IT seems enterprising female photographers are getting younger.

A few months ago I introduced you to 25-year-old Cassandra and her thriving photographic business. Today it's the turn of Hannah, who is nearly 23 and has just opened her own photography gallery!

On October 13 this year I shall be 44, and my twenties seem far away. Especially when faced with the enterprising professionalism of Hannah Slade, whose business, Plymouth Image Gallery, opened just a few weeks ago, on August 22.

She looks her age, in fact she looks younger, (she tells me someone thought she was 15 the other day) but here she is, master of all she surveys: A spanking new gallery in the heart of the Barbican (1, Citadel Ope: It used to be Westward Bound's shop).

Her gallery sells local work by local artists, specifically photography (mostly her own), glassware and jewellery.

The emphasis on the imagery is Plymouth, hence the name.

I ask her if she isn't a bit young for this kind of responsibility but her answer addresses my unfounded prejudice: "I've worked since I was 16. I have done all my partying and got over it.

"I have had a boyfriend for seven years."

Hannah decided that being a photographer was what she wanted to do, (after flirting with the idea of the law) and once she applied and got accepted by Plymouth College of Art and Design (PCAD) the rest was easy.

She tried her hand at lots of different types of photography, but it was while she was working in Athena that she had her epiphany.

People kept coming in asking for posters of Plymouth but there weren't any, so she decided to fill that gap. Once she graduated from PCAD she discussed her future with her parents and they decided to help bring her dream into reality.

"I'm very lucky to have parents who are successful and willing to back me in my venture," she says.

I counter by asking her if it would make more sense for her to have asked them for a house or a car rather than a business, but she explains she already has those things, and has a strong work ethic which they have encouraged.

Although most of the photographs in her gallery are her own, Hannah is keen to hear from other Plymouth-based artists, makers and photographers.

She is willing to show their work in the gallery, or on her website (www.plymouthimagegallery.com).

Hannah has a great deal of drive and commitment. She is currently working seven days a week and has ambitions to be able to open similar establishments in other cities, "you could have an Exeter Image Gallery, with photos of Exeter for example."

She is also offering people the chance to have their favourite view captured by a professional by offering bespoke commissions. She has just accepted a job to photograph the city from a customer's balcony, which I think is a pretty great idea.

Plymouth Image Gallery has a friendly family feel to it, (while I was there, Hannah's brother Chris was learning the ropes) and with prices ranging from £39 to £300 for canvasses and prints from £25, there is something for most pockets.

Finally, thanks to Viv for drawing my attention to this wacky Plymouth art site: www.mydogateart.blogspot.com. If you have a website you think we should all take a look at, let me know and I'll spread the word!

That's it for this week; I'm off to see if I can find an enterprising female photographer even younger than Hannah, let me know if you think you fit the bill.

Until next time, take care.

Jojo@eveningherald.co.uk