Mark Broadwith, who is based near Bedale and first discovered his love of photography on an Antarctic sailing expedition, has been named regional winner of both the environmental and studio portrait competitions, and was also recognised as the region’s social photographer of the year.

Mark turned professional just five years ago and now has five top-level awards to his name, having previously won the environmental portrait competition in 2006 and the studio photographer of the year accolade in 2007.

Commenting on his award wins, Mark said: “A belief that simple elegance is always contemporary, and that everyone has a 'look' has got me where I am today. I don’t take myself too seriously, and enjoy an easy rapport with my clients. Being photographed is fun and it’s reflected in my work.”

As crew on board the Antarctic expedition yacht Hinayana some years ago, Mark was both frustrated and intrigued by the difficulty in capturing good idiosyncratic portraits of other expedition members.

“Also,” he explains, “like many amateur photographers, I wasn’t able to take really good portraits of my two young daughters and that was the catalyst which saw me start paying for professional tuition.”

It was to be the beginning of a deep and committed interest in portraiture, and led to the realisation that technical competence was needed to liberate an already creative eye.

“It’s really satisfying after all that hard work to be recognised as a creative talent amongst my peers,” he said. “To be working full time as a portrait photographer is really living the dream.”