WHEN a five-year-old Luke Duggleby came into possession of his first camera it began a life-long love of photography that has never waned.

Now 37, and having long moved on from the chunky, blue Fisher Price, the Yorkshire-born snapper has travelled the world over for his art.

Not afraid to take the road less travelled, Luke has confronted people and situations most of us are blissfully unaware of - Thailand's illegal dog meat trade, Pakistan's bonded slavery and Chinese businesses attempting to drive villagers from their homes in the name of profit.

Now part of his body of work, focussing on the Areng Valley in Cambodia, has been brought to South Lakeland for a unique exhibition staged beneath the canopy of Grizedale Forest.

"I think it's good for people to go and see something like this so they realise how lucky they are," he explains.

"We live a very privileged life in the UK where things are generally what they seem.

"Laws are upheld and things are what they are - which isn't the case in a lot of places."

The exhibition focuses entirely on a forest area in the Areng Valley in Cambodia - and Luke hopes the images will offer a sharp contrast with Forestry Comission-maintained Grizedale.

"To be able show my documentary about a forest in peril, in a forest that has been preserved and managed beautifully for years, will make the message behind the images even more powerful," he says.

Born in York, Luke's phototgraphic nous was cemented at secondary school thanks to a geography teacher who installed a dark room in the building and encouraged pupils who showed an interest in getting behind the lens.

From there he went on to do a foundation qualification and A-levels in photography, before moving on to Cheltenham College of Arts.

Throughout further education he worked in a Slug and Lettuce pub, saving everything he earned so he could travel the world in his spare time.

Armed with his camera, he visited China, Vietnam, Tanzania and Mozambique - and, having caught the bug for travel, decided to leave the UK for good six months after leaving university.

At the age of 25 he moved to China for a year, and then Thailand, where he still lives in Bangkok with his wife and two young children.

Since he moved abroad he has worked as a freelance photographer, taking commissions from organisations such as Greenpeace and US Aid, as well as American, French, German and British media.

His work has been published by The Sunday Times, National Geographic, The Guardian, Monocle and The New York Times.

But it his work in the Cardamom Forest in Cambodia that will be under the spotlight at Grizedale.

The project came about after he won the inaugural 'Forestry Commission England Exhibition Award', part of the this year's Environmental Photographer of the Year awards, with his picture 'Wrapping a Surviving Tree'.

The competition was set up as an international showcase for the very best in environmental photography and film, with the Forestry Commission offering the winner the chance to present a solo exhibition in England’s public forests.

It was decided Grizedale's long history of outdoor art would make it the perfect location to launch the tour, and the perfect setting in which to reflect on wider global issues.

His exhibition, entitled 'Guardians of the Areng Valley', includes the winning image and others taken in the same area since he first visited it in 2009.

They focus in particular on a group of Buddhist monks pioneering a small but influential environmental movement aimed at reversing forest destruction, to protect the indigenous peoples and endangered species of the remote valley.

Visitors will also be able to see, from behind his lens, the journey he took with the Cambodian military as it attempted to flush illegal oil distilleries - which also produce drug, Ecstasy - from the area.

But Luke will also present the lighter side of life in the forest with photos of a group of villagers who went to great lengths to look after the eggs of a crocodile so rare it was thought to be extinct.

"I am very proud and honoured to be presenting my work in such an amazing setting," he adds.

"I grew up next to a forest very similar to Grizedale in North Yorkshire, so to be able to combine this with my other passion, photography, is a wonderful experience."

His pictures will be reproduced in large scale and exhibited outdoors in a fully accessible part of the forest.

The exhibition is now open daily until March 1, 2015. Entry is free. For full details see the Grizedale Sculpture website at www.grizedalesculpture.org

More of Luke's work can be viewed on his website at www.lukeduggleby.com