January
It’s been a mad, sad year. The death of pop icon David Bowie on 10 January set the tone, and there was an impromptu wake in Brixton, where he was born.
Radio-controlled drone cameras are enabling photographers to capture scenes that would previously have been impossible or cripplingly expensive to obtain.
February
The Mobile Photography Awards are now in their fifth year, and this spectacular shot of Spring Break in Sydney got an honourable mention this year.
Guardian Travel launched a series of alternative city guides to South Africa, using local talent and readers’ Instagram shots
Elsewhere in Africa, we loved the stark beauty and simplicity of this shot taken at Lalibela airport in Ethiopia.
March
Cuba figured heavily on Instagram this year, following the thaw in relations with the US, and President Barack Obama’s state visit – the first American president to visit Cuba in nearly a century, and the first since a revolution led by Fidel Castro toppled a US-backed regime in 1959.
In slightly colder climes, the Iditarod sled dog race was underway in Alaska.
But, in Burgundy, it already felt like spring was on its way in the vineyards.
April
You know when it’s spring in Japan because everyone comes out to celebrate the country’s iconic sakura (cherry blossoms).
May
Myanmar was a popular destination on Instagram this year, and this shot shows workers taking a lunch break in the fields, their faces protected from the sun with thanaka, a yellowish-white cosmetic paste made from ground bark.
June
The colours of a Tuscan summer.
July
This year was all about bridges – mostly scary glass-bottomed walkways in China. But we really liked this shot of Germany’s longest suspension bridge - the Geierlay rope bridge, in the Hunsrück mountains, Rhineland-Palatinate – which opened last year and drew less press attention.
Making hay in Transylvania, which appears to have been bypassed by the endless march of technology.
There’s only one place in the world this could be … summer on the Italian riviera.
August
Vintage Germany … even though the photographer Jannik Obenhoff is a mere 16 years old, and based in Munich.
The Olympics kicked off in Rio de Janeiro.
September
A dining car on the Trans-Siberian – the 9,288km railway from Moscow to Vladivostok celebrated the centenary of its completion this year. We also ran a photo essay that documented the journey.
Outdoor swimming continues to grow in popularity and this shot sums up its appeal.
October
Meanwhile, in the Netherlands, they prefer to skate on the frozen water of the canals.
November
In Mexico, the traditional Dia De Los Muertos festivities kicked off, and our intrepid reporter Kevin Rushby was there to capture the scenes.
December
We rounded the year off in traditional style, with a visit to Sápmi, Swedish Lapland, and an insight into the life of a reindeer herder, Anna-Maria Fjellström, who documents her family’s modern nomadic lifestyle on Instagram.
