A WILDLIFE photographer from Bournemouth has won a prestigious competition and seen his winning work published as a result.

Jonathan Truss was named as a category winner in the BBC Wildlife Magazine Artist of the Year 2013 competition.

He won in the ‘Frozen Planet’ category with his image of a polar bear on an iceberg entitled The One That Got Away.

The judges said: “This unusual view of a polar bear, nicely composed and painted, caught our imagination.

“Jonathan has successfully captured the cold darkness beneath the ice, and the trace of bubbles hints at a seal that got away.”

Jonathan added: “I must have painted this water and iceberg without any reference five or six times before I got it right.

“On a recent dive with great whites, I’d captured a photo that was half-sky, half-underwater, and this gave me the idea for the picture.

“Originally, I included a seal diving beneath the ice, but later decided that less was more.”

As a category winner, Jonathan’s artwork has been published in the September 2013 issue of BBC Wildlife Magazine and on BBC Wildlife Magazine’s website at discoverwildlife.com It was also showcased at the Marwell International Wildlife Art Society exhibition at Rookesbury Park Manor, Wickham, Hampshire.