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by DL Byron Published

The World from Above

Drone photography isn’t really my thing…when I’ve worked with Wired on assignments, they outright banned it. But, the photos I saw today did catch my eye, and are from a site called Dronestagram. The ran a contest, and the winners were chosen from thousands of entries, judged by NatGeo staffers.

Nature and Wildlife

Pine forestMICHAEL B RASMUSSEN
A picture of pine wood in Denmark won first prize in the Nature and Wildlife category. “I search for patterns and lines created by nature like the creek that surrounds the pine forest in my winning image. But I also look for man-made patterns and lines like curvy roads and tracks from agricultural equipment,” Michael Rasmussen said.
SheepIGNACZ SZABOLCS
Ignatz Szabolcs photo won second place and he commented, “We wanted to present the traditional Romania in its full beauty. We were travelling by car and suddenly along the road from the distance I’ve spotted the sheep herd.”
Piton de la fournaise, VolcanoJONATHAN PAYET
Flying his drone above the Piton de la Fournaise volcano on Reunion Island, Payet, had to cope with the ascending hot air and wind. He got shot just after sunrise with permission from the authorities to fly.

Travel

Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi, Umbria, ItalyFRANCESCO CATTUTO
The Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi in Umbria, Italy won best picture in the travel category. Cattuto said, “After the drone came out from the clouds, the view was spectacular and got me completely astonished and, without breathing, I had the time to take some shots before the sun went down and the cloud got higher hiding everything.”
Cable Beach by Todd KennedyTODD KENNEDY
“When we arrived in Broome, we booked a sunset camel tour which was a beautiful experience and a great opportunity to get a new addition to a series of shadow images I have been collecting since entering into drone photography.” Todd got this on his honeymoon on Cable Beach, Western Australia.
Summer camp of Gran Canaria by Karolis JanulisKAROLIS JANULIS
This is the beach in Gran Canaria.

Sports and Adventure

Moab Rock Climbing by MaxseigalMAX SEIGAL
About this shot of  Moab Max said, “We hiked for miles looking for the perfect line and then spotted this amazing crack that was about 400 feet off the ground. Using the drone, I was able to capture images that would have never been possible before.”
SwimmersJUAN PABLO BAYONA
Image captionJuan Pablo Bayona works as a photojournalist for the local newspaper, La Opinion, in Cucuta, Colombia in South America 
Assigned to cover the swimming competition for the local newspaper, La Opinion, in Cucuta, Colombia, Juan Pablo opted for a drone shot and took second place in the Sport and Adventure.
Chugach Mountain Range, AlaskaTJ BALON
“One of my big dreams would be to take the drones down to Antarctica and capture some of the magic that exists down there before the ice melts away and climate change changes everything forever,” TJ said about this shot of his friend and guide Jason Bilek on the Chugach mountain range outside Cordova, Alaska.

All photographs courtesy dronestagr.am.

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