Shropshire snapper gets double reason to celebrate
A county photographer said he was overjoyed after his pictures were recognised in an international competition.
Andrew Fusek-Peters, 53, saw two of his pictures selected for the finals of the International Garden Photographer of the Year awards.
One of the Lydbury North photographer's pictures took third place in the Bountiful Earth category, while the other was commended in the Garden Wildlife Section.
The image which claimed third prize was one taken at the Flower Garden of Stokesay Court, of a worker bringing in cut flowers for supply to florists.
The commended picture was a bumblebee on Echinacea with Phlox background, taken at the Tea on the Way gardens and tea room near Clun.
In total there were more than 20,000 entries in the competition.
Mr Fusek-Peters said he was thrilled at the prestigious recognition for his work.
He said: "I was just overjoyed. These are top photographers from around the world so it is a real honour.
"It is nice to have the work pay off."
Speaking about his prize winning picture Mr Fusek-Peters said: "It was set at Stokesay Court after I got permission from the owner to spend some taking pictures there.
"I spent a lot of time photographing the flowers being cut through one week and on that day they were bringing in the flowers and I was just thinking 'this could be a photo' and the light was right and I thought 'this is brilliant'."
The final of the competition was held at Kew Gardens in London.
