A PHOTOGRAPHER who has been in Bristol for only three months captured the spirit of summer in this prize-winning picture.

Martins Kikulis took the shot of the balloon toss event in Castle Park during the Bristol Harbour Festival.

It was chosen as the best photograph of the festival in a competition run by the event organisers, Bristol City Council's art and culture department.

Mr Kikulis, 25, who moved to the UK from Latvia just over a year ago, said he was bowled over by the number of free outdoor events in our city.

"There are festivals and carnivals almost every weekend. From a photography perspective it is very, very good," he said.

"Just after I moved here from Yorkshire with my girlfriend, we found the St Paul's Carnival happening outside our door. There were so many interesting moments to capture on camera."

Mr Kikulis works as a wedding photographer but said he took the event photographs for his own pleasure.

"I took several hundred pictures at the harbour festival and chose the best dozen or so to enter for the competition," he said.

He said he liked the balloon picture because it caught the instant when the balloon burst and also showed the emotions on the faces of the participants.

Mr Kikulis, who worked on Latvia's biggest newspaper before switching to concentrating on wedding photos, wins a £250 prize in the competition, judged by the Evening Post's picture editor Simon Galloway.

Ten runners-up have earned £50 Broadmead shopping vouchers from Destination Bristol.

The prize-winning pictures will be displayed throughout next month at Bristol's new Tourist Information Centre at E Shed, 1 Canons Road, next door to Watershed.

Mr Galloway said: "We were delighted that so many of our readers entered their photographs and demonstrated a good eye for a picture.

"We wanted to find an image which captured the occasion and we were sent many different shots illustrating the wide variety of activities available at the Harbour Festival.

"It was interesting to see the different aspects captured by our readers and we were impressed by the quality of the entrants.

"We decided on Martins's image as the winner because it had all the elements that are needed for a great picture.

"It captures the fun of the Harbour Festival coupled with a technically perfect image."

David Pyne, the festival's marketing and sponsorship manager, said: "We love the winning photo of the fabulous annual Balloon Toss at the Cirque Bijou circus stage. It really captures how the festival entertains and engages with people of all ages – both residents of the city and visitors as well.

"The balloon toss is an annual institution, run by Bristol's very own Desperate Men – one of the city's longest-running street theatre companies.

"It's unique to Bristol and this was the largest one ever, with around 500 people taking part.

"The photo is very striking, using a wide angle lens and filters to really dramatic effect.

"A very worthy winner, and we like it so much that we're in touch with Martins to see if we can have some more of the photos he took.

"Thank you to everyone who took part – we hope that this will be the first in many years of Harbour Festival photo competitions."

Julian Bracey from Cirque Bijou added: "This photo captures what the festival is all about; performers and audience coming together and trying to knock each other over with giant water balloons.

"The popularity of the balloon toss is a bit of a phenomenon, people literally come from across the country to take part."