Amateur photographer launches “Beautiful Belize” at Mexican Institute

It’s easy to become fascinated by the vivid scenery that makes up the Belize we know and love. And while many of us take those images for granted, for the last two decades amateur photographer Noel Escalante has been documenting the local landscape and people. On Tuesday, Escalante will unveil his latest exhibition “Beautiful Belize” at the Mexican Institute. This afternoon News Five’s Kendra Griffith was treated to a preview of the more than eighty pictures on display.

[Montage of Beautiful Belize Pictures …]

Noel Escalante, Photographer
“I have a lot of pictures of Belize and there is no use keeping them to myself, so I try to share them with the Belizean public, especially I like the schools and the teachers to come and see what Belize has to offer. The whole country is actually represented: we have culture, we have scenes, we have destinations, we have districts, we have villages, we have our waterfalls, we have Maya sites, we have just our basic traditions. It’s very educational for the kids to see. It stirs patriotism in people to find that we are living in such a beautiful country, hence the name, Beautiful Belize.”

[Montage of Beautiful Belize Pictures …]

“This is the first time that I am actually sort of turning out a fully digital exhibition. The medium of the exhibition is a little bit different than any I have done in the past because it was done on canvas with the idea that the pictures will more resemble oil paintings than regular photos.”

[Montage of Beautiful Belize Pictures …]

“We have a lot of talent, not only photographic talent, but a lot of talent in our kids and in our people and we have to actually start to try to bring out these talents in people. Photography just happens to be my hobby. I don’t really do it for a living, I have a full time job, but I would like to instill photography in kids. I’ve seen some pictures taken by some kids in primary school and they are quite good. I would like to encourage photography as an art, as a part of Belizean culture.”

Beautiful Belize opens to the public on Wednesday and will run until the twenty-seventh at the Mexican Institute on Newtown Barracks. The exhibit can be viewed between nine a.m. and four p.m. All the pieces are for sale and Escalante hopes to use the proceeds to launch an exhibition in Los Angeles in September.