Press photographers from across Dorset held a special party in honour of Geoff Moore, chief photographer of the Dorset Echo, who has retired from the paper after 25 years.

Staff and freelance snappers from the county gathered at the King’s Arms hotel in Dorchester to wish the 56-year-old well as he begins work as a freelance.

Geoff has captured the daily goings-on of the south coast for the Echo since 1981, and had previously worked for a press agency in Bournemouth.

He also spent five years working as a photographer with the Navy, travelling extensively to places such as Australia, Singapore, South Africa, South America and the Far East.

Geoff (centre) celebrates his ‘retirement’ with friends

Much of his work at the Dorset Echo has also been marine-oriented, albeit on a local basis, with day-to-day work taking in the shipping area of Portland and coastal rescues.

The area is also a favourite with Royals, and one of Geoff’s most memorable assignments was a visit from the newly-engaged Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson.

He said: “At that time they were at the top of the news and they appeared together at a Naval event.

“The event was so small that they wouldn’t allow reporters in because of the numbers, so I had to take the front page picture and write the story!”

When Geoff joined the Echo it was still produced using hot metal, and photographers spent many hours in the dark room.

He has seen the transition to digital photography and says it was “fairly painless and quite welcomed”.

He said: “For us it made life in many ways a lot easier, although what comes with that is a greater demand. Readers never noticed anything different.”

Now Geoff has decided to branch out on his own, and is already enjoying success.

His pictures recently appeared in the Daily Mail and the Daily Express, after gardeners who created a floral display on a roundabout spelt the word ‘Weymouth’ incorrectly.

Geoff said: “The work I’m doing is still news oriented but I’m trying to find things that have a broader appeal.

“It’s already going better than I predicted and I’m quite encouraged.”