A TATTOO shop owner from Hereford has shared his photos which he took on the front line in Iraq.

Peter Masters, who owns Skinzophrenic Tattoos and Piercing in Aubery Street, went out to the war-torn country for 16 days at the start of the year to take photos and to visit his tattoo shop.

The 49-year-old opened a tattoo studio in Erbil two years ago and since then the resident tattoo artists have completed body art for the military, people who work on the oil rigs and also Iraqi nationals.

Peter's latest trip was the fifth time he had been out there, and one of the most traumatic.

He went to the front line in Mosul, where the Iraqi forces are trying to re-take the city back from Isis.

Peter said: "They don't show it on TV. Isis are getting smashed but in the process everything is getting smashed. It was very emotional."

He said he was shocked at the amount of car bombings by Isis, where four or five buildings could be destroyed by just one car, often being driven by a young boy.

Peter said: "I don't know how the troops do it. There are people getting shot all around you."

He said he saw a child playing with a swing, which had an IED attached to it which went off. A volunteer medic from Birmingham was able to save her.

Peter, who is shown around by a fixer- a local with a press pass, first started taking photos in Afghanistan in 2009, where he met Tom Little, an eye specialist from the United States who, not long after Peter had left the country, was killed when his team were the victims of a massacre in the Badakhshan Province.

He had taken photos of Dr Little and he said suddenly the national press wanted his photos.

He said: "I have no military background. I am just a kid gone wrong.

"I just found myself in this situation. After that happened, I came back to Hereford and approached Hereford College of Arts about a photography degree, which I completed."

During his latest trip he said he took more photos of Iraqi children, who are so "colourful and beautiful" but surrounded by a derelict, desolate city.

Peter recently moved his tattoo studio in Hereford to Aubery Street from West Street, after inheriting money from his mum. He readily admits he can't tattoo but gives opportunities to youngsters to develop their craft. His 21-year-old son, George, has now taken it over. Peter has three other children, Kiedis, one, Lianna, 15 and Olympia, 23.

His next move is to publish a photographic journal.

There is also an exhibition, Born Into War – Peter Masters Iraq Frontline Photography Exhibition at Skinzophrenic, Hereford. The private viewing will take place on March 18 at 8pm and will be open to the public on March 19 from 11 am.