Maltese photographer Joe P Smith has scooped two important awards in the space of two weeks.

He was declared Photographer of the Year in the Events category during the annual awards night of The Societies photographic organisation of the UK with an image taken during last year’s Malta Arts Festival. The image, entitled Rope Dance, was from a performance by Inbal Pinto & Avishai Pollak during the Malta Arts Festival 2012.

A few days ago, another f his images, Uplift, taken during a performance at the Manoel Theatre, was placed among the top 50 in the Arts & Culture category of the Sony World Photography Awards. A total of 122,000 images from 170 countries were submitted in this contest.

These are two more important milestones that continue to strengthen Joe’s status as one of the top performing arts photographers on the island.