We’re pretty obsessed with aerial photography – we even made a bunch of Tame Impala album covers from images of barren landscapes shot from space. There’s something about them that is magnificently dizzying, exposing a point of view that most of us never get to see.
The winner and finalists of the 2018 Drone Awards were announced this week, plucked from more than 4400 submissions from over 100 countries. And they are pretty beautiful.
Take a look at the stunning shots from the winners and runners-up for the 2018 Drone Photography Awards.
For the contest, judges selected the best aerial photographs of the year across six categories for professionals and amateurs. The winner was an incredible shot by French photographer, Florian Ledoux of a polar bear clambering across sea ice in Lancaster Sounds in Canada, north of the Arctic Circle (above).
Speaking with Wired, he says he saw not one but 14 polar bears during his expedition. “I cried during the three hours we stayed close to them,” he said. “There is no better feeling than being close to those magnificent animals.”
The images that scored runners-up prizes include a magnificent shot of ice thawing in the Czech Republic, a road snaking in-and-out of a burnt-out forest in Romania, and a top-down view of basketball courts in China. See them below.
