A GREENOCK sports photographer has told of his delight after being recognised by a national photography awards body - and explained what made his winning entry that extra bit special. 

Gary Bradley is a popular face around Inverclyde, particularly at Cappielow and Fort Matilda where he has been snapping sporting events involving both Greenock Morton and Greenock Wanderers for the last decade.

And just last week the amateur snapper became a national award winner after his photo was selected for a judge's choice plate award at the 2024 Scottish Photography Federation's Digital Championships.

Gary's photo was part of the newly formed Clyde Camera Club's inaugural entry to the competition, in which they earned a fifth place finish overall.

'Tackled' scooped up the national award'Tackled' scooped up the national award (Image: Gary Bradley)

Gary's image, 'Tackled', was taken during Greenock Morton's 150th anniversary celebrations when the Cappielow club took on Raith Rovers at Cappielow back in October.

The photo shows Cowshed favourite Iain Wilson carrying out one of his trademark tackles on Raith Rovers winger Dylan Easton during the 2-0 victory.

But the snapper says there is more to his picture than meets the eye. 

He told the Tele: "There's only five members in the club. We chose the pictures that we wanted to put in as our first ever group entry and we came fifth overall.

"My image though got the bronze medal for the judges choice, which is a real honour, especially for our first outing as a club.

"Choosing the picture was quite a lengthy process, but we all got together and picked our choices that we thought were competition worthy, which went into a folder.

"They were voted on by the whole club. The number of photos went from over 100 down to 22 to eight.

"Everyone in the group loved the picture. For me there's just so much action in the shot to take in in the one go."

The camera guru rhymed off just what made the picture stand out from the rest as he picked up a second award in as many years for his efforts.

He added: "You've got the aggression in Iain Wilson's face, the shock of Cammy Ballantyne in the background, you've got the pain of Dylan Easton being tackled and losing the ball.

"You've then got Iain giving absolute welly to try and win that ball back. There's bits of grass flying everywhere, there's snot and sweat.

"It's a really good action shot, the background isn't too distracting either.

"I did a wee bit of tinkering to crop it and things like that, but to win the award was a really nice surprise."