Best drone photos of 2021: which is your favorite?
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 âAbove Us Only Skyâ 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 âDrone Photographer of the Yearâ. 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:
âShort-billed geese meet winterâ by Terje Kolaas. This image won the title of “Drone Photo of the Year”
âGold at the end of the rainbowâ 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 AwardsâFishing in the Mangrove Forestâ 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 AwardsSergei Poletaiv’s âMetaphorical Declaration on the City and Winterâ 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 AwardsCliffhanger by Ben Connolly
Photo: Drone Photography AwardsâBank of Burigangaâ by Md Tanveer Hassan Rohan, shot dead in Dhaka, Bangladesh, during the pandemic.
Photo: Drone Photography AwardChristian Gatti’s “Cascate del Mulino” shows tourists in natural thermal pools in Saturnia, Italy
Photo: Drone Photography AwardsWujiang Zhu’s “Infinite Sea of ââLove”
Photo: Drone Photography Awards“Shark in search of salmon” by Jim Picôt, shot at Nth Avoca Beach, Australia
Photo: Drone Photoraphy AwardsMinqiang Lu’s “Basket Crops on the Cliff” Shows Harvesting of Red Hawthorns in Taihang Mountain, China
Photo: Drone Photography AwardsâCollecting water from dry riverbedsâ by Sujon Adhikary, shot in Khulna, Bangladesh
Photo: Drone Photography AwardsâPassagio Sospesoâ 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.