A photographer whose picture has made the shortlist for an Art Fund prize hopes people will vote to help him win it.

Tony Cullinane, of Pole Hill Road in Chingford, had his snap of a man walking into an exhibition at the William Morris Gallery picked ahead of nearly 1,500 others to stand a chance of winning the Museum of the Year Photography Exhibition.

The 53-year-old only turned professional two years ago when he quit his IT job to become a wedding photographer, but his black and white image impressed the people at the Art Fund, who selected it as one of ten images, each of a museum competing for the Art Fund's Museum of the Year prize.

Mr Cullinane said: “I’m delighted. It’s the first photography competition I’ve entered so I’m really pleased. The picture worked well because the man in it he looks a realy working class man.

“Getting him walking past the entrance to William Morris gallery with a sign saying ‘Meet the Man’, I knew that was the one.”

The gallery made the shortlist for the Art Fund Prize for Museum of the Year after reopening last August following a £5 million redevelopment.

The gallery, which boasts transformed gallery spaces, new education facilities and an orangery overlooking its grounds after being threatened with funding cuts just six years ago, would get £100,000 if it wins.

The museum in Forest Road, Walthamstow, also beat institutions like the Natural History Museum and the V&A to the Museum and Heritage Awards’ Permanent Exhibition award last week.

The winner of both Art Fund competitions will be announced on June 4.

The Museum of the Year will be chosen by judges but people can vote for their favourite image at http://www.artfund.org/news/poll/museum-of-the-year-photography-competition.

The winner wins an iPad and a National Art Pass for a year as well as their picture published in magazine Art Quarterly.