AN AVID photographer has won first prize in a national travel photograph competition.

Geoff Hodgkinson from Exbourne, who is a member of Okehampton Camera Club, has won first prize in the Daily Telegraph's 'The Big Picture' weekly travel photo competition, with his picture 'Deck 7 at Dawn'.

The image of artfully placed propellor blades aboard the Queen Mary II also won Geoff a Nikon Coolpix S9100 camera.

Geoff said: 'It is a pleasant surprise to win because you never know, with people entering shots from all over the world. But there is something about this shot.

'We were on board the ferry coming back home from America. You have plenty of time to think about things and look around, and I wanted to get up at dawn because of the spectacular colours.

'I thought the propellor blades looked fabulous in the day time, but in the morning they looked spectacular.

'The first clue I had to let me know I'd won was when the prize arrived in the post. The e-mail to let me know I'd won went into my junk mail, so when this box arrived, I looked at my wife and back at the box, and it was a bit confusing. But we pieced it together pretty quickly.'

Okehampton Camera Club had a victory of its own recently, winning the annual photography battle between the Tavistock and Okehampton clubs.

On Monday April 2, Okehampton and Launceston Camera Clubs are holding an 'It's a Knockout' competition for projected images. Each member can submit two images which have not been seen before. These will be judged by members and whittled down to the final three.

The meeting starts at 7.30pm in the Church Hall on Market Street. Prospective members are welcome. Details of the camera club can be found online at http://www.okehamptoncameraclub.co.uk">www.okehamptoncameraclub.co.uk