A TALENTED teenager has shown her photographic flair by winning a hotly contested autumn competition with her striking close-up of a fallen leaf.

Despite the high standard of the entries it was Jen Girling, aged 17, of Northwick Close, Worcester, who shone out in the Worcester News photographic competition with her beautiful photograph of a leaf covered in drops of rain.

The Worcester Sixth Form student, who is studying photography, film studies and English literature took the striking photograph at Arley Arboretum on October 5, proving that beauty is to be found in small things as well as great.

Miss Girling said: "I've been interested in photography since I was about 13. At the time my brother had just got a really good camera and it was interesting to figure out how it worked and how to take good photographs with it. I then did GCSE photography as well, which I loved.

I got my most recent camera as a Christmas present. I was really shocked to win. I saw some of the other entries and they were all so good, I felt really honoured. I'd like to work in the film industry but I'll definitely be keeping my photography going as it's one of my favourite things to do."

In total, your Worcester News received 57 entries, recording many of the shifting faces of autumn famously described by John Keats as "season of mists and mellow fruitfulness' . Photographs submitted included a spider's web beaded with dew, a blue tit perched by some berries, church spires soaring above the treetops, morning mist by the river Severn, a stag standing proudly on a hill, conker sculptures, sunlight casting shadows through branches, remote country lanes shrouded by fallen leaves and low-lying mist encircling the Malvern Hills. From close-ups to landscapes each picture in its own right captures something of the rich tapestry of the season.