A CAMERA club has snapped up first place in a photographic competition involving nearly 30 other groups across the south.

Two members of Boscombe Camera Club were awarded medals for their individual pictures at the Southern Counties Photographic Federation Championship. It was the first time the club has entered the competition.

It will now go on to represent the southern counties in the national finals, to be held at the University of Warwick in July.

Richard Wills, a member of the club’s committee, said he was “proud” of the club’s achievement.

“We’re all really thrilled as it was pretty unexpected to win. We were up against some strong clubs.”

Twenty eight camera clubs and photographic societies from Dorset, Wiltshire, Hampshire, Sussex, Surrey, Berkshire, the Isle of Wight, and the Channel Islands all took part in the championships.

Boscombe Camera Club member Reg Clark scooped a bronze medal for his picture ‘Gone with the Wind’. The image shows a woman wrapped around an instrument flying through the air.

“It’s a fun picture which is meant to put a smile on people’s faces. She posed vertically, but I flipped the image horizontally so it looked as if she was flying.

“Photography is a means for me to express myself. It’s why I do composite images like this one.”

He added: “I’ve been doing photography on a serious basis since 2007 so I was quite pleased to win bronze. There were some very, very good camera clubs competing, so this achievement was quite something.”

Brian Wadie, meanwhile, was awarded a gold medal by the judges for his picture entitled ‘The New Baby’.

Richard said while the camera club had been running for many years, entering competitions on this level was “new territory”.

“We’re just pleased that we won – anything beyond that is a bonus,” he added.

The club, which is a member of both the Stour and Avon Photographic Association and Southern Counties Photographic Federation, meets on alternate Wednesdays throughout the year.

It welcomes members of all ages and film and digital users.

For further details, visit boscombecameraclub.co.uk