When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change. During our lifetime, there will inevitably be several moments of immense beauty that simply escape our gaze. But when you look at the world from several feet in the air, even the mundane seems surreal. From thousands of geese flying over a pristine white bed of snow in Norway to a fisherman starting a long day’s work in Vietnam, these award-winning drone photos offer glimpses of beauty from around the world.
The annual Drone Photography Awards, which are part of the largest Siena Prize Festival in Italy – invites submissions from amateur and professional photographers around the world. Open to both aerial photography and video, it allows shooting from fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles, balloons, airships and airships, rockets, kites and parachutes.
The awards are divided into categories such as urban, wildlife, people, marriage, nature, sport and abstract. This year, the winners were chosen from over 14,000 entries from 102 countries. The winning photographs will be presented as part of the month-long “Above Us Only Sky” exhibition at the Siena Awards Festival in November. The Siena, Italy festival runs from October 25 to December 5, with workshops, exhibitions, photo tours, seminars, lectures and guided tours for photography enthusiasts. Visitors can explore Chianti at sunset and Siena’s medieval cityscape at dawn through photo tours.
The winners receive a crystal statuette of the Pangea Prize at an awards ceremony, and the contestant who receives the highest receives the title of “Drone Photographer of the Year”. This year, the prestigious title was awarded to Norwegian photographer Terje Kolaas for his image “Pink-Footed Geese Meeting The Winter”, which depicts a flock of geese flying towards Svalbard during the arctic winter.
In the Wildlife category, a stunning aerial image of a green turtle returning to the water after laying its eggs on the coast of Oman won first place. The winner of the Nature category is American photographer Martin Sanchez, who captured the eruption of a volcano in Iceland. Several other breathtaking images come from all over the world, including China, Russia, Bangladesh, Australia and Kazakhstan.
In addition to showing our wonderful world, some of them also highlight the threat to the planet.
Discover the winners of the Drone Photography Awards 2021:
“Short-billed geese meet winter” by Terje Kolaas. This image won the title of “Drone Photo of the Year”
“Gold at the end of the rainbow” by Phil De Glanville won the Sport category. The image shows a surfer escaping a monster wave off the coast of southwestern Western Australia, as a rainbow forms over him
Qasim Al Farsi’s “Back to Adventure” won the Wildlife Category Award
Martin Sanchez’s “Extragalactic” captures a moment during a volcano eruption in Iceland. He won in the Nature category
Photo: Drone Photography Awards
“Fishing in the Mangrove Forest” by Trung Pham Huy won the People category award.
“Poisoned River” by Gheorghe Popa shows a small river in Transylvania, Romania, filled with poison in the form of chemical waste. The image won in the category Abstract
Photo: Drone Photography Awards
Sergei Poletaiv’s “Metaphorical Declaration on the City and Winter” shows a 500-year-old monastery in Moscow, with a large power station in the background. He won in the Urban category
Photo: Drone Photography Awards
Cliffhanger by Ben Connolly
Photo: Drone Photography Awards
“Bank of Buriganga” by Md Tanveer Hassan Rohan, shot dead in Dhaka, Bangladesh, during the pandemic.
Photo: Drone Photography Award
Christian Gatti’s “Cascate del Mulino” shows tourists in natural thermal pools in Saturnia, Italy
Photo: Drone Photography Awards
Wujiang Zhu’s “Infinite Sea of Love”
Photo: Drone Photography Awards
“Shark in search of salmon” by Jim Picôt, shot at Nth Avoca Beach, Australia
Photo: Drone Photoraphy Awards
Minqiang Lu’s “Basket Crops on the Cliff” Shows Harvesting of Red Hawthorns in Taihang Mountain, China
Photo: Drone Photography Awards
“Collecting water from dry riverbeds” by Sujon Adhikary, shot in Khulna, Bangladesh
Photo: Drone Photography Awards
“Passagio Sospeso” by Paolo Crocetta represents a train connecting the Italian city of Trento with the villages of Val di Non. During the journey, the train makes this breathtaking passage over a gorge at a height of 150m.
