johnelliott.: December 2008

The Boston Globe’s The Picture 3-part feature, 2008 in photographs give us some truly amazing visual shots. Part 1 and Part 2 have been released with a Part 3 on the way. Check Boston.com/BigPicture for updates on Part 3.

Above: Samuel Peter from Nigeria receives a punch from Vitali Klitschko of Ukraine during their WBC heavyweight boxing world championship fight in Berlin, Germany on Oct. 11, 2008. Klitschko won the fight after round nine due to technical knock out.

Pakistani people watch as an acrobat rides his motorcycle around a circular track during the memorial of Muslim saint Syed Lal Shah next to his shrine in Muree, about 60 kilometers north of Islamabad, Pakistan on June 15, 2008. Hundred of pilgrims gather during six days every year to pay respect at the tomb of Syed Lal Shah.

A woman on a horse runs alongside the peloton during stage five of the 2008 Tour de France from Cholet to Chateauroux on July 9, 2008 in Chateauroux, France.

Kerby Brown rides a huge wave in an undisclosed location southwest of Western Australia July 6, 2008, in this picture released November 7, 2008 by the Oakley-Surfing Life Big Wave Awards in Sydney.

A man in a traditional "Perchten" costume performs during an Austrian league soccer match in Ried, Austria November 12, 2008. (REUTERS/Dominic Ebenbichler

A rescue helicopter prepares to hoist aboard surviving Japanese climber Hideaki Nara near the summit of Aoraki Mount Cook in New Zealand on December 5, 2008. A Japanese climber stranded for six days just below the summit had died just hours before rescuers reached him and a compatriot, local media reported. The two Japanese climbers were forced to huddle in a tent 50 meters below the 3,754-meter (12,349 feet) peak, as poor weather and high winds foiled attempts to rescue the men by helicopter.

Swiss pilot Yves Rossy, the world's first man to fly with a jet-powered fixed-wing apparatus strapped to his back, flies during his first official demonstration, on May 14, 2008

A man dressed as a tiger carries a small whip made from rope in Zitlala, Guerrero state, Mexico, Monday, May 5, 2008. Every year, inhabitants of this town participate in a violent ceremony to ask for a good harvest and plenty of rain, at the end of the ceremony men battle each other with their whips while wearing tiger masks and costumess.

Lightning bolts appear above and around the Chaiten volcano as seen from Chana, some 30 kms (19 miles) north of the volcano, as it began its first eruption in thousands of years, in southern Chile May 2, 2008. Cases of electrical storms breaking out directly above erupting volcanoes are well documented, although scientists differ on what causes them. Picture taken May 2, 2008.