David Chancellor said Africa is an inspirational place to take photos In pictures: Taylor Wessing prize

A picture of a teenager from Alabama on her first hunting trip to South Africa has won this year's Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize.

The £12,000 award was presented to photographer David Chancellor for his portrait, entitled Huntress with Buck.

Chancellor inherited his interest in photography from his father, who took amateur photos.

The third annual ceremony took place at The National Portrait Gallery in London.

Chancellor spent two days with the 14-year-old and her family.

"I've always been interested in Africa. It's impossible not to be inspired by the place," he said.

'Powerful and beautiful'

"Once you are bitten by the continent you never recover. And for an artist or photographer, the light is indescribable."

Sandy Nairne, director of the National Portrait Gallery, said: "David Chancellor's Huntress with Buck is a powerful and beautiful portrait; a worthy winner amidst a strong international submission."

Panayiotis Lamprou came second for his Portrait of my British Wife from the series Human Presence.

The artwork was not originally intended for public display and shows his wife sitting with no knickers on.

"I never showed it to anyone. Only she knew about it," he said.

"When she saw it she said, that even if it wasn't a nude, the photograph has the same power to express."

In third place was Jeffrey Stockbridge for Tic Tac and Tootsie (twin sisters Carroll and Shelly McKean) from the series Nowhere but Here.

Fourth prize went to Abbie Trayler-Smith for Untitled 2 from the series Childhood Obesity.

The judges shortlisted 60 portraits from nearly 6,000 submissions.

The exhibition of the photos will run at the National Portrait Gallery from 11 November until 20 February 2011.

Last year Paul Floyd Blake's image of a teenage swimmer aiming for glory at the 2012 Paralympics was named last year's winner.