BUDDING photographers who captured the mood of the Stockton International Riverside Festival can now see their work displayed.

Shutterbugs 2001 again proved a very popular part of the Festival and hundreds of festival-goers seized the opportunity to get behind the camera.

The Mayor of Stockton, councillor Terry Bean, will be judging all the prints along with Shelley Plews, artistic director of Arc, at a prize presentation on Friday at the Focus @ Photography Gallery at the Green Dragon Museum, Stockton.

Also on display at the gallery will be photographs taken by a group of Stockton residents who have been capturing images of their home town. All the pictures have been hand-printed and mounted by the newly trained photographers as part of the Big Picture project, funded by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.

Muriel King, museums officer for Stockton Borough Council, said: "Shutterbugs is now in its fourth year and again it proved to be a great chance for people to have some fun and get involved in the festival.

"The judges will no doubt see a whole range of pictures and it will be a difficult decision to pick a winner."

Shutterbugs was funded from One NorthEast through the Single Regeneration Budget and the Regional Arts Lottery programme.