A CUMBRIAN photographer has snapped his way to the top after landing a prestigious award.

Stuart McGlennon, who owns the Lens District Gallery in Keswick, scooped a prize in this year’s Sunday Times Take a View Landscape Photographer of the Year competition.

The 36-year-old from Seascale, who has only spent four years in photography, has a passion for capturing photos of the Lake District, and tends to favour shooting the less common views and thrives in difficult and testing conditions.

And his efforts wowed the judges, who awarded him with The Sunday Times Magazine Award Choice for his shot of the sun breaking through a moody sky over Buttermere, lighting up pockets of wild heather in full bloom.

In May this year, Stuart left his job at Sellafield to open his gallery, which mostly features his own work with some selected images from a small group of like-minded photographers.

A delighted Stuart said: “Its a huge honour to have won the Sunday Times Award.

“It is the most prestigious competition we as Landscape Photographers have to enter the UK each year. It usually attracts around 25,000 entries every year.

“This is the third year I’ve entered the competition, with images entered in July before two culls of images to narrow it down to the final 150.

“This is my fourth year in photography and I’ve been doing it professionally since the summer. I’ve mainly played sport all my life, and got into photography through fell-walking initially and went from there.”

The Lake District photographer has had his work published in several magazines and newspapers, including Outdoor Photography, Digital Photography Magazine, and The Daily Telegraph newspaper.

In addition to landing this year’s Landscape Photographer award, Stuart has received Commended awards for the Outdoor Photographer of the Year in 2016 and 2017.

The Sunday Times photography competition, now in its 12th year, showcases images of landscapes and cityscapes from around the UK.

There are four categories, plus a youth competition for under 18s, with the winners sharing a prize fund worth £20,000.

And the future looks bright for Stuart, as his photo, along with the photographs by other winners of the competition, will go on display for thousands of travellers to see for several months in London.

The exhibition will take place on the balcony at London’s Waterloo station from Monday, November 19 to Sunday, February 3, 2019.

The photo has also been published in a book, Landscape Photographer of the Year 2018, which is available to buy now.

The awards are supported by The Sunday Times Magazine.