DONALD COOK has lived as a resident and photographer in the heart of Collie for 17 years.
Mr Cook grew up in Paraburdoo in the Pilbara region of Western Australia and took to drawing and art from an early age.
After completing an apprenticeship in house painting, he travelled throughout Europe and the Middle East.
He returned to WA to undertake a Diploma in Graphic Arts with a Major in Illustration and Photography from the Perth Institute of Fine Art in 1998, paying off his studies by selling art in Perth.
Mr Cook said the process and detail of photography stood out from that of any other art form.
“It was the ease of it, in the old days with the 35mm stuff you would go out and you’d take your shot and you had a certain number of photographs and then you had to go back and develop them,” he said.
“It was a bit of a magical thing for me, when you see what the paper makes when it goes in the chemicals and all of a sudden this image pops up and that’s the first time you see it and you hope that everything was right.”
Mr Cook’s career has included work in retail, hospitality, power stations, and alumina refineries to support his art and photography.
Mr Cook said he continually worked towards expanding his theoretical and practical knowledge.
“I like to go out and do my own stuff because as soon as you look at other people’s work too much and compare your work it can either be depressing or you start to lose who you are as a photographer,” he said.
“I have been learning a lot more about the Photoshop side of things, I’ve been concentrating on teaching my self that and, because I did water colours when I was younger, I’ve been able to fiddle with that now and mix the mediums.”
Mr Cook said he hoped to capture a unique eye for wedding, family, coastline, landscape and street photography.
“I love taking photos of the ocean and coastal areas, when it’s those stormy evenings, and getting a nice, dark neutral density filter on it and getting that milky effect,” he said.
“Doing my street photography, especially in Asia because in the streets there is so much activity and so many things going on.
“It’s really nice to be at a wedding and take it all in - the love, the caring the passion - and the same with family shoots.”
Mr Cook said following his passion and running his own photography company have helped him teach his son, Shaun Servas, about the art form.
“The hardest thing to teach anybody is about having the eye, you can teach them all the technical stuff but if they haven’t got the eye then forget about it,” he said.
“It was lucky he had the eye, we work together a lot now, which is great for me because I love working with him, so he’s sort of my behind guy in that he takes some random shots as things are happening and I set people up in portraits so it’s a good combination.”
Mr Cook said photography has helped to highlight Collie’s scenic locations and promote freedom of expression within young artists in the town.
Mr Cook is set to host a photography half-day class for residents and exhibit his work in the Collie Art Gallery later this year.
