Light Striking
Light Striking (Noah Dechamps) is a 00’s visual storyteller. Since he was a child, he’s always had a passion about storytelling but didn’t figure it out until 2020.
“When I was very young I started to draw, then around 19 I really got into photography and then for a year now I got into filmmaking.
It took me 20 years of my life to really understand what my motivation is. Why am I drawing these scenes, why in photography I’m always trying to create/recreate a mood a moment.
And the reason for that was just that I've always liked telling a story and I’ve been in love with Cinema since I was a kid - but I didn’t realize it because of my location, the people around me, my situation; just “LIFE” in general didn’t allow me to have a goal like that in my life.
After having a long period of dealing with anxiety and a burnout triggered by my coming-out in my basketball career - Because yes, I use to be a semi-professional basketball player for the Spirou de Charleroi - I stopped my career and dropped out of University and I just started to shoot a lot of pictures and then I got into writing screenplay and now I’m practicing directing by making music videos.
Also, being half Belgian half Congolese with parents from the street, basketball world means that I grew up with a lot of music, from Congolese rumba to Old school Rap and a lot of different things. So making music videos is for me the right way to grow as a future director.”
What inspired you to get into your discipline?
All the masterpieces I’ve watched since I was a child just make me think about one thing, I want to be that guy that created that. But also my own story, the story of my parents, I just have so much to write about.
Did you have any influential role models (if so, who?).
First my parents, then Kobe Bryant and Quentin Tarantino.
What is your creative process and what are the most important things you keep in mind when beginning a new project? Are there any recurring themes/issues you like to address within your work?
One I have an idea I just like to make it “real” so I’ll create mood board, I’m writing a lot of notes then I’m just gonna try to tell something out of it.
What do you enjoy most about your work?
Kind of everything, I like waking up everyday with a goal in mind, it’s driving me - and photography and cinema give me that feeling.
What advice would you give to artists starting out or to those artists who are struggling with creative blocks?
Something I’ve learned from basketball that helps me a lot in my process is to have my routine that put me in the so called “zone”. When I want to write but I have the blank page syndrome, I always do the same things. I listen to a playlist with songs that really fit the mood of my project with a coffee and I dim the light down in my bedroom so I can read the last pages I was working on - then just like that I’m in my zone. So my advice is to just find your zone and if you don’t have one, maybe try creating it.
Any other interesting facts/information we should know about you?
I’ll be exhibiting my work at the MAD gallery for design in September.