Noel ventured into news photography for two local newspapers, The Manila Times in 2005 and The Manila Bulletin in 2007, covering different beats like police, sports and lifestyle. In 2009, Noel joined AFP as a photo correspondent where he was able to shoot disasters like typhoon Ketsana. He was among the first photographers to arrive immediately after Typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines.
AFP assigned him to the Beijing bureau in China from 2019 to 2023, where he covered the COVID-19 pandemic, political assignments, and feature stories. Now a freelancer, he shoots for Greenpeace and the Associated Press as a stringer.
He has been covering the impact of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs, including conditions in overcrowded jails.
