A TOP snapper from Malvern is hoping to get in the frame in Birmingham after being picked to exhibit his work at a major festival in the city.

Thirty-four year-old Luke Unsworth, was one of more than 60 artists short-listed from more than 700 entrants from the UK and abroad to showcase their work at the New Art Birmingham exhibition in the city's historic Jewellery Quarter.

The arts festival runs from Thursday, December 8, to Saturday, December 10, in the quarter's Kettle Works and aims to allow audiences and collectors to meet artists and buy or commission work. A wide variety of painters, sculptors, printmakers, photographers and digital artists will be displaying their work at the event.

Luke, from West Malvern Road, was picked after organisers were impressed by snaps he took of fans at the 2002 World Cup in Japan.

He has been a photographer for about 15 years now, studying general photography at Stafford Art College before completing an HND in documentary photography at Stockport College Of Further Education.

He said: "I was chuffed to bits when I was picked as it's basically a good opportunity to get your work seen. It'll be great to meet all of the other artists and network."

Luke's previous work includes images taken of the old Bull Ring in Birmingham before it was pulled down, which feature in a publication by Birmingham City Council, A World City.

He is currently working on a project to re-photograph those involved with the Littleton Colliery in Cannock, Staffordshire - which closed down in 1993 - on the old site.

Some of the artists displaying work at the Birmingham event have already shown at Tate Modern, National Portrait Gallery and the V&A and are gaining reputations on a national and international level.

New Art aims to promote challenging new work, develop opportunities for collectors and showcase the best of new art by Birmingham, regional, national and international artists

To find out more, visit: www.urban-fusion.info/nab or phone 0121 464 1194.