Spectacular drone photos take photography to new heights
The world from above: Dronestagram -- the online site showcasing aerial photography -- has announced the winners of its annual photography competition. The chosen photographs are spectacular birds-eye visions of the world from the sky. This gorgeous image of Provence by user jcourtial won first prize in the nature category.
Courtesy jcourtial
Vampire view: Second prize in the nature category went to Calin Stan, who photographed the winding road to Transylvania. "As the legend says, this is the view that Count Dracula himself saw on his nocturnal flight," says Stan. "I love nature and shooting in nature."
Courtesy calin stan
The world from above: This Arctic image of Greenland was taken by Florian Ledoux, who won third prize in the nature category. Taken during the height of winter, Ledoux says it was difficult to capture the landscape due to extreme weather conditions.
Courtesy Florian
Match point: The first prize in the people category went to Martin Sanchez who took this image of a tennis player lying on a court in New Jersey. "While driving, I noticed an empty tennis court that just stood out like a treasured story in a book of empty words," says Sanchez. But it was the tennis player who made the image pop.
courtesy Martin Sanchez
Unexpected perspectives: helios1412 took this striking picture of a woman harvesting water lilies in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam.
Courtesy helios1412
Carnival crowds: "I feel excited and free, capturing unique points of view," says Javier Bustamente, third prize winner in Dronestagram's people category. Bustamente's winning image is a snapshot from La Vijanera winter carnival in Cantabria, Spain.
Courtesy Javier Bustamente
Urban outlooks: Bachir Moukarzel won first prize in the urban category with this shot of Dubai. The area photographed "was a literally a desert 10 years back and now became a concrete jungle with the highest buildings in Dubai," Moukarzel says.
Courtesy Bachirm
High windows: Alexey Goncharov, who captured Moscow window cleaners at work, won second prize in the urban category. "I liked the way their work looked from that perspective: they seemed to wash the city itself, not just the building's windows," he reflects.
Courtesy Alexeygo
Spanish symmetry: Luis Saguar Domingosays his favorite areas to photograph are "beaches, countryside, cliffs and my city Madrid." His symmetrical image of the Spanish city won third prize in the urban category.
Courtesy luckydron
Bird's eye baby : This year, Dronestagram introduced a new category: "creativity", to celebrate unique angles and ingenious ideas. Macareuxprod took this image with his girlfriend as a fun way to announce they were expecting a baby. "I'm sure that our child will be amused by this story when he will be able to understand!" says Macareuxprod.
Courtesy macareuxprod
Shadow beasts: This unusual image depicts the shadow of two cows: "Cows drinking from a nearby dam caught my eye when I saw their long shadows," explains winner Luke Bell. "I launched my drone to capture the scene in a way impossible with any other type of camera."
Courtesy Luke Bell
Sand paper: Dronestagram user rga took this imaginative shot with the help of his sons. "As I watched my children playing on the beach and drawing in the sand I had the idea of using the sand as a large sheet of paper," he explains.