About the Drone Photo Awards competition
Open to aerial photography and videos, the Drone Photo Awards are part of the Siena Awards and is also open to images taken from fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles, balloons, blimps and dirigibles, rockets, kites, and parachutes..
All winning photographers for this award will be exhibited at the “Above Us Only Sky” exhibition from 23 October to 5 December in Siena (Italy) alongside the Siena Awards Festival.
Other categories in the competition include Wedding, Urban, and Sport. This year, the competition received tens of thousands of images submitted by photographers from 102 countries.
Find out more about the competition and view more images on the Drone Photo Awards website.
To view the images as a slideshow, click on the arrows in the top right hand corner of the photos below.
Photo of the Year
Pink-Footed Geese Meeting the Winter, by Terje Kolaas.
Thousands of pink-footed geese roost in central Norway in spring, on their way to the breeding grounds on Svalbard in the Arctics. Probably because of climate change, they arrive earlier every year and often the ground and the fields where they feed are covered by snow when they arrive. The geese tend to use the same paths, so when waiting for them in the air with a drone, photos like this one are possible.
Category: Wildlife
1st classified: Back to Adventure, by Qasim Al Farsi.
Green turtle heading back to water after laying down eggs in her peaceful nest at Oman coastline between Ras Al Jinz and Rashad turtle reserve.
Runner-up: Fast Food, by Igor Altuna.
This photo was taken in Zambia. Two male lion brothers killed a buffalo, and after eating for a day they left the remains to the others.
Highly Commended: Hippopotamus group from above, by Talib Almarri.
Hippopotamus group from above creating an amazing pattern. All hippos are adults except one baby who is in the center.
Highly Commended: Fairy Circles, by George Steinmetz
Zebra herd in the Namib Rand Nature Reserve in Namibia. The thin grasses here have a rare speckled pattern known as "fairy circles", a phenomena that is poorly understood. Grasses seem to grow higher on the inner rim of the circles due to less competition for water on the inside of the ring.
Highly Commended: Polar bear hunting, by Florian Ledoux.
Polar bear hunting seal from an iceberg in Svalbard during the summer while the sea ice is gone all the way north to 83°N.
Category: Nature
1st classified: Extragalactic, by Martin Sanchez.
The intense and glorious moments during an erupting volcano with an exclusive view from the inside. Captured in Iceland.
Runner-up: The Great Divide, by Janessa Anderson.
Ice sheets drift apart on a glacial fed lake providing a brief opportunity for exploration. With one path to continue moving forward, moving towards hope, this vast expanse of ice provides a look into the power and grandeur that nature possesses.
Highly Commended: Pure Power, by Phil De Glanville.
Like people, each wave has a unique journey with the power to inspire. Photo captured off the South West coast of Western Australia.
Highly Commended: Camel Shadows at Sunset, by Jim Picôt.
Flying the drone over the ocean, I spotted the approaching Camels, with human guests on board, and noticed the beautiful light, and shadows, and also the eloquent wave patterns on the shoreline.
Highly Commended: The Mighty Ruacana, by Jan Roode.
The Kunene River travels through Angola and surges over a mighty precipice on the Namibian border at the Ruacana waterfalls. Here a young Baobab Tree clings to a rocky outcrop as the waters of the Ruacana rage around it.