A photograph of a food vendor selling capers, pickled olives and other Maltese delicacies from an old pram in Marsaxlokk, has just won an international photography award.

Joe Smith has been chosen as one of the winners of the Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year for his image entitled Street Vendor.

The photo will be exhibited at the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain in Bristol later on this year.

“This is the first time I submitted my work for this competition, but I believe the picture was made for this award,” Smith told Times of Malta.

He said people have described it as having a "rustic" quality because it appears to come from a bygone era. 

“It was shot around six years ago for a Bank of Valletta calendar that had the theme of ‘street vendors’. I was looking at that image when I received the email for the competition, and I knew that it would fit the category perfectly," he said. 

This is the 10th anniversary of the Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year, with the judges examining over 10,500 entries from more than 70 countries. Smith won the Winterbotham Darby Food for Sale category.

He described winning the award as very "exciting". 

“It is even more exciting that the winning images will be exhibited at the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, in Bristol. That is a very prestigious place, and I intend, fingers crossed, to attend the opening of the exhibition in November.”

In 1995, Smith was made an Associate of the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, but this is the first time his work will be displayed at the premises. The Royal Photographic Society is one of the world’s oldest photographic societies.

“I have had work exhibited twice at the National Portrait Gallery in London, which was a milestone in my career, but I am looking forward to this, seeing how I won on a whim.”

Smith, from Dingli, has been taking photos since 1979. He is a member of the Malta Photographic Society and a Fellow of the Malta Institute of Professional Photographers.