We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Noir Angel a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Noir Angel, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

I’ve been taking photos from a very young age, so I’ve understood the basic principles of photography for a long time now. In a sense, I don’t think I “know” much more today than I did years ago. What’s changed is how I use that knowledge and having better intuition.

Honestly, one of my main obstacles was just not having my camera on me, or if I did have it, it was packed away in a bag. It sounds cliche, but one of the most important steps to getting better at photography is to shoot more photos, so when I decided to start taking photography more seriously, I tried to offset all the reasons I had for not using my camera more by investing in tools that would allow me to have my camera on me and ready to shoot as often as possible. Now I rarely leave home without my camera and I’m able to practice and improve almost every day.

Noir Angel, 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?

It’s hard to say exactly how and when I got into photography, since I grew up so immersed in it. Whether on film cameras, instant cameras, digital point & shoots, DSLRs, cell phone cameras, or the mirrorless camera I use today, I’ve been shooting with *something* for most of my life. I even spent more time taking photos with my Nintendo DSi and 3DS than actually playing games on them.

My photos vary quite a lot, from wildlife and candid shots of friends, to architectural shots, landscapes, and anything I happen to notice around me when I’m out. My senses are often drawn to many things that are overlooked by others and I try to take advantage of that to bring a unique perspective to my photos, though this can be pretty overwhelming too. But from behind my camera I can find some clarity, and the noise of everything else just fades into the background, for a moment anyway.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I’m no social media expert by any means. Actually until pretty recently, I only shared my work privately among friends. When I did start posting my work online, it was more for myself than anyone else, and I mainly stuck to photography-focused platforms like Flickr and Glass. I only just started posting to Instagram after having an empty account there for several months. Instagram has many restrictions that make it less-than-ideal for photography, so I didn’t want to start putting my work there until I had a plan for how to work with those limits.

Giving one-size-fits-all advice for social media is difficult, as your approach to it will (and should) vary depending on your own priorities. For me, I’m mainly focused on enjoying the art, and I’m not too concerned about publicity, growing a brand, building an audience, etc. If it happens, it happens, and I’m glad for the people who enjoy my work enough to want to see more of it. But I don’t want to get so caught up in managing social media that I lose sight of why I do what I do.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

An often mentioned answer is probably some variation of funding the arts and arts education, but that’s a short term solution, and in the end, top-down support can only do so much. The viability of the arts not just existing but actually thriving depends on the people’s capacity to create and enjoy it, and it’s hard to put time aside for that when even working a full time job isn’t enough to pay for the basic costs of living. If we want the arts to truly thrive, we need to fight for a society where every person has the freedom to create and enjoy the arts without having to weigh doing so against their ability to survive.

In the meantime, if you need art, reach out to the local community and pay for real art from real artists,

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/noir_angel
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/noir_angel_photography/