Best drone video, photos from DJI SkyPixel annual contest

SkyPixel, one of the world’s most popular aerial photography communities established by tech giant DJI, has announced the winners of its annual drone photo and video contest. The 9th edition of the contest attracted over 130,000 submissions, a 100% increase from the previous year. Here are the ones that truly stood out…

Best drone photo of the year

The photo judging panel, which included renowned photographers and publication editors, chose the photo Mongolian Yurt shot on a Mavic 3 Pro at three times zoom. Captured by Daolai on a snowy morning in the Ulan Butung Grasslands of Inner Mongolia, this photo depicts herdsmen preparing for a grassland event.

The scene is naturally picturesque, illustrating the life in the community as the herdsmen interact with the horses, the camels, and the landscape. Against the stark contrast created by the snow, Daolai found the scene reminiscent of a traditional Chinese ink painting.

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Top 10 drone photo prize winners in DJI SkyPixel annual contest

Following the theme of “Exploring New Trends,” photographers from across the globe used visual imagery to articulate their distinctive perspectives. The judges noticed increase in people-focused documentary content, showcasing photographers’ engagement with and desire to explore the human experience.

Participants used their flying cameras to capture urban transformations, human-centric narratives, and everyday moments. Among the top 10 images of the year, Fatigue Sleep, for instance, chronicles two boatmen in Bangladesh as they relax on their boats.

Boats not only represent their livelihood but also their home, a family bond, a deep connection with the river, and an unwavering commitment to their profession. Due to climate change in Bangladesh, many riverine people have lost their homes and properties due to frequent floods, river erosion, and other natural disasters. They are forced to migrate to Dhaka city in search of a better future where their day starts and ends on the boat. These people have no specific shelter in the city, and boats have become a flower bed for these refugees.

For content with a humanistic focus, the use of telephoto technology enables photographers to capture details and real-life moments more keenly without disturbing the subject, facilitating a more effortless creative process.

Photographers also broke away from traditional large panoramic aerial perspectives, embracing a more nuanced approach to framing through experimentation with varied heights and angles. The pursuit of extreme heights has evolved into a sophisticated understanding of composition, leading photographers to explore low camera positions and multiple angles to present their works with ingenuity.

Photographers also expertly captured the earth’s intricate lines and vibrant hues through the perspective of drones, creating breathtaking aerial art through inventive composition and nuanced manipulation of light and shadow. These works not only demonstrate the advancements in aerial photography technology but also signify photographers’ deep appreciation and distinct portrayal of natural beauty.

Best drone video of the year

The DJI SkyPixel judging panel chose Luke Bredar’s video of Haines, Alaska, as the best work in the drone video category. The short film mixes heart-pounding action shots of a skier racing down a snowy mountaintop landscapes with breathtaking shots of Alaska’s mountainous, winter terrain.

“The motivation behind creating this video was to evoke themes of otherworldliness, objective risk, the interplay between risk and the essence of human spirit, solitude, impermanence, self-sufficiency, and the journey of incomplete wandering intertwined with heartbreak,” says Bredar.

To view more photos and videos from the contest, visit the official SkyPixel website.

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Photos: SkyPixel/DJI