Welsh photographer shortlisted for £12,000 prize

A photograph of a girl at a charity for obese youngsters has been shortlisted for a £12,000 prize.

Abbie Trayler-Smith's photograph of the girl, named only as Chelsea, was one of a series of pictures taken at a project in Sheffield called Shine.

The South Wales-born photographer taught herself to take pictures while studying law at King's College in London.

She said: "Whilst talking about how it feels to live with the prejudices that come with being overweight, I looked away to change the film in my camera. When I looked back the picture was suddenly there. I shot one frame."

Three other photographs have been shortlisted for the £12,000 Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize, including a picture of a 14-year-old American girl hunting in South Africa by David Chancellor, an intimate portrait of Greek photographer Panayiotis Lamprou's wife, and a photograph of two drug-addicted twins in America by Jeffrey Stockbridge.

The winner will be announced on Tuesday November 9 and an exhibition of 60 of the pictures considered for the prize will run from November to February at the National Portrait Gallery, London.