AN UP and coming photographer has been nominated for a national art award.

Gina Soden, who moved to Earley last year, specialises in photographing abandoned structures and locations and is one of 28 artists to be chosen for the National Open Art Exhibition, in London.

All of those chosen will be given an award, sharing a £60,000 prize fund — the highest in the country.

Miss Soden, 28, picked up the Emerging Artist award last year and is thrilled that she is in the running to be rewarded for her hard work in 2014.

She said: “It feels brilliant and to be part of the exhibition is exciting.

“I’ve been an artist for two years now, but doing the photography for around eight years. I sort of fell into being an artist as a career, but it’s great and I’m really happy.

“It’s always abandoned places, and I have focused on castles and palaces, but I’ve recently taken pictures of former industrial sites. I like places with a sense of grandeur.”

The National Open Art Exhibition runs fto October 25 at Somerset House.

Miss Soden also has a exhibition being commissioned next Friday at the Eye Like Gallery in Beaconsfield.

She is headed to Poland last Friday to capture abandoned buildings and scenery in the west part of the country, as well as making a trip to the former concentration camp in Auschwitz.