A TALENTED Dorset teenager’s photographic skills have won her a national photographic award.

Gabrielle Barnes’ award-winning image is now on display at Moors Valley Country Park near Ringwood along with 100 stunning images from the thousands entered for the Landscape Photographer of the Year competition.

Dorset featured strongly in the competition with two other local photographers, Mark Bauer and Graham Hobbs, highly commended.

Gabrielle’s winning entry captured Handley Down. She said: “Winning such a prestigious competition came as a total shock. The photograph was a stroke of luck.

“I was out for a walk when I saw the low sun lighting up poppies like flames. It was such a striking image that I went back with the camera the next day and was lucky enough to capture a very special moment.

“Dorset offers beautiful scenes to photographers, with its rolling countryside and the low summer sun, so it’s worth carrying a camera as you never know what you may stumble on.”

The free exhibition can be viewed daily from 9am-4.30pm.