Ayr's Ben snaps up a top award

Apr 3 2009

A HARD-HITTING snap of a drug user has won a top award for a young photographer.

Ben Begley became the first person to win a judges choice gong for his harrowing image.

His picture was rated so good that judges created the award especially for Ben, of Ayr.

The 24-year-old, who works for Glasgow’s Digger magazine, had been in the running for Scotland’s young photographer of the year.

He revealed: “My work is fast paced and all about hard news pictures.

“I’m absolutely loving it and it’s definitely the route I’d like to keep going down in my career.

“In my category I was up against a guy who works for The Times, and he has access to all sorts of press releases when they’re chasing stories.

“At the Digger it’s much more basic but that’s what makes it great.”

Ben, who bagged a zoology degree in Canada, developed a love for photography while working on his student newspaper.

But the former Kyle Academy pupil hasn’t had any professional training – making his major award a real sucess story.

The photography awards, sponsored by Scotrail, are regarded as the Oscars of the industry.

And Ben received his special judges choice prize from transport minister Stewart Stevenson.

The panel praised Ben’s “powerful, raw and gritty portrayal of life” before handing him the award.