With 27 entries for the final month of our Travel Image of the Year, the competition was just as strong as it has been throughout the year, with some simply stunning shots sent in by our colleagues from around the world. 

The interpretation of a travel image is one which is, almost by its very nature, subjective. But outside of the shots selected by our judge this month, there were three that caught my eye all of which were mono, not always the first choice for a travel shot ... but sometimes it just works. 

In the first one, the expanse that is portrayed by Saurabh Bhattacharyya's stunning Landscape of Ladakh, India, leaves you with a strong sense of the wilderness to be found in this part of the Himalayas, and I found my self wondering just how much time and effort it took to get this shot. In the same vein Sandra Mason's shot of Everest left me similarly in awe of photographers who are willing to literally scale the hills in order to get an image that holds the attention. 

The third shot that grabbed my attention was Jay Charnock's Dominoes, Cienfuegos, Cuba. The use of mono drives you to focus on the intensity written on the faces of the players and watchers of the game. Having seen something similar in China, this shot epitomises just how seriously street games like this one are played around the world.

However, the selection of our final shot of the year was down to our judge for this month Justin Cliffe ARPS who commented:

"Another great set of images for December – and just as hard picking my winner as it was last month. After some considerable vacillation, I’ve selected, as my December Travel Image of the Month:

Fisherman’s Children under the Arborek Pier – Indonesia : "This is a great image – I just love the wide-open eyes, and the expression, on the face of the child on the right - which jumps out at you - even more so with the brightly coloured t-shirt. The fact that the location formed part of the title explained the dark mass on the right of the image – we know exactly where we are here. Excellent timing, good composition and a worthy winner this month" 

"I also have three Highly Commended images, which are:

Stairway to Heaven – Bob Chiu : "Very taken by the use of light here – it looks as though it could have been a painting by one of the Old Masters. I debated about the inclusion of the open doorway on the right of the image but, on balance felt that this helped set the scene. A slight tilt of the top of the frame to the left and, possibly, a crop at the top of the image to take out the bright light could help here but all in all it’s a really lovely photograph". 

‘The Journey’, Kenya – Andy Ferrington : "All sorts of possible interpretations as to what is going on here – there’s definitely a story behind both this photograph and the vehicle – but what is it?! The inclusion of the hand at the bottom right adds to the story whilst the combination of the orange and green colour palette and the leading lines of the sides of the road taking you up to the man’s face all help to provide additional impact."  

Camel Race – Sanjoy Sengupta : The low down, and wide, angle, from which this photo was taken, and the trainer(?) on the right of the picture give a real sense of action – right at the start of the race, and immediately after the starting gate has been raised. A very typical activity across the Middle East – but the different viewpoint used here provides the drama and interest in the image. 

Finally, one other image that I enjoyed was Carnival – Gareth Hughes : "Very little doubt as to where we are with this image – Venice - with an interesting combination of characters!"