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Duchess of Cambridge wants photography tips from competition finalist

The Duchess of Cambridge asked one of the finalists from her Hold Still project for photography tips after praising her “fantastically composed” entry.

Catherine, 39, hosted a photography project last year in which people entered snaps that encapsulated their 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and in a new video posted to the YouTube channel she shares with her husband, the Duke of Cambridge, she asked finalist Niaz Maleknia for some key tips on snapping the perfect image.

The royal – who is a budding photographer herself – was discussing the photograph Niaz took, which saw her daughter Romy standing on Primrose Hill in North London, holding a history A-level paper on the day she was supposed to be sitting her exam.

Catherine was full of praise for the 51-year-old’s photography skills, as she said: “I need to get some tips off you, obviously.”

Elsewhere in the chat, Catherine also spoke about wanting to “break the stigma” which still exists around mental health.

She added: “William and I are really interested in mental health. Everyone’s sort of experienced something together in a way, so there’s no shame in talking about it. That’s what we’ve been really keen to do, is break that stigma and try to start a conversation around mental health.”

Catherine was speaking to some of the 100 finalists who shared their experiences of the first lockdown and follows the recent publication of Catherine’s new book ‘Hold Still: A Portrait of Our Nation in 2020’.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge aren’t the only royal attempting to raise awareness of mental health issues, as it was recently revealed that The Duke of Sussex and Oprah Winfrey’s mental health docu-series ‘The Me You Can’t See’ – which centres on the issues of mental health and wellbeing by focusing on stories of well-known people, will premiere on Apple TV+ on May 21.