A BUDDING photographer from Southampton has set the wheels in motion towards his dream career after snapping up a work placement with one of Britain’s top coach companies.

Snapper Steve Maynard will hop aboard a National Express bus at Southampton Coach Station on Monday for a fiveday whistle-stop tour of nine British cities, where he will take photographs of iconic landmarks for the transport operator’s website and brochures.

The company spotted the 23- year-old’s talent after he took a photograph from on top of West Park car park, capturing one of their coaches leaving the Harbour Parade station and posted it on Twitter.

The company has presented Steve, who lives in Freemantle, suffers from dyslexia and has struggled to find regular work since leaving school, with a new Sony A57 SLR camera especially for the trip.

His brief requires him to take shots of the London Eye, Big Ben and the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth plus major scenes in Bristol, Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester.

He said: “It’s going to be a big adventure – I can’t wait and it has opened up a thousand doors for me.”