A CELEBRATED photographer has once again been crowned ‘Pet Photographer of the Year’ following his pet category win last year at the annual Guild of Professional Photographers awards evening.

Jason Allison, 48, of Crook, won the title by entering selected images throughout the year, which are then scored by independent judges.

He achieved this after accumulating a year’s worth of consistent high scoring portraits of his clients’ pets, including numerous gold, silver and bronze awarded images.

He was also awarded ‘Pet Image of the Year’ for his portrait of Seven Staffies – one of two images selected by judges for the final.

In addition, he also achieved runner-up for the overall 'Judge’s Choice Image of the Year' for a stunning classic black and white male portrait and the photographers bar in the pet category.

He said: "To be crowned 'Pet Photographer of the Year' following my overall category win in consecutive years is a huge achievement and I am really humbled to be presented this by the highly respected guild."

Photography has been a lifelong hobby for Mr Allison and since opening his studio in 2017, his passion for photography and pets has catapulted him onto the international stage.

The majority of his work is dog photography, which he shoots from his studio in Willington, but he also photographs cats, horses and other pets.

In December, judges from the guild selected ten images in each of the 15 genre categories and qualifying images needed to achieve a silver award status or above in their popular image of the month category.

The photographer was presented with his awards at the final, which was held at Crewe Hall in Cheshire on Saturday evening.

Guild director Lesley Thirsk, said: “I am both proud and delighted that Jason has achieved this recognition. The guild has very demanding standards when judging photographic competitions. The judging is undertaken by a panel of internationally recognised experts from a variety of photographic backgrounds, so Jason quite rightly should be delighted with their extraordinary achievement.”