KATHERINE MACALISTER puts the focus on schoolboy Jamie Unwin whose pictures are taking the photography world by storm.

As soon as Jamie Unwin gets back from school he’s out with his camera.

And his efforts are paying off.

Coming runner-up in the global Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition 2011 with his brilliant image of a Blue Tit, you can see the results for yourself in an exhibition about to open at Science Oxford.

Speaking to me during his lunch-hour at The Marlborough School in Woodstock, Jamie, 16, is delighted by the honour.

But he sees the prize as a bonus, rather than an incentive.

“Sony are sponsoring me now which is great,” he says, “because I bought my first camera with money that my grandmother left me. But I’d be out there taking pictures anyway, regardless. It’s just what I do in my spare time.”

Jamie started taking pictures aged 13 “of anything to do with nature, but more likely to be wildlife and landscapes, especially birds.”

Frozen In Flight was the first photo in a personal project he’s undertaking about the flight of birds. “It was Christmas morning when I set up for the shot in my back garden. I’d experimented with flight shots the previous winter and so knew what I wanted… a bird in flight, precisely centred with the sun top left, which meant that I had to take the picture between 11am and noon, “ he says knowledgeably. Which gave him an hour to get the shot. He placed grain on the snow in a precise spot and waited. “I didn’t even know I’d captured this great tit lifting off until I took the camera inside to thaw out,” he says. It was the only picture he took, but he captured exactly what he wanted.

“I caught it on a short lens which has to be taken quite close up,” he explains. The shot turned out to be everything Jamie had been working towards.

So how much time does he spend taking photos? “Well it’s not just spent taking photographs, but also building up trust between me and the local wildlife so that I can take photos of them without scaring them off. Because I don’t believe in bird hides. I want to gain the birds trust so they come up to me rather than hiding away,” he says.

Jamie is very modest about his photographs, saying that many of them aren’t about skill but about being in the right place at the right time with the right preparatory work involved. But one look at his awards would veto that.

His harvest mouse won International Garden Photographer of year 2011. The blue tit photo, as well as the tulip, right, were also finalists in the Garden Photographer of the year 2011. And a photo of a hare won Highly Commended in RSPCA young photographer of the year 2010. Jamie also won the under 16’s competition for Oxfordshire Wildlife Exposed in 2008 and the under 16s category for Oxfordshire Landscapes in 2009.

And yet despite his success the A’ Level student has no idea what he wants to do when he leaves school. “I want to get some more qualifications. And I’d love to win Wildlife Photographer of the Year rather than coming runner-up, that’s my next goal,” he adds, before having to rush off to his biology class, with the photography world at his feet.

* The world’s most breathtaking examples of wildlife photography are arriving at Science Oxford Live on Saturday.

The Veolia Environment Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition uniquely combines the work of gifted amateurs, professionals and young photographers. It celebrates the beauty and magnificence of the world in which we live, as well as acting as a stark reminder of the fragility of nature.

This is Science Oxford’s fourth year hosting the exhibition and the standard of photography and thought -provoking content is simply breathtaking.

A jury of industry experts has hand-picked the best 108 images from more than 40,000 entries received from 95 countries. The coveted title of Veolia Environment Wildlife Photographer of the Year was presented to Daniel Beltrá from Spain for Still Life In Oil, a haunting image of eight brown pelicans rescued from an oil spill.

The 2011 Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year was named as 14-year-old Mateusz Piesiak from Poland for his image Pester in the 11-14 years category.

The exhibition opened at the Natural History Museum in London and Science Oxford is one of the first stops on its UK tour, running until Saturday, March 10. Tickets can be booked online at scienceoxfordlive.com