Site user Shaun Walby has had an image commended in this year's Sony World Photography Awards. His stunning reflective photo of Lac Blanc made the top 50 out of 140,000 entries from 166 countries. 

'I started out taking a small compact hill walking scrambling and climbing in the UK hills, but it was a first trip to the Alps that really sparked my interest in photography' Shaun tells us today, from a rain-soaked Lake District where he's been hoping to get some snowy shots. 

'Watching the dawn light slowly fill the mountains and becoming aware of the spectacular surroundings blew me away, and has been doing so ever since.'

'I am essentially self taught' says Shaun, who sells his landscape photographs to stock agencies and other outlets both here and in the US (check out his brilliant photo gallery on this site too).  

'I've been studying photography from capture to post processing for the last six years. The capture has always been the easy aspect for me, my post processing techniques are fairly simple. The better images are usually the ones that need least post processing.'

'I'd wanted to try to capture the Lac Blanc shot for about two years before I finally got there I knew there was a good shot to be had as it's a well known location. My priority had always been the climbing but that year, 2012, my interest had become such that the trip was purely for photography.'

'The plan for this day was to get the cable up to the Brevent then take the higher level path along to Lac Blanc in time for sunset and a bivvy. I was carrying a fair bit of kit: Canon 5DII, 17-40 and 70-200mm lenses as well as main tripod with geared head and Lee filter system. Add in 4lts of wate,r food and bivvy kit and it made a fairly heavy hike in.'

'I was a bit gutted to say the least when I arrived at sunset to find the clouds has closed in blocking off a lot of the the classic view. With the usually fitful sleep in the bivvy I was awake well before dawn and in position. Thankfully the clouds had cleared and the reflections I had hoped for were there in a perfectly still dawn.'

'The weather's bloody horrible here in Ambleside today' he signs off... Well I guess you can't win them all Shaun.