I’m excited to share some photos I took for my youngest ever client and new business owner. He is an inspirational young man with an important message to tell and he’s found a unique and powerful way to communicate his goals. 

Cameron Ingle is a 16 year old high school student with an interest in the marine environment and preserving the ocean. Growing up on the northern beaches in Sydney, he has a natural affinity and love of the ocean. 

His business - Tide 3D - is all about raising awareness of the fragility of our oceans’ ecosystems. 

Cameron produces beautiful artworks using recycled PET plastics. Inspired by the ocean and made from the debris in the ocean, his artworks are his way of raising awareness about the dangers of plastics and keeping them out of the water. His artworks are attracting a lot of positive attention since he first displayed his work at an exhibition in Dee Why. In fact, Cameron won the Northern Beaches Council 2019 Art Prize in the Waste-to-Art Category - (18 years and under).

Each piece in the collection has been designed on CAD and 3D printed using fully recycled filament derived from recycled PET bottles sourced and produced in the Netherlands by Refil - making use of wasted plastic and turning it into something functional and beautiful. The plastic water bottles are collected, washed, shredded, melted down into pellets and converted into long colourful strands of filament for digital design and printing. 3D printing is a great medium to create both functional and aesthetic models whilst giving wasted plastic bottles a new purpose and keeping them out of waterways.

Plastics are the most common litter items found on ‘Clean Up Our Beach’ days and it is estimated that by 2050 there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish. Australia alone produces over 1.3 million tonnes a year, which is 100kg per person. Discarded plastics that end up in our oceans are suffocating and harming ocean life and it’s a major problem on a global scale. To save our oceans we need to learn to recycle plastic and reuse waste objects.

It was in response to this problem that this waste to art idea was born.

10% of all ocean vase sales is donated directly to Surfrider Australia.

I loved photographing Cameron’s vase range. I am so impressed with the variety of designs, colours and textures he has incorporated in this series - and I am sure this is not the last we’ll see of his creativity and entrepreneurship.

Check out his website to see his whole collection.