Incredible aerial sights in the 2022 Drone Photo Awards

September 06, 2022

Highly Commended - Nature. Thousands of earthquakes shook the Reykjanes peninsula in an orchestrated prelude to an eruption, until the floor of the Geldigadalir valley gave way to the uncontainable magmatic pressure and split open, letting molten rock gush forth in an awe-inspiring spectacle. Iceland, 2021

Luis Manuel Vilariño Lopez

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1/20

Winner - Urban. Rooftops of Kartoffelraekkerne neighborhood, in Oesterbro, Copenhagen. The neighborhood was built in the late 1800s for the working class families.

Serhiy Vovk

2/20

Winner - Wildlife. Flamingos sleep together at night for greater security and stay close together during the day, thus protecting each other. Miankaleh, Mazandaran, Iran

Mehdi Mohebipour

3/20

Drone Photo Awards. Runner Up - Urban. A basketball court after a sand storm in the United Arab Emirates

Yura Borschev

4/20

Highly Commended - Urban. Capuchin is considered one of the most ancient and rooted cities in history. It hosts the pyramids of Bejrawiya. Kabuchia City, River Nile State, Sudan

Satti Mohammed

5/20

Commended - Sport. Wrestling is a part of the Bengali rural culture. Jabbar's Balikhela is a special type of wrestling which is held on the 1st month of Bengali calendar every year at Laldighi Maidan in Chittagong

Subrata Dey

6/20

Commended - People. A group of worshipers performing Friday prayers during the period of social distancing that occurred due to COVID 19. Dubai, UAE

Salem Alsawafi

7/20

Winner - Nature. A meeting of the desert and the ocean. Namib Desert, Namibia

David Rouge

8/20

Commended - Sport. A shot in Urban park in Kharkiv, Ukraine

Kateryna Polishchuk

9/20

Luis Manuel Vilariño Lopez

10/20

Commended - Nature. A large male polar bear patrols the ice looking for any sign of seals. Ellesmere Island

Nansen Weber

11/20

Runner Up - Sport. Surfer Chris Ross charges down a monstrous wave as it begins to barrel above him. Shot at a surf break called The Right in Western Australia

Phil De Glanville

12/20

Winner - People. Dhaka is located on the bank of the famous Buriganga river. Sadarghat river port of Dhaka is the busiest port in Bangladesh, with services to most of the districts in the country

Anindita Roy

13/20

Photo of the Year. A secondary fissure happening a few hundreds meters from the main crater of Fagradalsfjall volcano, during the very last eruptive phase. Captured as a storm was hitting west Iceland, with rain and strong winds. Due to the difficult conditions, a drone capture like this is unique

Armand Sarlangue

14/20

Winner - Abstract. Some laborers at work in a salt pan where they move the salt to form circular lines allowing a slow evaporation under the hot sun. Habra, India

Saurabh Sirohiya

15/20

Commended - Urban. Xinghua Qianduo Scenic Area is located in Qianduo Town, which is a globally important agricultural heritage spot in Jiangsu Province, China

Ningtai Yu

16/20

Highly Commended - Urban. Dark clouds from the southeast and the sunset light in the northwest create a great contrast over Hangzhou, China

Donghui Chen

17/20

Commended - Urban. The "Princess Taiping", made up of plants of different colors and shapes. Mile City, Honghe Prefecture, Yunnan Province, China

Jingkun Yang

18/20

Highly Commended - Abstract. A copper mine distorted the natural scenery, where there used to be the village of Geamana, Alba county, Romania

Ovi D. Pop

19/20

Commended - People. A man by himself is busy washing a huge number of fishing nets. Mandalay, Myanmar

Myo Thet

20/20

Winner - Sport. An annual ski event, Bieg Piastów held in Szklarska Poręba, Poland

Daniel Koszela

View gallery - 20 images

The winners of the spectacular 2022 Drone Photo Awards span an impressive array of aerial photo styles but this year’s overall winner is a truly special shot, offering a close-up view into a volcano just as it was about to erupt.

Only in its fifth year, the Drone Photo Awards has quickly become one of the world’s best aerial photography competitions. Spanning seven categories – including Urban, Nature, Wildlife and Abstract – the contest includes all kinds of airborne photography, from helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles, to rockets, kites, and parachutes.

The overall Photo of the Year award went to French photographer Armand Sarlangue. Titled Big Bang, the stunning image was taken in September 2021 when the Fagradalsfjall volcano in Iceland was erupting. Sarlangue’s incredible shot looks down on a secondary fissure opening up a several hundred feet off the main crater.

The highlights from this year’s contest really illustrate how the art of drone photography has evolved from its early days just a few short years ago when every single image was a simple top-down "god’s eye" image. Now, drone photographers are experimenting with different horizon lines, and taking advantage of the unique possibilities of the medium.

Shots like Nansen Weber’s lovely portrait of a polar bear take advantage of the way drones can approach animal subjects in ways conventional photography cannot, while Satti Mohammed’s stunning glimpse at a massive looming dust storm over an ancient African city is a reminder unmanned aerial vehicles can maneuver into positions too dangerous for humans.

Of course, the contest also offers some new takes on old favorite drone shots, such as the classic shadows playing basketball. And there is still plenty of life in the traditional top-down drone shot, just as long as the photographer is clever enough to pick the right target.