With thanks to Glyn Paton for the adjudication:

Another exciting set of pictures taking us around the globe from Liverpool to China and in between.

Winner

Horse and rider. Bromo volcano,  Java, Indonesia by George Pearson

This image jumps out you, it is such a powerful and dramatic image with an excellent black and white conversion.  The photographer is in an excellent position, looking up to the man and horse to make this an impactful image.  Great lighting also adds to the many strengths of this picture.  I thought that perhaps the clouds were a bit “too strong”, but then realised we are in the proximity of an active volcano (!) and the cloud is probably suffused with volcanic gases.  Well done a deserved winner this month

Highly Commended

The Garlic Merchant, Georgetown, Chennai by Paul Reynolds

Symmetry, simplicity and a stare (plus an excellent black and white conversion) make this image stand out from most of the others this month.  Often shots of Indian markets offer too much for the viewer, but here we just have tidy sacks of garlic and another spice.  The merchant is perfectly position in the frame and his unflinching and sardonic gaze just adds that extra something.  The contrast between the stone wall and seat with the softer sacks also work well.

And, as I said, an excellent black and white conversion make this a picture that has harmony, symmetry and speaks of place.

Market delivery, Kolkata, India by Victor Wong

There’s a lot in this image, but perhaps that’s the point.  It shows the hustle and bustle of an Indian market.  It’s a riot of colours and people moving in all directions.  The essential ingredient that makes this picture work is the one-eyed stare of the front delivery man.  Without that it just wouldn’t work, perhaps helped by the man with the head scarf on the right hand side of the shot.  The slightly lower shooting angle also gives impact to this atmospheric photograph.

Pakistan panorama by David Short

The two young men on that granite outcrop not only turn this landscape photo into a travel one, they also give a sense of scale and add to the grandeur of that amazing view.  The colours of the foreground rocks are particularly pleasing, with oranges and browns as a contrast with the grey mountains further into the scene.  The further you go into the image the colder it gets,  the snowy peaks add to the drama and scale of this image.