The Siena Drone Photography Awards Present How Lovely Our Planet Is From Above

There are different drone awards on the earth, such because the International Aerial Photographer of the Year. However, the Siena Drone Awards has a barely bigger attain, with greater than 2,000 entries from 114 international locations, in comparison with the International Aerial Photographer of the Year’s 1,500 entries (although each competitions are fairly esteemed). The Siena Drone Awards additionally has a bit of additional cache owing to its integration inside the high-profile Siena Awards and Festival. It’s a two-month pageant open to the general public celebrating the humanities with lectures, courses, displays, occasions, artist profiles, and extra.

The prime winner of the Siena Drone Awards receives the “Pangea Prize” statue, plus press publicity, a images gear bundle, and their work showcased at a well known exhibit in Siena’s San Galgano Abbey. The proven fact that images is proven in particular person in an actual gallery, for each finalists and honorable mentions, differentiates it from different world photograph competitions, a lot of that are on-line solely.

Here, Matador Network highlights among the greatest pictures from the 2025 Siena Drone Awards, highlighting among the magnificence and splendor out there to see on the earth, in the event you simply step again sufficient to see an even bigger image.

Aerial Photographer of the Year: Dennis Schmelz, The Lone Horseman

The profitable photograph was taken in Cappadocia, Türkiye, recognized for having among the world’s most otherworldly landscapes. The area’s distinctive “fairy chimneys” — towering rock spires — had been fashioned by eons of volcanic eruptions and at the moment are one of many nation’s hottest vacationer locations. The judges praised Schmelz’ capacity to shoot a “unique and breathtaking perspective that had never been captured before.” Schmelz is a German-born filmmaker who has proven on the Cannes World Film Festival, although he’s additionally produced music movies for European artists and has an upcoming images e-book in partnership with National Geographic.

Follow him at: @DennisSchmelz

Winner, Urban: Mohammad Ataei Mohammadi, Swallowed

Mohammadi’s profitable drone shot is of Lake Urmia, Iran, the place a ship referred to as the “Artemis Pleasure Boat” now sits completely within the lake mattress. Lake Urmia was as soon as one of many largest salt lakes within the Middle East, nevertheless it’s dried up in recent times attributable to prolonged droughts, water diversion for agriculture, and dam building on the rivers that after fed it. In 2020, it as soon as once more had water for a brief period of time, however is mostly now thought of a dry lake.

The photographer, Mohammad Ataei Mohammadi, is knowledgeable photographer and images teacher, with greater than a dozen awards and accolades to his identify.

Follow him at: @ataei_mohammadi

Commended, Urban: Neil Bennett, Ocean Pool

Ocean Pool is a drone photograph of Mona Vale, a human-made ocean swimming pool on the far finish Mona Vale Beach in Sydney, Australia. It has two massive swimming pools: a bigger pool for lap swimming and adults, and a smaller, shallower pool for youngsters. At excessive tide, water surrounds the swimming pools, making them seem like they’re rising from the ocean. The photographer is Sydney-based portrait and occasion photographer who’s been taking pictures professionally for greater than three a long time.

Follow him at: @neilbennettpictures

Winner, Wildlife: Joanna Steidle, Another World

The profitable wildlife photog of the yr reveals cownose rays, named for lump on their snouts that look semi-cow-like, searching a college of menhaden fish as a bunch. It was taken off the coast of Southampton, New York, in August 2022. Interestingly, the photograph comes from photographer Joanna Steidle of New York, who additionally received prime honors within the 2025 International Aerial Photographer of the Year awards. That award additionally praised one in all her manta images, although it wasn’t this precise shot.

Follow her at: @JoannaSteidle

Commended, Wildlife: Ibrahim Sarhan, Solitude within the Sands

This easy however gorgeous photograph reveals a lone camel shifting by the dunes of Abraq al-Azzaf in Saudi Arabia. The dunes sit in a distant a part of the nation with out a lot infrastructure or official tourism growth, making entry more durable than different extra visited dunes within the nation. So whereas it’s attainable to go there, most vacationers will discover locations just like the Red Sand Dunes or Al-Ahsa sand dunes a lot simpler to go to.

Follow him at: @sarhaniy

Commended, Wildlife: Matt Deakin, Ethereal Encounter

This photograph might seem like an AI-created photograph of an historic dinosaur, nevertheless it’s really only a celebration of how various the ocean’s wildlife may be. It reveals a inexperienced sawfish, additionally referred to as a longcomb sawfish, swimming for a quick second by a bunch of sea turtles in cloudy water. Green sawfish can develop greater than 24 ft lengthy, successfully dwarfing a full-size sea turtle. They’re additionally critically endangered attributable to overfishing and declining ocean well being of their main habitats. It was taken off the coast of Australia.

Follow him at: @from.miles.away

Commended, Abstract: Marek Biegalski, I See You

Usually, the badlands of Utah are photographed in shades of yellow and orange, however Ireland-based photographer Marek Biegalski received for capturing the panorama on the very finish of evening, when the primary rays of solar are simply beginning to illuminate the panorama. It’s described as a “mesmerizing tapestry of deep, textured blues that ripple like veins through the landscape,” and reveals that even the landscapes we expect we all know can all the time be proven in one other gentle (actually, on this case).

Follow him at: @marek_biegalski

Commended, Nature: Ivan Pedretti, Lava Falls

This gorgeous photograph reveals Hraunfossar waterfalls in Iceland, referred to as “Lava Falls” in English, within the transition between autumn and winter. The falls are literally a sequence of streams that emerge from the Hallmundarhraun lava subject and fall over a 3,000-foot-wide ledge into the Hvítá River. The rivers originate from the Langjökull glacier and filter by porous, solidified lava rock lava earlier than crashing into the river under. It’s a protected nationwide monument and is one in all many scenic stops on Iceland’s Silver Circle roadtrip loop.

Follow him at: @IvanPedretti

Highly Commended, People: Gilad Topaz, Miniature Paradise

This profitable photograph reveals bathers on a busy day on the Cascate del Mulino scorching springs in Tuscany, Italy. The photographer thought they seemed like miniature sculptures from above, therefore the identify of the photograph. It was shot by Gilad Topaz, an beginner drone photographer who has been taking pictures for about six years.

The well-known scorching springs sit close to Saturnia and are well-known for the travertine rock terraces and constantly flowing waterfalls. The water is heated from underground and carries minerals and sulfur because it rises to the floor by limestone. The water comes out at a temperature of about 98 levels Fahrenheit and is free to entry, although a number of spas close to the world even have mineral-fed waters in additional high-end, unique surrounds.

Follow him at: @giladdrone

Highly recommended, People: Esengül Alıcı Biber, Ice Fishing

Photographer Esengül Alıcı Biber took this photograph of an ice fisherman pulling his canoe by an unfrozen part of Beyşehir Lake in Türkiye. It’s the nation’s largest freshwater lake at about 251 sq. miles. Depend on the yr, it can’t freeze in any respect, or be frozen for a lot of the winter. Regardless of ice or not, it’s a key fishing spot for many individuals who reside within the space.

Follow her at: @esen.artt