A PHOTOGRAPHY fan beat more than 80 other entries to come first in a monthly competition.

Darren Cottrell’s “Cathy” beat 85 other images covering a range of subjects to win Wanstead and Woodford Photographic Society’s November competition.

Taly Noy, a commercial photographer specialising in snapping cars for advertising, chose Mr Cottrell’s entry.

He said: "The overall standard was extremely high and my problem was trying to find that one image which stood out from the rest.”

Mr Cottrell said: "Naturally I am very happy to have won. There were plenty of other images that could have pipped me to the post.”