A RADCLIFFE photographer is getting bags of exposure after snapping up a clutch of awards.

Daniel Parker's conventional and digital prints have won top honours in two competitions open to professional photographers. The awards will enhance his already buoyant reputation.

Daniel (33), set up Parker Photography from his Joseph Street home four years ago and is primarily involved in weddings and portraits.

He has been quick to harness the benefits of digital photography, which plays an ever-increasing role in his work but a conventional mono photo won him a top prize in the Weddings for the Year 2000 competition, organised in association with the British Institute of Professional Photography.

The print took the coveted Dennis Hylander trophy and was judged best of 40 entries.

Daniel also picked up three prizes in the inaugural Manchester-based Colourpoint Photographic Gallery Awards competition. Two digital photos, with a rather avant-garde feel, took the first and second prizes in Colourpoint's digital category. He also took second spot in a separate section within the same competition, organised in conjunction with Fuji Films.

The Colourpoint success earned Daniel £150 in vouchers and processing discounts. Entries for the company's first-ever awards were selected from customer's photos, which had been on show at Colourpoint gallery.

Daniel says many clients expect to have a "conventional" portrait taken because they simply don't realise there is an alternative.

"When I've shot what the customer expects, I persuade them to be a little more adventurous and explore ways of digitally enhancing the image."

This new computer-generated art can also add a surreal dimension to photos, especially for the more imaginative professionals.

These latest awards build on earlier ones which Daniel achieved Last year, he received two merits at the annual regional print competition of the Master Photographers Association. Again, it was his avant-garde portraits which caught the eye of the judges. In 1999, he picked up two awards from the British Institute of Professional Photographers.

Daniel previously worked for Employment Services in Prestwich but then decided to take voluntary redundancy so he could turn his photographic hobby into a full-time business.

He did a two-year A-level course at Bury College, where he hooked up with a professional wedding photographer who employed him on a part-time basis.

Daniel later launched his own company under the Headstart initiative run by Bolton and Bury Chamber.