Nambucca Valley is harbouring its very own young Margaret Bourke-White - a daring documentary photographer who, at 17-years-old, is already turning heads in the industry and is on the cusp of winning major awards.
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Taylor Adair has only been practising photography for the past three years. But last year she was chosen to be flown down to Adelaide on an all-expenses-paid trip to photograph blind spiders and "cute little mice" - an initiative set up by Earthwatch.
She also completed her basic firefighting course last year, and with a Dad who is deputy group captain for a local RFS crew, has been granted unique access to explore some dramatic photographic material.
Taylor recently entered one of those photos - titled Life line - into the Australian Institute of Disaster Resilience awards where she wowed the public and earned her place as a state finalist.
"We were out on a controlled hazard reduction burn and I looked across and saw my Dad talking into a radio - so I fired a shot off. He didn't see me - he was just in his element doing what he does best," she said.
"The RFS is voluntary - they're putting their life on the line without getting paid for it. I'm just trying to capture what it's like out on the field."
The image with the most likes and reactions from each state or territory wins its jurisdictional photography award. From there a national winner will be chosen by the Australian Journal of Emergency Management editorial committee, and announced in November at the national ceremony.
Of the 50 plus entrants, Taylor is looking the goods to be chosen to represent our state at Parliament House in Canberra at the end of this year.
And her image is no fluke either.
Taylor studies photography at Macksville High School and thoroughly enjoys learning about the processes and technique behind the art.
"You don't really know how much goes into photography until you start learning about it. People think you just click a button and that's it. But when I look through a lens, I'm really thinking about what's in front of me - I'm looking for emotion and rawness, but also thinking about how to apply the compositional techniques I've learnt, and how I can enhance it in post-production," she said.
But photography is only a part of Taylor's desired future. She plans on becoming a midwife first and foremost, but hopes to eventually combine that path with her photography skills to offer a birth and newborn photography service.
It's often hard to find a teenager who has even a semblance of an idea of where they're headed. But Taylor Adair is not your average kid, and when she heads down to Sydney in September for the state awards ceremony, there's every likelihood that the rest of Australia will get to see that too.
Good luck, Taylor!