Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up. – Pablo Picasso

Bermudian James Cooper is not only grown up, but also rapidly gaining international recognition as a photographic artist, thanks to the wonders of the Internet and its ability to interconnect his work with people around the globe in the blink of an eye.

In fact, what the photographer finds most interesting about his career at present is how much it is affected by modern technology, citing an example which he says "boggles my mind, and gives an insight into my methodology".

Recently, Mr. Cooper was shooting underwater footage in the Bahamas with a good friend. It was a Sunday, and in the evening he downloaded and edited his work.

Returning to Bermuda on Tuesday, he found two e-mails from UK art directors who were guest-designing the cutting-edge illustration and graphics magazine, 'The Illustrated Ape'.

"They had seen and 'loved' my work on TinyVices and wanted me to send them some pictures which they might use for their project," Mr. Cooper says.

"Since I was excited about what I had done two days earlier in the Bahamas, I sent them those photos. They absolutely thought they were the best things ever, and by Thursday they were laid out in the magazine in London."

Similarly, an interview on the San Francisco-based art website www.fecalface.com led to "loads" of e-mails from people all over the world, including Heather in Queensland, Australia who said, 'Your photos are amazing. I have a very visceral reaction to them. Cool, cool, cool work. I am interested to see how your work will progress.'

"It still sort of surprises me when strangers feel so strongly about my work, because for me they start from a very personal space, in that they are reflections of my own experiences and psyche.

"I am trying hard to be honest with myself, and not to follow trends and styles, and I think people respond to that," Mr. Cooper says. "I do, however, want my work to be seen, so I also try to make pictures that are 'open-ended' and accessible – I want them to have enough space to be interpreted in different ways by different people."

Although he lives and works in Bermuda, the photographer gives full credit to New York-based curator and photographer Tim Barber whose TinyVices website (www.tinyvices.com) showcases art, for the way in which his work has "taken off" internationally in the past six months.

"Tim's a young guy who is highly respected in the art world, and people look to him and his website to see what is new and hip," Mr. Cooper says. "I sent him a picture to see if he would put it on his site, and he liked it so much he ended up creating a whole portfolio of my work."

It was a move which has changed his professional success considerably. Certainly, he is not looking back.

"Having that one person give my work his stamp of approval has just started opening door after door. Because the art world is shifting so profoundly onto the Internet, a man like Tim has tremendous influence. People are no longer waiting to see what is in a gallery, they are going online to see what's new 24 hours a day."

Indeed, the photographer finds this phenomenon "fascinating" when he sees how interconnected these art-related sites are, and how one thing leads to another.

"You get your name on one site, and then it starts popping up all over because they are all looking at and referring to each other," he says. "After I had my portfolio on TinyVices, I had an e-mail from Evan Pricco, editor of the LA-based art magazine Juxtapoz, which is a hugely influential publication in the US. He looked at my website, liked my work, and wanted to have a picture for the May photo issue. So there you have a magazine publisher using Tim Barber's website to find content for his photo issue. It is cool to be one of 50 photographers from all over the world whom they think are great."

A man who prefers his story to begin in the here and now, Mr. Cooper eschews delving into details of personal history, and the route which led to his present successes. Instead, he says: "What everyone should know is that I am fairly obsessed with a talk given by Sir Ken Robinson about creativity and education.

"It is on www.ted.com and I forward it to everyone I can because I think it is such an interesting and relevant point of view. Robinson quotes Picasso (see above), by which he means there is no formula to learn to be creative, but rather the challenge is to remain open to your own ideas, and to try and second-guess yourself as little as possible. So that is what is going on right now with my art."

As pleased as he is with the way the Internet is working so well for him at present, Mr. Cooper defines his recent inclusion in the first New York Photography Festival as his biggest achievement to date.

"It was put on by Power House Publishing, billed as 'the future of contemporary photography', and took place from May 14-18," he says.

"It was a huge event attended by some 200,000 people over four days, and I was showcased in one of the four main, curated shows. Again, God bless Tim Barber, who had been selected to put together one of the exhibitions, and wanted my work in it.

"For me it was a huge honour, because if you think about how many photographers there are in the world, to be one of fewer than 200 to represent 'the future of photography' is pretty great."

As to what the immediate future holds for this talented Bermudian photographer, Mr. Cooper says it is hard to say at this point because things seem to be moving so quickly for him.

He allows that the exhibition from the NY Photo Festival will be travelling in Europe this summer, and he is working on securing a gallery in a major city for a show this year.

Locally, he will show his work as part of the Atlantic School exhibition at Masterworks in August.

"In an ideal world, I want to be able to keep creating and showing my work, and selling it for ridiculous sums of money," he sums up.