btaylor
Senior Member

Date of Birth

August 16, 1984 (39)

About btaylor

Biography:

By day I'm a Mining Engineer working as the Operations Superintendent for one of the largest underground mines in the world.

Otherwise, I'm a reasonably obsessive photographer. I have been exposed to photography since a very young age as my father was a professional landscape photographer for a number of years, I've lost count of how many times we got the slide projector out and went through some of the incredible images he and my Mum captured while travelling through Australia for a number of years. So I picked it up in the film days and transitioned to a digital SLR in late 2008. Since then I haven't looked back.

I started out with a very basic Canon 40D + 28-135mm kit and soon realised that I craved something with a bit more quality about it. I now use a Canon 5D Mark II and an array of L series lenses (along with the Sigma 85mm f/1.4). I didn't sway toward Canon over other brands for any particular reason. My film equipment included Minolta and Hanimex bodies with mostly Tamron lenses so I'd never had experience with Canon. I guess I went with Canon because when I was trying out different bodies the Canons felt better to me. I'm glad I went this route because I'm really happy with the selection of gear Canon makes.

I'm lucky to have sold a number of prints, photographed plenty of weddings and portrait shoots and have also done a fair amount of PR style corporate shoots for the company I work for. This has really helped me fund my obsession with new and improved gear (I'm easily bored so new toys help keep me interested!)

For me, photography is a chance to explore a different side of myself. Being in middle management in the mining industry I pretty much live and breathe my job. I generally have a high stress load basically have to work hard to get things done in the safest and most efficient manner possible due to the nature of underground mining. There really is no scope to get my creative side in action. So getting the camera out is a giant stress break for me and gives me a chance to turn off from work life.

The-digital-picture.com has been instrumental in advancing my photography. I've picked up so much knowledge here so take advantage of the people here because they're a fantastic bunch.

Cheers,

Ben

Location:

No fixed address, how good is that!

Interests:

Errr... Photography

Occupation:

Mining Engineer