THE early bird catches a cracking good photograph - as a Lancaster photographer can prove.

Ron's Atkinson's 'Day Break Over the Lake District' exhibition, being shown now at the Lancaster Maritime Museum includes work which pierces the dawn mist over some of the Lake District's most beautiful stretches of water.

The tranquil calm of Windermere, Grasmere, Rydal Water and Elterwater are all captured in a display which Lancaster museums' visitor services manager Paul Thompson describes as ' very relaxing'.

"Pictures like these can't help but have a calming influence on the stresses of the day. Their stunning beauty and sense of solitude have a calming, therapeutic quality," he says.

Ron started to take photography seriously when he joined the Lancaster Photographic Society 20 years ago.

"Having learned much from visiting lecturers and advice from colleagues I began to enter competitions. I developed my own style and approach to subjects which really interested me," says snapper Ron.

"Lighting is perhaps the most essential ingredient in creating atmosphere. For the last three years I have concentrated on landscapes in winter, mainly in the Lake District. Dawn lighting and early morning mists combining to create wonderful delicate colours and contours".

In sharp contrast to the still calm of dawn over the Lake District are a series of all-action shots including the turbulent waters of a Kayaking championship and the excitement of downhill mountain bike racing.

The exhibition is open at the Maritime Museum daily from 12.30 until January 18.