As this is my first post, I thought an introduction was in order…
My name is Ben Cole, I am a Sydney based Commercial Photographer specialising in Food, beverage and still life Photography.
I grew up on Sydney’s Northern Beaches and from memory have always had a camera in hand, I remember the excitement of capturing a moment in time and have fond memories of waiting for my film and prints to come back from our local chemist which was our nearest Kodak print drop off point. At a very young age there was a family joke at my photography ability as I always seemed to cropped out peoples heads in family happy snaps, I can happily say my composition skills have improved lol.
My first camera was a Nikon FM 35mm film camera, handed down from my parents. With the Nikon I refined my skills and knowledge shooting everything from the amazing local landscape, friends, family and sport.
In my high school years I was lucky enough that my high school ran a black and white photography subject and through this period I was regularly found in the darkroom tinkering with light mastering burning and dodging and running chemistry through processing tanks. It was at this point that I realised I was half ok at all things photography winning a few local and regional photography competitions, one being a Sydney wide school competition for Sydney Observatory which I won and had a second image highly commended. The winning image was presented to the lord mayor of sydney and was showcased in a gallery… I wonder if the image is still hanging anywhere?
During the later years of high school I managed to work for a few local photographers in my holidays and also at points of the school year in work experience sessions. Over this time is when I decided I wanted to pursue a career in the photography industry and started working on making my passion into a career.
Thanks for taking the time to read my first post, I hope it gives you an in site to where it all began. I plan to use this blog to share with you my recent client projects, personal projects and anything interesting I see along the way. Please also keep an eye on new work at https://bencole.com.au
Cheers
Ben
