A while ago I came across the wonderful work of Neil Buchan-Grant and posted one of his pictures to my Tumblr page - it's my electronic scrapbook for sharing special things I discover along the way. Neil saw that I'd done this, took a look through my own website and encouraged me to enter Travel Photographer of the Year. It was only when he sent me his ideas of which pictures would make up a good portfolio that I realised he wasn't joking. So I took up his suggestion and submitted four pictures to the Portfolio-Journeys category. And then promptly forgot about it!To my surprise, a few weeks later the organisers contacted me to say I was one of 28 short-listed finalists and, if that wasn't enough for my old ticker, last week I discovered that my shots had been commended. I've never entered a competition before so I was chuffed to bits and enormously grateful too to Neil for his consideration, encouragement and guidance.

If you have a moment then please do take a look at the Winners' Gallery as there are some gorgeous shots. I think it's invidious to single out particular shots but I can't help it :-) For me there are three portfolios that I adore: Arne Strømme's Birds in the Wild Planet portfolio (fantastic!), Craig Easton's meditative seascapes and Catherine Sales's pale pleasures in the Best Newcomers portfolio (especially the second three shots). And Timothy Allen's winning single shot in the People watching portfolio is a real treat.

Here are the four pictures that made up my portfolio.