Overall Young Winner

My photograph of a Hummingbird, taken in the Talamanca Mountains of Costa Rica, was the winner of the Young Photographer category in the 2012 International Garden Photographer of the Year competition. The bird is a male Gray-tailed Mountain-gem, and I captured the photograph as it fed from cultivated flowers in the grounds of the lodge where we were staying.

International Garden Photographer of the Year is a major competition specialising in garden, plant and related photography, run in association with Kew Royal Botanic Gardens. The photo here shows me at the exhibition opening and award ceremony at Kew.

This image of Green-winged Orchids was Highly Commended in the same competition in 2012. The photograph was taken at Kent Wildlife Trust’s Marden Meadow reserve, where this species blooms in profusion in early May. The soft-focus effect is achieved with an in-camera double exposure, one shot sharp and the second slightly de-focused.

10 Years and Under and Overall Young Winner

In 2007 my photograph of endangered Red-backed Squirrel Monkeys was the 10 Years and Under and Overall winner of the BBC Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. The photograph was taken in Costa Rica, from the balcony of our villa near Manual Antonio National Park on the Pacific coast, on a visit there with my family.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year is the biggest competition of its kind in the world and the awarded images are displayed in an annual exhibit at the Natural History Museum, London. The photo on the left (© NHM) shows me receiving my award from James Smith, Chairman of Shell UK who sponsored the competition in 2007, and Mark Carwardine, Presenter and Chairman of the Judging Panel.