These 16 Splendid Aerial Views Seize Wildlife From Above, Revealing the Magnificence and Thriller of Nature

To take within the panorama and all its parts, some photographers go to nice heights—actually. Shooting from airplanes, helicopters, scorching air balloons and drones, these visible artists can take a well-recognized scene and make it seem like one thing new.

More than ten years in the past, photographers David Evans and Peter Eastway began noticing breathtaking aerial imagery displaying up in pictures competitions. “The aerials were very popular with the judges, and many of us expected their ‘surprise value’ would diminish over time,” Eastway writes in a press release. “But we were wrong.”

That’s why the duo began the International Aerial Photographer of the Year competitors in 2025, after having efficiently run the International Landscape Photographer of the Year awards collectively since 2014.

Entrants from all over the world submitted almost 1,600 pictures to this yr’s contest, the second annual competitors, and a panel of three judges gave each one a score. The high 101 photographs are actually compiled in an e-book.

This yr’s total winner is Azim Khan Ronnie of Bangladesh, who has spent 19 years as a broadcast journalist and 11 as knowledgeable photographer. Currently a resident of France, the photographer has traveled extensively for his work, along with his profitable portfolio entries spanning Bangladesh, Switzerland and India.

“From above, everyday scenes reveal patterns, geometry, textures and relationships that are often invisible from the ground,” the photographer says in a press release. “Aerial photography allows me to tell stories about people, nature and the environment from a perspective that inspires curiosity and offers a deeper understanding of the world.”

When organising a shot, he seems to be for magnificence and a robust picture composition, however he additionally retains an eye fixed out for emotional impression. “I want viewers to pause, explore the details and connect with the story behind the image,” he provides.

Vitaly Golovatyuk of Russia received first place within the single picture class, taking dwelling the award with {a photograph} of a fowl in a lake that clearly displays the sky. Golovatyuk, who has spent 11 years doing aerial imaging, captured the profitable image in November 2025 at Elk Park in Zhejiang Province, China.

“After several days exploring the area during sunrise and sunset, I photographed this bird on a tiny lake surrounded by red grass,” Golovatyuk says in a press release. “The clarity of the sky’s reflection creates a striking illusion, as if the bird is suspended weightlessly in the air.”

The contest accepts a variety of photographs, leaving the topic of aerial imagery open to interpretation. According to the competitors’s website, the crew is “just as happy” with {a photograph} taken from a tall constructing as they’re with one taken from a helicopter. “Some are hardly edited; others are deliberately manipulated. It’s not for us to define what aerial photography is; we leave that to our entrants and our judges,” Eastway writes in a press release. “The only rules we have is that all entries must be created by a real person, and no A.I. that generates new content is permitted.”

Below is a number of the competition’s high photographs capturing uncommon and gorgeous views of animals.