A young Tauranga photographer is making a name for himself after appearing on BBC news.

Daniel Hines, 15, was commissioned by BBC News in the United Kingdom to take photos of the beaches following the Rena oil spill.

Daniel took to the beaches to take his own snaps of the damage caused by the Rena stranding.

'I've been keen on photography for a while,” says Daniel.

'I got into it because my Dad does cycling races and I would take photos of him.”

He says when the BBC interviewed him he felt nervous.

'BBC is so big in the UK and the interview was live, and also it was early in the morning – 3am.”

Daniel's aspirations are to be either a photographer or a journalist.

Daniel says he has photographed many things including the oil spill damage, subjects at school and family.

'I enjoyed going out on Thursday and Friday last week taking photos and just talking to people about what they thought of the oil spill and the damage.

'Everyone I talked to were happy for me to take a photo of them to send to the BBC and they thought it was great that I was doing it.”

Daniel does not have his own camera equipment and took the photos for BBC on his Smartphone that has an 8-10 megapixel camera.

'I didn't know how they would come out, but when I uploaded them to my laptop they were good.”

Examples of Daniel's work submitted to the BBC.