Inside NSD51/50 Studio — Where street reality becomes collectible art

Founded in 2022 in Dijon (France), NSD51/50 is more than a photography studio. It is a creative space, an independent publishing house, and a laboratory for visual storytelling led by photographer Brice Gelot. Conceived as a meeting point between documentary tradition and fine-art craftsmanship, the studio transforms raw street experience into carefully produced works of art. At NSD51/50, the philosophy is simple: quality over quantity. Every photograph is approached as a singular object rather than a reproducible image. Prints are signed, individually numbered, and released in strictly limited editions of 30, reinforcing both their rarity and their emotional value for collectors. This deliberate pace allows each work to maintain a strong, lasting connection between the subject, the artist, and the viewer. The production process is rooted in traditional photographic excellence, using Ilford’s renowned panchromatic paper to achieve luminous whites, deep blacks, and a wide tonal range that gives each image a timeless presence. The result is not just a print, but a physical object designed to endure, both visually and materially.

The studio’s guiding phrase, Welcome to Fear City, reflects its core mission to confront reality without filters. NSD51/50 focuses on documenting environments, communities, and lived experiences that are often overlooked or misunderstood. Rather than aestheticizing the street, the work seeks to elevate it by revealing complexity, resilience, and humanity through direct observation. Photography here is treated as an act of witness, with each project examining social structures, inequalities, and cultural dynamics with respect and clarity, aiming to spark reflection and conversation. The images are not only meant to be seen, but to be understood. NSD51/50 rejects passive image-making and embraces photography as a form of engagement, an opportunity to question, to reveal, and to create dialogue. Every series is crafted to carry meaning beyond aesthetics, addressing themes such as power, identity, community, and the systems shaping everyday life. This approach positions the studio at the intersection of art and social awareness, where storytelling becomes a catalyst for empathy and understanding.

Since 2023, NSD51/50 has expanded into independent publishing, translating its photographic philosophy into printed form. Books are treated not as commercial products, but as carefully designed artistic projects. Working across disciplines, the studio collaborates with photographers, writers, visual artists, and musicians whose practices align with its values of authenticity and intentional creation. Each publication is developed from the ground up, with format, materials, typography, and pacing shaped by the story itself rather than imposed by standard publishing models. Limited editions and hands-on production reinforce the importance of the physical object in an increasingly digital culture, celebrating the book as a lasting vessel for memory, narrative, and artistic expression. NSD51/50 operates as an atelier dedicated to preserving the material and emotional power of photography, a place where images are made slowly, printed carefully, and shared deliberately, where the street meets the archive and storytelling becomes both an artistic and human act. In an era of endless images, NSD51/50 stands for something different: photographs with weight, presence, and purpose.