THESE are the winning images in the 2018 Daily Echo and Castle Cameras Air Festival photographic competition.

As usual the Daily Echo received hundreds of entries with readers invited to submit a picture they felt best captured the spirit of the event.

One of the judges had revealed they were looking for images of people enjoying the spectacle.

The winner is Carl Draper, 44, from Bournemouth, for his image of elated crowds on the beach with the Red Arrows overhead.

He has won £300 of Castle Cameras vouchers after entering the competition for the second year running.

He said: “I’d had that plan in mind for months after entering last year’s competition.

“I had a plan for each of the three days.”

Carl positioned himself at Rock Reef on the Thursday, at a block of flats on the East Cliff on the Friday and on the beach on Saturday.

He said: “It was the theme of the competition to capture the emotion of it.

“People go nuts when the Red Arrows arrive including the adults.”

Carl, who is a freelance medical trainer, has also made a name for himself as a local photographer under the moniker Waveslider Photography. Mark Thompson, 47, from Upton was runner-up with his picture of the Coastguard search and rescue team watching fireworks at the Air Festival.

Mark is a station officer for the Coastguard and had only originally planned to put the picture on the wall of the station as a memento.

He said: “We very rarely get to take a picture of the team enjoying themselves.”

“I see my guys doing rescues and we don’t take pictures and all I was going to do was put it on the wall of the station. When we were there I thought I’ll just take a quick picture on my phone.

He added: “They would have been so, so tired but they still had the enthusiasm to stand with the crowd and clap and cheer.”

It is the first time Mark has entered the Daily Echo’s photographic competition and he has won £100 worth of Castle Cameras vouchers.

Racheal Tattum, of Castle Cameras, said: “The theme ‘Spirit of the Air Festival’ has certainly been embraced this year, and it was good to see some interesting takes on the theme.”