URSULA Franklin has been a keen photographer since she was just ten years old.

Having travelled to New Zealand and even the Arctic to snap up some amazing shots, she was never one to show off her skills, despite encouragement from her husband, Ralph.

His sudden death from a heart attack last year changed all of this, however.

Ursula, 47, said: “I love looking through a lens to get the snap because you pay so much more attention to what is around you.

“I had never done anything with my photos until after his death. Ralph always encouraged me and this is really a tribute to him.

“He is a great source of encouragement, even now.”

On the first anniversary of Ralph’s death, Ursula sold her first canvas. She said it was a strange coincidence but made her feel like she was doing the right thing.

“I’d just had canvases made and I was on my way to pick them up from the shop before I went to visit Ralph’s grave.

“As I was collecting them, a woman came into the shop, picked one up and asked if it was for sale.

“I was delighted and it gave me a real boost on what started as quite a difficult day.

“I had another one of that canvas made and it’s now hanging up in my house.”

Ursula loves to take nature shots and said she is always laden with equipment when she goes on walks.

She takes two camera bodies with her, different lenses and a tripod.

She added: “It all does weigh a lot but you never know what you might see when you’re out and, for me, it’s all about getting the different angles.

“I don’t edit my pictures – how they are is how I’ve taken them – but I have a friend who has now started taking pictures of me taking pictures.

“She said if I ever get famous she’s going to publish a book of them.”

The first exhibition took place at the Foxes Academy in Minehead and Ursula said the support was overwhelming.

She said: “Friends and people I knew attended and because they hadn’t really seen any of my work, they were all really supportive and surprised, it was humbling.

“Anyone with a good eye can take a photo, even if it’s on a smart phone. Photography is a combination of science and art.”

Her current exhibition is being showcased at the Chapel House Tearooms and Crafts, in Dunster, and is open daily from 10.30am.

The exhibition will be running until December 8.

It is Ursula’s second in as many months, and a share of her profits are being donated to the choir fund of St George Church, in Dunster, where Ursula is a chorister and where her husband was director of music.

To view Ursula’s photography, you can go along to the exhibition or visit her new website: www.f4inspirationalimages.co.uk