THE talents of a Stroud-born photographer who spent weeks capturing the lives of Bristol drug addicts and prostitutes have been recognised in an international photography competition.

Leo Maguire, 22, received joint third place in the prestigious Ian Parry Scholarship Award for his bleak portrayal of five lives affected by drugs.

The former Stroud College student, who now lives in Bristol, spent two weeks shooting in some of the city's seediest locations for the photo essay.

His subjects included a one-legged prostitute, a crack addict and a rent boy - and the young photographer admitted he sometimes felt nervous while completing the project.

"I was in some pretty hairy situations," he told the SNJ. "I found it really hard to hang around with these kind of people.

"One time I went to a proper shooting up den in St Paul's which was really stupid."

The motivation for the entry came from Maguire's memories of his childhood in Slad Road, where his house was used by a charity for recovering drug addicts.

"It was all to do with my outrage about that," he said. "I wanted to understand better for myself what they were all about. "It was a very personal thing. It has changed my outlook completely."

The Ian Parry Scholarship was set up in memory of 24-year-old photojournalist Ian Parry, who was killed in Romania in 1989 while on assignment for the Sunday Times.

This year's overall winner was Danish snapper David Hogsholt for his photo essay on the life of a young prostitute in Copenhagen.