Snapping his way to success

A RETFORD boy is snap happy after winning a National Trust photo competition for this quacking great shot taken at Clumber Park.
James Ashton, nine has won the under 10's section of a National Trust photo competition titled Your Space.  James won with his picture of ducks  taken at Clumber Park  (w130109-1b)James Ashton, nine has won the under 10's section of a National Trust photo competition titled Your Space.  James won with his picture of ducks  taken at Clumber Park  (w130109-1b)
James Ashton, nine has won the under 10's section of a National Trust photo competition titled Your Space. James won with his picture of ducks taken at Clumber Park (w130109-1b)

James Ashton, nine, of Birchcroft Road, scooped the top prize in the under 10s category for his eye-catching picture of ducks feeding at the National Trust beauty spot.

James, who took the picture while out walking with his family at Clumber Park at the end of last summer, said he was thrilled to hear he had won.

“I felt surprised to hear I had won and very proud of myself.”

“I love taking photos - it’s one of my favourite hobbies and I find it very interesting,” he said.

Mum Janet Ashton said a passion for photography runs in the family and that she was extremely proud of James’ win.

“My daughter and I both love taking photographs and James wanted to join in so we bought him a Nikon Coolpix which he takes everywhere with him,” she added.

“We all went to Clumber Park last year and took our cameras with us.”

“James had taken a bit of bread with him and thought it’d be nice to take a picture of the ducks.”

“He knelt down and took the photo of them from underneath.”

“The colours are realy vivid and unusual - I thought it was a great photo.”

Janet said they decided to enter the photo into the National Trust competition and were thrilled to find out James had won his age category.

James is no stranger to competition success, having won a Retford Photographic Society accolade two years ago for his picture of a barge going into a lock.

Said Janet: “He seems to have an eye for it and takes really unusual photographs.”

“We are so proud of him for winning and hope he keeps up with his hobby.”

As part of his prize, James will choose a National Trust property to visit this year for an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour with a meal and photo tuition from top photographer Charlie Waite.

Jacqueline Mooney, operations manager at Clumber Park, said they were really pleased James chose Clumber Park as his subject to enter the competition with.

“His photo is great and captures perfectly the fun of seeing the wildlife when visiting Clumber Park, he’s clearly a very talented young man,” she said.

“Clumber Park is a very photogenic property and we know from the number of images posted to our Facebook page that a great deal of amateur photographers enjoy the variety of wonderful photo opportunities it provides.”