Luckily for Stephanie Lehoczky, some creatures are making the most of the recent wet weather, with her entry into The Canberra Times' Spring Photo Competition illustrating that sometimes the simplest of things can make the best photos.

"I thought spring 2016 has been particularly unique because of the wet weather, so snails made sense," she said.

Proving that you don't need professional equipment to take a good photo, Ms Lehoczky used her Samsung phone to snap the photo on her walk to work.

"If I'm not looking up dodging magpies, I'm looking down, and it was just something beautiful I saw on my way to work."

Getting a good photo often depends more on sheer luck and spontaneity than carefully considered settings and composition, and with animal photography this is most certainly the case. Mary Lou Lyon stumbled upon a purple swamphen chick being fed by its mother at Nerang Pool during Floriade and couldn't resist getting up close to snap a photo.

Also among this year's candidates is Chris Appleton, who captured some photos of a mob of Brumbies while on a 27-kilometre circuit walk in Kosciusko National Park with some friends.

Canberra's breathtaking sunsets are demonstrated in their full spectrum in Anthony Croke's Sunset Arch photo taken of the National Museum of Australia.

Amateur photographers are invited to send in their spring photos before the season ends, for a chance to win a share in $1000 worth of prizes.

To enter send a maximum of three photos to photocomp@canberratimes.com.au as attached JPEG files and include your name, address, phone number, photo title, a description of the photo and the date it was taken. Your jpeg photos should be attached to your email, be at least 150 kilobytes and should not carry a watermark. Full terms and conditions are available at canberratimes.com.au/act-news/competitions.