We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Noel Diaz a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Noel , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you tell us the backstory behind how you came up with the idea?
I remember this day like it was yesterday, I was in my dorm room doing homework with my roommate and I randomly asked him “what do you think of me getting a camera?” He told me to just go for it. I always viewed photography as a hobby but that started to change once I purchased a $70 film camera off eBay not even knowing if it would work. I didn’t have much money while in school because you know most college kids are broke and I simply didn’t have the time for a job because I was occupied with school and sports. My roommate (Michael Agyeman) was always into fashion and modeling so I figured he would be the best person I could practice on. My camera came in and the rest was history, I was taking pictures of my friends around campus and my name started to get around. The beauty of film photography is that you don’t even know what the picture looks like until you develop it and that was the beauty of it. Taking pictures of my friends for free turned into colleagues inquiring about booking me for their graduation shoots and just content for social media. I always was into photography but I felt like after I had my own camera and made a little money on the side it was time to see what I could really do
Noel , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My name is Noel Diaz and I am a Dominican photographer born and raised in Danbury, Connecticut. I got into photography once I took a fashion photography course in high school. I’ve always been into clothes/fashion and taking photos was the best way to express that but it wasn’t until my junior year of college until I had my own camera so that passion got put on hold for a while. I’m mainly a concert/celebrity photographer but I don’t like to label myself to just one thing. If you need me to take photos of anything, I will do it or will learn because your vision is my purpose. I also don’t want to sell myself short either, I am my brand and want to provide as many services as I can. With that being said, I’m mostly proud of doing what I truly like to do and making a living out of it. I never thought a kid from low-income housing being raised by a single mother would end up taking pictures of the biggest artists in the world. I look back all the time and don’t wish I grew up any different. My photography career has had a lot of ups and downs but that makes the story that much better. I want everyone to know that if you have a dream or passion, just chase it and don’t be afraid to take risks. Surround yourself with good people and stay focused, you’ll see that everything will come back full circle. I still feel like I haven’t accomplished anything but with consistency and hard work I know I will get there
We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.
As I previously stated, I started photography initially as a side hustle in college just taking pictures of my friends but things actually really scaled up for me once I took pictures at my first music festival. I was presented this opportunity by my cousin who is an event producer, he had his own music festival called “The Greatest Day Ever” and it would take place in the summer in NYC. I remember when I first started posting my work on Instagram he told me “keep it up and I will have you take pictures at the festival this summer” I didn’t think much of it but I was excited because it was something I’ve never done before. I still had my cheap film camera at the time and was in the photo pit taking pictures of artists such as Lil baby, Offset, Pusha T, etc. not even knowing what the pictures looked like but that made the experience that much better. Once the festival was over, I couldn’t wait to develop the pictures to see how they came out. Once I posted my favorite pictures from the festival on Instagram, I just felt a sudden change and told myself this is what I want to do with my life. So many people were in my comments tagging the artists, sharing the post, I was truly overwhelmed but it made me hungry for more opportunities. I look back at those pictures now and think they are garbage but it’s really where it all started for me. After that, I would use my portfolio of the several artists that I took pictures of to reach out to venues, publicists, promoters, managers, etc. to get a photo pass to shows around the area. Most of the time I wouldn’t hear back but it didn’t hurt to reach out. It’s all apart of the journey and it got to where I’m at today. I live by “you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take”.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
I have a list of goals but I will say my biggest goal is to probably go on a world tour someday with an artist. I love to travel and it would be a dream come true to visit places that I thought I never could while doing what I love at the same time. I’ve actually done a small college tour around the New England area so it’s a step in the right direction for sure.
What really drives my creative journey is making a name for myself, i want to impact the latino community and show my people that anything is possible if you put your mind to it. I don’t do it for the money or anything like that, I simply want to be an example and show people you should bet on yourself every time
Contact Info:
- Website: www.shotbywelly.com
- Instagram: @noel_diaz