A weekly newspaper photographer who captured the first Glastonbury Festival on film has died aged 80.

Tributes have been paid to Brian Walker, pictured left, who worked for the Central Somerset Gazette for almost three decades.

Brian documented what came to be the Glastonbury Festival from the early 1970s onwards, and has been described in an obituary as the man who “set the standard for music festival photography”.

Among those to pay tribute has been festival organiser Michael Eavis, who said Brian was “adored by us all, and will never be forgotten”.

Andy Vallis, chief sub-editor for the Mid Somerset Series added: “I worked with Brian in the 1990s and remember him as a terrific professional, always coming up with the perfect shot. His knowledge of the local area and local people was also a great asset.”

Rachel Humphries, who worked as a reporter at the Mid Somerset Series, knew Brian for three decades.

She said: “He wasn’t just a photographer, he had a news nose.

“His were the days of the dark room not the digital, although he embraced both. In these times with enough money to buy a top camera, anyone can take a picture of a black cat in a coalhole, but he had an eye for a picture and was never without the tools to capture it.

“As everyone locally knows he was there at the beginning of what was the Pilton pop festival and his photographs of that time are still the ‘go to’ examples used by editors around the world.

“He often toyed with the idea of publishing a book to include his iconic festival photographs but sadly he never did.”

Brian passed away on Friday.