EVERY snapper wants his pictures to gain lots of exposure.

Now thousands of people are seeing the work of wildlife photographer Andrew Walmsley.

His stunning images of the natural environment are now on show in a special exhibition in Frideswide Square in Oxford.

Right next to Oxford station, the square is a through route for hordes of tourists visiting the city, and office workers.

The photos will remain on show until August 31 as part of Magdalen College School’s Oxford Festival of the Arts.

The festival, run by the school, takes place at venues throughout the city from Saturday, June 23 to July 7.

Photos in the free exhibition, including some taken by pupils from Oxford schools, showcase wildlife in and around the city.

Mr Walmsley, who does freelance work for the Oxford Mail, specialises in wildlife and conservation photography and aims to inspire empathy with animals.

He said: “Thousands of people walk past every day and will be seeing my pictures and those taken by school pupils too - it’s a great opportunity.

“I hope this inspires more pupils to take up photography.

“I found the beetle in Shotover Country Park, which is five minutes from where I live in Headington.

“I also took a wide-angle shot of some geese and a horse on Port Meadow.”

Mr Walmsley worked with pupils from Oxford Academy, Oxford Spires Academy, St Gregory the Great and Cheney schools.

A couple of the images were captured by pupils using their mobile phones.

Mr Walmsley added: “During tuition sessions I used my phone to remind kids that you can change settings without getting bogged down with loads of kit.

“I wanted to make this as accessible as possible and every kid has a phone in his or her pocket.”

Mr Walmsley used a Nikon SLR camera, with the close-up beetle shot requiring a macro lens.

The camera he used was a Nikon D500.

“I tried to teach the kids the technique of getting to the eye level of what you are photographing,” he said.

“To get a stronger image bring the camera to the same level as your subject.

“A few friends have been asking me about the exhibition, walked through and given me some very good feedback.

“It’s been very well received and the pictures will be there for a couple of months which is great.

“It’s free and in the open air and nature photography is what I specialise in.

“It’s nice to know these images have been taken right on our doorstep.

There’s a good badger sett at Shotover and I’m still trying to get the perfect shot - but that’s something to look forward to.”