A PHOTOGRAPHER from Harpenden sampled how it feels to be in front of the camera after he scooped the top prize in a local competition.

Mr Harry Dobkin, 71, of Eastmoor Park, has been awarded the Harpenden Photographic Society's 2002 photographer of the year award. He won the honour after receiving the highest marks in the club's five competitions of the year.

The contest involves taking colour and black and white prints, slides and digital photographs. And Mr Dobkin's stills of idyllic scenery from Canada and reflections on the canal at Stoke Bruerne in Milton Keynes were deemed to be worthy of the first prize.

It is the first time he has been awarded the top prize. His wife Maureen won the same prize four years ago.

The award holds a special significance for Mr Dobkin who is retiring as chairman of the society after two years in the role.

He said: "It's a lovely way to go taking the Ernest Summers Cup. But the scores were very close this year and there was a lot of competition."

However, Mr Dobkin will be staying on at the society he has belonged to for 14 years. With his wife he will continue to publish the club's monthly magazine.

He said: "When I retired I was chief photographer at the Luton News and my wife was a journalist on the Havering Recorder newspaper. So it keeps an oar in the industry for us both."

The couple are also volunteer photographers for the National Trust and often spend their weekends at sites around the country taking photos for the trust's brochures.

He said: "I will take a picture of anything, particulary people and animals, because you will always find it useful for something. There is always something different in every picture."

July 4, 2002 14:00