FORMER Echo columnist Peter Crowter is sharing another ‘view from here’ with his eye-catching images of Dorset landscapes in a new photographic book.

Charmouth’s Mr Crowter, who used to write The View From Here columns for the Dorset Echo from his holiday home in Florida, has four striking shots featured in the glossy annual book Dorset: A Photographic Journey in an Olympic Year, which has a special section this year in honour of this summer’s London 2012 sailing events.

Mr Crowter, 77, said all his scene shots happened by ‘pure chance’, taken the instant he saw them rather than a calculated set up.

The only exception was the rainbow which Mr Crowter saw through his window and then had to grab his camera and rush outside to capture.

He said: “It’s the first time I’ve had images in the Dorset photographic book, although the Dorset Wildlife Trust has published a couple of my photos. It is nice to see them in print.”

Mr Crowter’s images include a rainbow over Charmouth, Lyme Regis in winter sunshine, both captured last December, a scene of Morcombelake shot last October, and Coombe Heath, near Wool, taken in April.

The former columnist, who used to be farm manager of Town Hill Farm, Compton Valence, was inspired to take up photography around the same time that he began writing for the Echo.

He said: “I had a place in Florida, which I used to visit for six months every year in the winter.

“Florida also had a lot of interesting bird life, which got me interested in photography.

“I bought a good camera and a zoom lens to take pictures of the birds in Florida.”

Dorset: A Photographic Journey in an Olympic Year costs £14.95 and is available from the Dorset Echo offices on the Granby Industrial Estate, Weymouth and in Antelope Walk, Dorchester, and the Bridport News office in East Street, Bridport.

Mr Crowter’s Messages from Florida to Dorset book can be found on Kindle.