Rooftop views

This photo has had the greatest of affects on me, it's made me want to know more. Why is Umm el Howeitat abandoned? Why are there no roofs on any of the buildings? Was this even taken from a rooftop? It doesn't actually matter – such is the drama of the location. I'd love to see this scene bathed in a warm side light but what the photo lacks in cinematic lighting it makes up for in composition and content. And like all good landscape photographs it makes me want to got there with my own camera.

What a phenomenal backdrop! As someone who often looks down on cities the foreground alone is interesting for me. The variation in tones of the pitched roofs is charming and very picturesque but then the city reaches its limit and the man made foreground gives way to an utterly epic mountain side. Where the bottom third of the composition is rooftops and the middle third is nature, the top third is the subtle beauty of the heavens and it completes the image for me.

A murky morning in Dubai, a place so often blessed with clear blue skies but that's what makes this scene so compelling to me. This image has nothing to do with beauty, instead it tells the story of incredible construction by means of dramatic contrast in scale between the foreground and background. The power of the image is heightened further by the contrasting light. The foreground is bathed in warm rays whilst the looming towers seem enveloped in grey smog; something human versus something quite inhuman.

What a stunning location and what a wonderful compositional balance between the expansive sea and the fortified hillcrest hamlet. Some may question the fact the image is a blend of several exposures but in my opinion it is done with great care and is so subtle as to be very hard to notice. An otherwise twilight scene that is pierced by the inclusion of a setting sun, half obscured by the distant mountain. It's a peaceful and romantic vibe that makes me want to set sail.

Easily the most represented city in this competition was New York which isn't a surprise, as no holiday there is complete without a trip to the 'Top of the Rock' or the Empire State Building. However, it's this night view from lower Manhattan which stands taller than the rest for me. The three converging roads lead the eye perfectly from the lower roofs of downtown, into the bright lights and giddy heights of Midtown. The steely colour cast works perfectly with those cloudy skies, creating an immersive moody atmosphere that works so well with such a dense urban scene. I'd happily have this as a print on my wall and as such is my pick of the bunch.

A view I know and love from the top of the Tour Montparnasse but better than any I have taken myself. The essence of good rooftop photography is natural lighting and being in the right place at the right time. The ephemeral beauty of the setting sun is what inspires me day after day and it's in the hope I can capture moments just like this. There may have been technically more precise images than this in the competition but this one just fills me with warmth.

Suprisingly the only image of London that made my top 10 and it's a view I know well. Fish eye distortion doesn't always lend itself well to cityscapes but this has been handled and balanced perfectly. The composition is spot on and the wide field of vision means there is so much detail and interest in the foreground that your eyes can take a good long stroll around the back streets of the West End. Clearly the photographer doesn't suffer from vertigo :)

What's better than a rooftop view? A birds eye view. I often dream of flying and so spend a lot of time on rooftops watching birds in absolute awe and jealousy of their aerial prowess. This image of New York depicts one of the most famous rooftop views in the world but with a curious and comic twist. Wheras the photographer has paid for this privilege, the bird couldn't care less. 'Seen it all before mate' he's thinking, 'And get that camera out of my face too!'

This is a truly epic scene and one that I would love to include in my top 10 but I just felt it wasn't a rooftop image. I would love to stand corrected but it's surely is taken from the mountainside. Nevertheless, my breath is taken away by the clarity of the mountains and the framing of the image which fills all the gaps with ragged clouds. To finish it all off, the scene's sense of scale is heightened further by the wonderful placement of a small but evidently happy jumping figure in the foreground. Beauty and joy in one marvellous shot.

I like it dark and if you live in London you are best advised to appreciate the dark days as well. Though on first glance I thought this image was too underexposed, a scan of the image name, '28 days later' justified its stylisation completely. A perfect compression of London's idiosyncratic skyscrapers that are perfect neighbours yet have nothing to do with each other. It speaks of the city we fear London will become and maybe at times already is.