His early inspiration comes from photographs created by Adams, Weston and Bullocks. He started photography in 1968 working with SLR and medium format cameras and developing the images in the darkroom. Self thought and fascinated with classical black and white images, Cole converted to digital in 2004. He is best known for his long exposures. Not earning his living from photographic work allows him to follow his artistic vision without any compromises. He likes working with the series of images. Some of the best known portfolios are Harbinger, The Lone Man, Monoliths, The Ghosts of Auschwitz; each of them tells a powerful story. Despite that his work has been shown in many exhibitions and published in numerous publications, he believes that the most important is how he feels about the art that he creates.