A woman has set up an online community of photographers who organise photographic walks in London.

Helena Martins, 40, from Tooting, set up London Photowalks last year using social networking site Google+.

The group capture London's highlights during walks around London then share the images online.

It was orginally set up for Mrs Martins' colleagues, but now boasts 1,000 members.

Walks have taken place in a number of locations, including East London, Canary Wharf and Portobello Market.

Meetings take place once a month, with Mrs Martins also raising money for charities Hearing Dogs and Action on Hearing Loss.

She was recently invited to Google HQ in Central London to meet the Google+ team, who were impressed with her e-community spirit.

Mrs Martins is now inviting budding photographers to take part in a competition in a bid to find an image which represents London life during the Olympic year.

the London competition launched last week with participants having until June 30 to submit entries.

Mrs Martins said: "The first Photowalks for my work colleagues was really appreciated by them, so I thought of doing a monthly event out of it.

"I'm extremely web savy, so using my favourite network Google+ was an obvious thing.

"I never thought it would be this successful. We now are expanding the management team of the group because it did grow to a point that I can't do everything on my own."

The fund-raiser also created Photographer Volunteer, which connects photographers wishing to volunteer their skills to charities for free.

She has helped charities such as Sea Shepherds, Action on Hearing Loss and Tommy's with photo shoots.

Visit photowalkslondon.co.uk