Remembering Late Photographer Noel Escalante

Noel Escalante

On Thursday, after battling cancer for some time, Noel Escalante passed away at the hospital in Belize City. For many years, he’s been doing photography in Belize capturing snapshots of the country’s history through his camera lens.  At an early age, the father of two developed that passion, seeing natural beauty in everything. His collection includes a photographic documentation of historical events as well as images of the Majestic Theatre and Matinee in Belize City and of ground zero at the foot of the Swing Bridge. Over the past fifteen years, Escalante started holding exhibitions, including the popular Faces of Belize which captured the different ethnicities that make up the country.  At word of his passing, many took to social media defining him as a historian and Belizean icon. His daughter Lisette Eck says that there is a huge collection of pictures that have yet to be developed; the family plans to carry on his legacy.

Lysette Eck

Lysette Eck, Daughter of Noel Escalante

“From way back he had a passion for photography. I remember his first camera when I was a very little girl was the instant Polaroid and he was about taking pictures with that. I guess along with his job with [the Belize] Tourism Board from ever since that took him all over the country and gave him a great opportunity to take pictures of all over the country. To prepare for the exhibition, take great time and energy and put passion into work to prepare these exhibitions and I think he has done it in several locations in Belize and everyone has always commended him on how wonderful the photography is and how well a job he’s done. And even after that, Facebook came along and he opened a page and he did that and to our surprise, he had thousands and thousands of people following him from all over—United States, Europe, a lot of Belizean; people who had left home long ago and couldn’t come back to Belize, he shared his photograph on Facebook page and it was well appreciated and he was well loved for that.”

Escalante was well known in the tourism industry; up to March 2016, Escalante was the tax auditor at the Belize Tourism Board. Funeral services for Escalante will be held at ten a.m. at Saint Joseph Church in Belize City. Noel Escalante, dead at sixty-four.