Weymouth-based wedding photographer Mark Cornwell has achieved a lifelong dream of becoming a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society (RPS).
After nearly 40 years of hard work, Mark, 56, finally achieved his fellowship on November 9 2022.
The Society dates back to 1853 and is the world's oldest photographic society.
Its patron, the Princess of Wales, is herself an accomplished photographer.
Alongside photography, Mark also has a passion for baking bread, and his family history traces back to a baker called Thomas who was born in 1805 in Kent.
His two passions came together for a panel of work called "Give Us This Day", where Mark took photographs of several Dorset bakers working through the night making and baking the bread.
The work was submitted to the RPS for assessment in November and now Mark has received the highest distinction available to a photographer when he was confirmed as a Fellow of the RPS (FRPS).
Mark said: "it was a privilege to be able to record the bakers at work and I feel quite honoured to have gained my FRPS.
"I’ve wanted to get there since I was a teenager and I’m delighted to be one of something like 600 people in the world that have reached the distinction of FRPS. The bakers involved in the project were just amazing."
The Fellowship is the culmination of years of hard work and the realisation of a dream which dates back to 1984.
One day Mark was at a second hand camera sale in Guildford where he saw a lady selling photos.
He liked the photos and decided to buy one and still has it on his office wall, on the reverse of the image was the photographer's name: Joan Wakelin FRPS.
Mark said: "I asked what FRPS meant and she told me all about the Royal Photographic Society and what Fellowship meant.
"She said that anyone could be an FRPS if they kept taking photos and working at it.
"That stuck with me, I always wanted to be an FRPS.
"I am so thrilled to have got there at last, a lifelong goal achieved."
