Landscape Photographer of the Year 2015: our picks

"The Shard provides wonderful sweeping views across the whole of London. For this image, I decided to focus on a small part of the overall scene: the iconic St Paul’s Cathedral. I shot at dusk, when some building lights had been turned on but there was still plenty of natural light available. This helped make St Paul’s stand out from the surrounding buildings."

St Paul’s Cathedral from the Shard (London) by Jonathan Martin; Runner-up, Urban View: Adult Class

"I visited ‘Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red’ at the Tower of London as the installation started and decided to return over the summer to photograph the increasingly reddening moat. One of my goals was to try to find a more unusual perspective for an image. I particularly enjoyed the two metallic frames which appeared to catch the poppies in a net – one cascading from a tower window and the other forming a sinuous semi-arch. The latter offered the potential to get behind it and look towards the Shard. I wanted to evoke the lacy feel of a veil and the ephemeral nature of it and the poppies."

A Veil for the Shard (London) by Julie Hutson; Commended, Urban View: Adult Class

"I always find myself staring up at the city’s buildings but, under the fading blue hour light and with the added illumination of street light, I found the typical scene had taken on a new life for me."

Illuminate (Canary Wharf, London) by Paul Shears; Commended, Urban View: Adult Class