for you know that's something to remind you of Florida yeah you know but yeah it's a nice gift and makes a nice souvenir
Evan: oh no it definitely does so with that being said for either tourists or residents alike what are some things that you would like people to know or feel or experience from your work
Noel De Christian: I like them to feel a level of tranquility when they see some of my prints I also want them to feel genuine photography most of these pictures are not heavily retouched some of their colors are lifted because you can barely print make sure it was from directly from my camera and that doesn't really work in today's world but that's about it I don't manipulate pictures I to be honest with you I don't know how to that stuff I know photographers who will stretch mountains and no Photoshop very very little almost nothing I can tell you that out of all the prints here none of these have been Photoshop so it's it's genuine type of photography the photography that I grew up with which is back in the film era and it's true to form now keeping in mind that in today's world digital photography you cannot use the way it comes out of a professional they all need a level of manipulation true but one thing is to raise the colors and to release a contrast another thing is to include water where there isn't water or make a gray sky into a blue sky I don't do and it shows
Evan: no it's they really are and it's very moving and we living in South Florida being from South Florida we have our connections to nature environment and oceans and water and it's really is important to preserve that and hopefully we can continue to preserve that we often say with the mermaids project with the body casts that the model's body will never be younger than this is that moment and I guess that almost kind of applies you know hopefully we could preserve this moment in nature and for a long but thank play these photos really do show some of the best of Florida the Everglades and beyond so kudos to you
Noel De Christian: thank you
Evan: if you'd like to find out more about Noel and his work we are going to be hosting one of our meet the artists events which is a preview of exhibition as well as an artist talk that I'll moderate with Noel it's going to be this upcoming Friday June the 21st here in the gallery in downtown Hollywood it's 120 with Street South 20 in South 20th Avenue here in downtown Hollywood right off a Hollywood Boulevard it's a free event we just ask that you RSVP so we can plan the headcount accordingly and we'll have light bites and refreshments available and it'll be a more in-depth conversation this was almost like a preview to that conversation it's you know a good way to connect and engage and interact and have discourse with the artists and creatives behind the work that make our creative community our creative class our creative economy great so you can find it under choose 9 5 4 meet the artist type it in on Facebook or Google Eventbrite we just ask that you register it'll be from 6 to 9 p.m. the doors open at 6 the talk will start around 7 where can they find you online
Noel De Christian: Oh simple it's the world a Christian calm and most of the social media like Instagram and so on but most of most people just go to my website and you can see samples of work and learn more about
Evan: well link it in the comments on Facebook and the YouTube page Noel and no n o p l de CH RI st i en and no other christian photo gallery i'm evan snow you can find me at choose nine five four and if in stone 13 i'm gonna love the book while we're in downtown Hollywood we certainly encourage you to join us every third Saturday night of the month for the downtown Hollywood Art Walk which takes place about from 5:00 to 10:00 p.m. if you haven't been before strongly encourage you to check out there's two guided tours at 6:00 p.m. Jill Weisberg the project manager and curator for the downtown Hollywood mural project leads a guided walking tour of our world-class mural project she's up to I believe 27 murals in the downtown Hollywood area with world-class artists from Kenny Scharf to the London police to Ernesto Marin hey to local artists like Stephanie Melissa and Vicky Pierre I really helped add a layer and a level of color and another level of Instagram ability and just another level of engagement to the downtown Hollywood community it's been a great project by the Hollywood CRA give that tremendous amount of credit these murals rival murals anywhere else in the world not just saying one would so you can take that tour for free every third Saturday night of the month at 6 p.m. after that tour at 7:30 p.m. I lead a tour now of the downtown Hollywood Art Walk more to connect people with the galleries the artists at creatives the vendors and story tell and explain the importance of the Art Walk and why it's important to connect and engage and support local artists and creatives both tours start at the information tent Hollywood Boulevard and 20th anniversary Park you can find out more type in choose 95 for guided tour of the Art Walk Hollywood it'll pop up you can go on to the Hollywood CRH site you type in Florida's Hollywood Beach in downtown which is what they're listed under on social media and there are really great initiatives to get people to connect engaged and appreciate the arts here in in Hollywood where hopefully we'll get more and more people to come and support the Arts and we're glad to have you choose 9/5 for having grown up in Miami if you have any questions don't hesitate to reach out I'm going to open both we look forward to having you join us in the future for the tours look forward to having you join us for meet the artists and we hope that you'll join us here in downtown Hollywood save the reef shell
Comments