These are the best drone photos of 2017

Dunja Đuđić Kalinin

Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, concerts, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

Dronestagram is the first social network dedicated to aerial photography. Four years in a row, they’ve been choosing the best of the best aerial images. In partnership with National Geographic, they have recently published the winners of their 2017 drone photography contest.

There were about 8,000 photos submitted. Photographers all over the world sent their works, both professionals and enthusiasts. The winners have been chosen in three main categories: Nature, Urban, People; and the additional category: Creativity. So, here are the Dronestagram’s best 12 aerial photos of 2017.

Nature

1st Prize Winner: Provence, summer trim, France by jcourtial
2nd Prize Winner:  Infinite Road to Transylvania, Romania by Calin Stan
3rd Prize Winner: Ice formation, Grenland by Florian Ledoux

Urban

1st Prize Winner: Concrete Jungle, EAA by bachirm
2nd Prize Winner: Dawn on Mercury Tower, Russia by alexeygo
3rd Prize Winner: Peace, Spain by luckydron

People

1st Prize Winner: End of the line, USA by Martin Sanchez
2nd Prize Winner: Waterlily, Vietnam by helios1412
3rd Prize Winner: La Vijanera by feelingmovie

The photos were chosen by the panel of experts. It consisted of the experts, among which were Patrick Witty (Deputy Director of Photography at National Geographic), Emanuela Ascoli (Photo Editor of National Geographic France) and Dronestagram’s team. The judges chose the photos based on creativity, photographic quality, and respect of the theme. I believe it was a tough choice, and Jeff Heimsath, Photo Editor at National Geographic Traveler, confirms it:

“I was blown away by the creativity of the photos in this contest. The photographers used drones to capture the world from new and unique perspectives. The selection process was far from easy, this contest has certainly surfaced the best drone images from around the world”

Nature, Urban and People have been the regular categories of the contest from the beginning. But this year, the Dronestagram team decided to reward the creativity of their contestants by opening the fourth category named “Creativity.” Here are the (indeed creative) winners:

Two Moo by LukeMaximoBell
Ugo le marin by rga
Next Level By macareuxprod

The winners get drones, cameras, bags, VR headsets and photo prints as rewards. Also, their works will be published in National Geographic. If you haven’t applied for the contest, you’ll have the chance to try next year. In the meantime, check out Dronestagram’s website and follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.


Find this interesting? Share it with your friends!

Dunja Đuđić Kalinin

Dunja Đuđić Kalinin

Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, concerts, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

Join the Discussion

DIYP Comment Policy
Be nice, be on-topic, no personal information or flames.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

4 responses to “These are the best drone photos of 2017”

  1. ikillflesh Avatar
    ikillflesh

    I love it

  2. Fotoden Avatar
    Fotoden

    It appears to me you’ve awarded achievements to photography tha most of us in aerial photography aren’t allowed to do. At least 2 of the photos had to be shot over 400′. They’re also over populated areas and are being done illegally. It seems giving awards to these people for doing something illegal is certainly wrong and promotes others to do the same thing i.e. The imbecile that caused the firefighting to have to stop out west is only one of the acts that is going to spoil it for the ones that do obey the law.

    1. Thomasson Avatar

      What photos are shot illegally of the above?
      In Sweden we have laws of the use of drones, but also regulations that makes some photos being able to be taken without breaking those laws. We have permits, etc. Even in populated areas.

      So I’m intruiged in how you know about these being taken in an illegal way.

  3. NELLY Avatar
    NELLY

    Here’s some more photos you may like: https://photolemur.com/blog/15-best-drone-photographers