TWO young photographers have snapped up first place in a competition to celebrate the views of Oxford.

Entrants to the Oxford Preservation Trust competition were asked to capture their views of the city during the weekend of Oxford Open Doors in September.

A black and white image of a man standing alone at Oxford’s Christchurch College by Marcella Montagnese captured the judges’ attention to win the ‘people’ category.

The Summertown 17-year-old also won the ‘old and new’ category in the Oxford Preservation Trust’s competition after submitting two pictures.

The first is a black and white image of the Antony Gormley statue on the roof of Blackwell’s Art and Poster shop in Broad Street. The second is a colour photograph of an empty graveyard at St Michael at the North Gate, contrasted with the busy street in the background.

An image of a blacksmith’s forge with a red-hot piece of metal by Abielle Hallas caught the judges’ eye in the ‘our industrial heritage’ category.

The photo was taken during a demonstration of traditional blacksmith skills organised for Oxford Open Doors.

The Abingdon 16-year-old, who attends Fitzharrys School, said: “It felt good to have won. I was not expecting it, I was absolutely surprised.

“I don’t do any photography other than as a hobby.”

Debbie Dance, director of Oxford Preservation Trust, said: ‘“We were thrilled with the quality of the entries.”

The competition was judged by Oxford Mail freelance photographer Mark Bassett and sponsored by construction company Beard.

Lucie Elliott, business development manager at Beard, said: “We’re pleased to have sponsored this competition which highlighted the talent our young people possess.”

A range of organisations welcomed the public during the Open Doors weekend, which attracted more than 63,000 visitors to 200 venues.