Five questions with Orange wedding photographer, Brenton Cox

For a change of pace and in less familiar territory, the Central Western Daily got Orange-based wedding photographer, Brenton Cox, on the other side of the lens.

The now-21-year-old shutterbug used to carry a "big old iPad" around with him, snapping the scenery on family holidays during his childhood.

A path he didn't think could be paved, something unexpected would later mark the beginning of a career in photography.

He'd head to Jindabyne as a teen and during a school excursion, capture a stunning black-and-white-filtered image that would be picked up by credible platforms.

In our next 'Five questions with' feature piece, we find out what it's been like for Mr Cox after going down a road that did, in fact, exist.

I carried a big old iPad around with me as a child, and growing up in the age of Instagram, it seemed like everyone was already a photographer in a sense.

Originally, I was looking at being a teacher, because I never knew you could make a career out of [photography] or about the deep impact you could have, and receive in return.

The success of my career today has been a build-up of a lot of people giving me different opportunities and I feel very lucky to be where I am.

I wish I'd known that it would be the people - day in, day out - who would make me really love this.

Having worked in so many different and broad areas of the industry now, it's really opened up my range of experience in terms of working with all different kinds of subjects or themes.

Styles and colouring of images, the way you approach jobs in unique ways - whether it's for a couple or for a shoe commercial - the ballpark is big and you make it your own as a photographer.

So I think my working style is built from that diversity, where you're not really phased by anything and everything is interesting - nothing feels boring.

It's very hard to be in front of the camera and there's nothing worse for people than just standing there and smiling awkwardly, so you've got to make the camera feel invisible.

It shouldn't be or feel serious for people, so I use different games or exercises for people to think about their relationship for example, whatever that may be at the time.

At the end of the day, I just want to be their friend and make them laugh, muck around together, and feel relaxed.

It's that genuine message to say "I really want to understand you and your story" instead of being some random guy with a camera. I'm truly invested in people and their stories.

It's also like you're that weird, ultimate third wheel, or that weird friend in the relationship who is just there.

Photographers who invest like that can really feel like they're part of the family.

We were at Jindabyne for a school excursion to climb Mt Kosciuszko and 14 or 15-year-old-me did this point-and-shoot of a man hiking on a rock, simply just climbing in the distance.

I put it in black and white and posted it to my page in the early days of Instagram, and it was picked up by BCF and Tourism Australia.

I've recently printed it out and it's on the wall at home today, because it was one of the first images that took my career off.

Photos are a moment in time where you can relive that one memory alone. They're a great way of remembering people.

My dad for instance, he passed on when I was younger, so you can look at images of the people you've lost and it's like being gifted back those beautiful moments in time.

It's a sort of preserved history and especially in a world where everything's so instant today, you get to take some deserved time to yourself (and them).

It's nice to take the time to look back, because it transports you to a moment where it feels like you're right there. It re-jogs happiness, sad moments - a whole range of emotions.

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