Photographs of the Year: Travel in the frame

A highlight of last weekend's Destinations '98 event in London was the gallery featuring finalists in The Independent/ Wanderlust magazine/ Nikon Travel Photograph of the Year competition. The winners were shown last week, but the quality of photography was so high that we are featuring some "highly commended" entries today and next weekend.

Clockwise from top left: Jim Sherwood's arresting shot, taken during Holy Week celebrations in Seville, is the work of a brilliant moment.

In contrast, Guy Moberly approached his dignified portrait of a beggar in Belem, Brazil, with enormous patience: "I spoke to him for a week, before lying down on the pavement and taking this shot."

You can feel yourself wanting to reach out and tug the whiskers of the intense Indian man, captured down by the riverside ghats in Varanasi by Dagny Nome.

Warthogs get a poor press, so it is good to see a energetic example of the beast, captured in Kenya by David Rhys Morris: "an interesting change from the cheetahs I had been photographing for three weeks".

Jenny Balfour-Paul visited Guizhou province in China to research for a book on indigo. "This man was sitting on the roadside. I liked the look of him beneath his ragged hat, gently smoking."

John Hulme's intimate study of Thai "Ladyboys" (transvestites) backstage at a theatre in Chiang Mai, shows humanity as well as a strong sense of place.

These were among the finalists selected by Lyn Hughes and Paul Morrison, respectively editor and publisher of Wanderlust magazine, who have established and nurtured the competition with professionalism and enthusiasm. More next week.