Robert Coombes was born in Toronto, Ontario to Mother Carolyn and Father Peter. He moved to Barrie, Ontario when he was 9 years old and for the most part has lived here since. At around 11 he started traveling extensively through the United states with his Father and even lived a spell in Waco Texas. The family he stayed with was a colourful lot, each one taking pride in their numerous bullet hole scars; even the 12 year old boy. This experience gave Rob an immense curiosity about different cultures and a desire to explore the world outside of his childhood comfort zone.

                In his teens Rob developed an interest in photography; he enjoyed the way he could capture an image that would speak volumes. He generally achieved this with an old Polaroid camera. As he matured he looked for something that would offer him a better image quality, so he switched to a point and shoot 35 mm camera. He liked the quality but wanted more control, so in his twenties he got his first SLR camera. This is when his passion really started to flourish.

                He decided to expand his education beyond that of a casual hobby and studied with both Bill Fell (large format Black & White photography) and renowned wildlife Photographer Bob Woods. Developing a keen eye and strong composition skills he still looked for more control over the finished image. So in late 2002 Rob set up a black and white darkroom.

                Rob discovered he had a real talent for not only capturing an image but also for creating a finished work of art. The freedom of deciding how the finished picture would look sparked Rob’s desire to explore all sorts of new places to find his shots and a new love of Urban Exploration was born. He looked at each photo as a way to somehow preserve a little bit of our own modern history and as a result wanted to branch into colour.  The obvious solution was to go digital. He then choose again to expand his education with Digital Photography through "Georgian College".

                Now Rob looked at his craft with a new perspective and entered the world of professional photography. The digital darkroom offered Rob everything he needed to create the images to his specifications and in  2005 Zone 3 Photography became a registered business.  Now Rob began looking for new subject matter and a way to distribute his work so in 2006 he published his own magazine entitled ‘In The Zone Magazine’. The magazine combined his love of the urban wasteland with beautiful models, creating images that were both impactful and a little bit haunting.  A dark humour theme for the articles in the magazine made the finished product a unique vision.  Rob decided not to continue with the magazine despite the fact that it was well received because he felt that the pressures of wrangling writer’s and dealing with publishing issues was taking away from what he started the magazine for in the first place; show casing his photo’s.

                Rob now works in the private sector and has been commissioned to do many events. The work keeps him busy and he is always looking for ways to expand his creativity and make each image tell a novels worth of story.