THE beauty of nature was explored by a group of aspiring photographers.

The Rotary Club of Brit Valley organised the local heat of the District 1200 Young Photographer of the Year 2018 at Beaminster School.

The club’s eighth annual competition attracted 13 senior entrants from both Beaminster School and The Sir John Colfox Academy who are studying A-level photography at Beaminster, as well as four intermediate competitors from Years 7 and 8.

The standard of photography seems to improve year on year, judges said, with 2018 'no exception.' This year the task was to produce a portfolio of three photographs based upon the theme 'Beauty of Nature' in colour or black and white on photographic paper. Mobile phones were permitted.

In addition, each entrant had to provide a brief sentence of what each photograph represented in relation to the theme.

Judged included local professional photographer Neil Barnes and Rotarian John Dobinson, who compared notes and were in full agreement with the final result. The senior winner was Jack Frederick Huxter from Beaminster School, whose portfolio showed a 'high level of imagination and technique.' Second was Dan Chamney of Colfox Academy, whose image of a treescape using intentional camera movement was 'particularly striking' and in third place was Eleanor Wellman, whose images of black and white portraits with spot colour leaf overlays showed 'real ingenuity.'

In the intermediate section, Ella Thomas borrowed her nan’s camera and went out on a single shoot and captured three striking images which she then cropped with a deft touch.

The competition was organised by Rotarian Phil Payne with the assistance of Paul Haigh, head of the photography department at Beaminster School.

The winners now go on to the district final at King Alfred’s School, Highbridge, on January 12, 2019. If successful, they will go on to the national final on April 6.