I'm using my photographs to protect the environment

Last year at about this time, I was heading to Iceland to photograph what would be the most interesting, and impressive, place I've ever visited.  I found Iceland to be a land of unbelievable beauty.  While traveling the isolated roads, I explored and photographed the most impressive vistas that I have ever shot.  Every turn of the highway brought before me yet another breathless view. I was truly in awe. As I went around the island country in my two-week adventure, I realized that this rugged, yet fragile, environment was under attack by visitors just like me.  Though I was very careful not to harm or disrupt the ecosystem around me, most visitors simply saw it as a place to take a quick selfie and climbing over national parks barricades to do so was the norm. 

On the long plane ride back home, I realized that it was my job to not only bring the beauty of such places back in the form of pictures but to help spread the word and protect our environment even more.  I can only hope that my photography is an inspiration to others that our planet is fragile, and we must do everything within out power to defend and protect our natural environments.

Miami Beach Alive and Well

I was fortunate, and proud, to contribute a couple of my pictures to the lastest version of Visit Miami Beach 2018 magazine which was just released.  I grew up visting and partying on this great sub-tropical island and have seen its transformation throughout the years.  I never thought that I would go from a sunburned kid playing on the beaches of South Beach to photographing it fifty years later.   A huge thank you to my friend Vanessa Molina Santamaria from www.bitsandpiecesmedia.com for keeping me busy with their wonderful magazines.  

Click here to read the magazine. 

Is that picture photoshopped?

Most professional photographers today use digital cameras and eventually we are asked if our pictures are photoshopped.  The answer can be a bit confusing to those who are not pros or using photography software such as Photoshop or Lightroom.  Just to be clear, most photographer using professional equipment, shoot in RAW (a type of file encoding format).  This image (or file) is recorded onto a memory card in our cameras then the files on that card are transferred to our computers to complete the process.  Many of us use Lightroom (software) to import the images into our computer and then to further perform some sort of digital enhancement to the images.  

The level of "enhancement" performed on each image is, of course, dependent on the photographer's needs or style.  Photoshop can do this process as well but it can be used to perform even further manipulations to the images.  I rarely use Photoshop on my images as Lightroom provides me all the power I need to make most images ready for publication.  Because, I'm old school in the way I shoot, the images are exposed and composed correctly in camera and the only thing that needs to be done is basic enhancements such as contrast, color levels, straightning and such.  The way I see it, I don't want to spend hours trying to "fix" a poor image so i do my best to take a good image and make it better.  

So, do I "photoshop" my images?  Yes and No.  All my images are enhanced using software such as Lightroom (and sometimes Photoshop) but I don't do major manipulations to my images.  Below is an example of a RAW image straight from my camera followed by same image digitally enhanced. Hope this may answer your questions on how images are worked on and my personal digital style.

RAW - straight from the camera image

Digitally enhanced image by Noel de Christian

Camera (gear) Bags That I Love

Through the many years of being a photographer, I have changed camera bags time and time again.  Many times the changes in bags were dictated on the type of photography and/or location I was shooting at the time.  Because of this, I have several bags to say the least.  Waterproof bags, roller bags, backpack bags, sling bags and on and on.  A few years ago, I came across Think Tank bags at one of the photography conventions that I attend, and I was most impressed with their bags.  I found them to be well constructed and yet smartly designed.  I now use Think Tank bags almost exclusively and love them all.  You will find their selection to be huge and best of all, they have great prices.  They also make nifty little carrying cases for items such as filters, memory cards and cords.  To check out Think Tank's inventory follow this LINK.

Started 2018 by being published again

7 Days into 2018 and I just found out that a couple of my Everglades National Park images were featured in Neapolitan Magazine.  This is an in-room magazine for the Naples Grande Beach Resort part of the Waldorf  chain of hotels. The Naples Grande has just re-opened after hurricane Irma and the Neapolitan is their exclusive magazine given to all guests.  I can't express the honor and pride it brings me to have some of my work is showcased in this magazine and what makes it better is that the publisher has already informed me that my images will be placed in future issues.