Most of us aim to return from holiday with a handful of decent snaps - but these awe-inspiring images take the concept of amateur travel photography to a whole new level.

National Geographic Traveler recently announced the winners of its annual Traveler Photo Contest, with some truly breath-taking pictures making the shortlist.

Overall winner was Cédric Houin of Brooklyn, whose photo of a Kyrgyz woman and her daughter sewing together in a remote region of Afghanistan aimed to capture "the intimacy of this everyday life moment ... in total contrast with the harsh environment" of nomadic tribes.

Vo Anh Kiet of Ho Chi Minh City won second place with a moving photo of H'Mong minority children playing with balloons in the Ha Giang province of Vietnam.

Keith Bellows, National Geographic Traveler magazine editor-in-chief, said: "I've judged this contest for 15 years and it increasingly thrills me. We had an avalanche of entries that clearly illustrate how powerful photography has become among those who aren't professional shooters."

Take a look at some of the winning images from this year's competition, below, and let us know your thoughts in the comments section or on Twitter.

Images and captions: National Geographic Traveler/authors' own

Winner

Now this is what we call travel photography...