(Pocket-lint) – This year over 2,000 people from 116 countries around the world submitted images to the Drone Photo Awards 2022. This competition is part of the Siena Awards international Festival of visual arts and includes some magnificent images from the skies above.
Now nine winners have been revealed from categories including urban, people, nature, wildlife, sport and more. We’ve collected some of these images for your enjoyment, but be sure to head over to the full awards gallery to see more.
Rooftops by Serhiy Vovk, Ukraine
This image is the first place winner of the urban category of the Drone Awards. It shows the wonderfully colourful rooftops of the Kartoffelraekkerne neighbourhood, in Oesterbro Copenhagen.
This area dates back to the 1800s and was constructed for working-class families. Now it makes for a wonderful aerial view.
Sleeping on a Boat by Anindita Roy, Bangladesh
The winning image from the people category shows a person resting on their boat in a busy river port in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
A common sight in the area, but a wonderfully intriguing one when taken from the skies above.
Solidarity by Mehdi Mohebipour, Iran
The wildlife winner gives us a great view of Flamingos sleeping neatly together, crowded closely for safety and security.
We love these views of wild creatures captured in a way you’d be unlikely to see from ground level.
Falling Skiers by Daniel Koszela, Poland
This winner from the sports category gives a weird and wonderful perspective of a group of skiers in action.
From this angle, it looks like they’re tumbling down a vertical cliff face.
Meeting by David Rouge, Switzerland
From the nature category comes this award winner showing a wonderful view of the Namib
Desert’s sand dunes meeting the waters of the South Atlantic Ocean.
Simple yet brilliant.
Salt Farm Workers Harvesting by Saurabh Sirohiya, India
This award winner sees an abstract view from above. Taken above the salt pans in Habra, India.
Here the salt is set like this to allow slow evaporation in the hot sun before the salt can be collected.
Like a Painted Picture by Krzysztof Krawczyk, Poland
Looking for inspiration for wedding photos? Then you need to see the wedding category of the Drone Awards.
There are some highly unusual wedding snaps in there captured by drones. This one shows a fallen tree, seemingly perfectly felled in the water withe a bride posing below.
Abandoned Weather Station by Dmitry Kokh, Russia
This is a taste of a series of photos taken during a visit to Chukotka and Wrangel Island. The collection by Dmitry Kokh won the award in the series category and shows some brilliant views of polar bears in an abandoned weather station.
Beautiful life – Princess Taiping by Jingkun Yang
Here’s a beautiful landscape view of an iconic area of parkland with an image of a famous princess lovingly crafted from various colourful plants.
Five-leaf flower Hall by Ying Zhang
This incredible view shows a hotel like you’ve probably never seen before. Also one that’s unlikely to be fully appreciated except without an aerial image like this.
Perfect timing
One of the commended photos in the wildlife category shows a brilliant moment of perfect timing as a whale’s tail turns the sea into brilliant foam.
Shadow Basketball
Here’s a brilliantly composed shot of some basketball happening below Kateryna Polishchuk’s drone. We love the way the blue ball stands out among the other colours of the court.
Abstract aerial art
Here’s a brilliant aerial shot of an empty hotel taken during the pandemic when everything was quiet.
The framing of this one and the angle of the various stairs and walls make it look like a brilliant work of abstract artwork.
Rice Processing
We’ve already seen a great shot of workers processing salt, now we get to see a brilliant aerial shot of rice being dried out in the sun too.
A wonderfully colourful view with intriguing lines and plenty of appeal.
Aftermath of La Palma’s Volcano Eruption
This is a brilliant shot that almost looks like it was Photoshopped. Sadly it actually tells a story of disaster and loss.
It’s an aerial image of the aftermath of the massive eruption of volcano Cumbre Vieja which destroyed 3,000 buildings and plenty of the landscape too. Including over 55 miles of roads like this one.
Wings of the White Cliffs
Another of the commended photos from the nature category shows some brilliant cliffs with fantastic shapes.
These are the White Cliffs of Iturup Island, a famous landmark of the island which stretches across the shoreline of the Okhotsk Sea.
The Tidal tree
From Western Australia comes this brilliant image that looks like a tree’s roots spreading across the landscape but is actually water cutting its way through the dry land.
Nature’s Eye
Lake Tyrrell in Victoria, Australia is a pink salt lake which has an intriguing sight that looks like a tiger’s eye when seen like this from above.
It’s these sorts of aerial photos that give a new perspective that can really change your view of a place.
The Unicorn
This is a single aerial view of the impressive manmade sights of Unicorn Island, Chengdu, Sichuan, China.
The brilliant architecture has some fascinating geometrical shapes that really draw the eye.
Geothermal delights
This image from the Icelandic Highlands shows a fantastically vivid blue pool nestled inside a geothermal crust. The contrasting colours really make this one stand out.
Red river
Nature has some incredible views if you take the time to look. Here we’re seeing an aerial view of a river that’s turned red due to oxidised iron in the area.
This photo was submitted to the abstract category and featured as a commended image.
Together
We find these wedding photos taken with drones particularly interesting. Certainly not your average shot.
This one features a giant face which just happened to be around thanks to a music festival that was happening nearby.
Writing by Adrian Willings.