Smart News | July 10, 2025

See Ten Stunning Images From the International Aerial Photographer of the Year Awards

Breathtaking views of glaciers, volcanoes and animals were celebrated in the competition’s inaugural year

Gilad Topaz's "Drifting In Space" captures the moment that passengers onboard an icebreaker in the frozen Baltic Sea took a short break to swim.

Gilad Topaz / The Inaugural International Aerial Photographer of the Year

See Ten Stunning Images From the International Aerial Photographer of the Year Awards

Breathtaking views of glaciers, volcanoes and animals were celebrated in the competition’s inaugural year

Christian Thorsberg - Correspondent

July 10, 2025

Often, a change of perspective is all it takes to see things in a brand-new light.

This was the thought process when the organizers of the International Landscape Photographer of the Year Awards, amazed by the high number of aerial photography submissions they had been receiving after a decade of running the contest, considered starting a second competition dedicated solely to these images with a bird’s-eye view.

“Looking down on our subject produces a novel, intriguing and sometimes ambiguous perspective,” Peter Eastway, a contest organizer and chairman of the judges, writes in a statement. “Surely part of the appeal is that the view is new and different from what we see most of the time, walking around with our eyes 1.5 meters above the ground?”

Officially announced earlier this year, the International Aerial Photographer of the Year awards opened the doors to modern drone operators and those with a love for sticking their lenses out of planes, hot air balloons and helicopters—or those scaling the heights of tall buildings and mountains.

More than 1,500 images from around the world were submitted to the new competition, which offered a total of $10,000 in prize money and boasted six award categories, with the top 101 overall photographs receiving recognition in a published eBook.

Competition was steep: a trio of judges scored each submitted image out of 100 possible points, and their ratings were averaged together to come up with an entry’s final score. The cut-off for publication in the book was 86.67.

“The larger collection means the judges can applaud photographs of all different types and genres, from drones to medium format, single capture and composites, abstract and breathtaking renditions of Mother Nature,” Eastway writes.

Joanna Steidle, a professional drone pilot and artist based on Long Island, New York, took home top prize as the inaugural Aerial Photographer of the Year. Using a drone, she captured four stunning scenes of marine fauna—cownose rays, a spinner shark, menhaden fish and a humpback whale—off the state’s coast. All the pictures in her portfolio were taken within four to eight miles of her home.

“Aerial photography offers so many possibilities not yet explored,” Steidle says in a statement. “Every day is exciting as I look for unique subjects and moments. I try to stay away from the ordinary. I live in a very flat landscape, so top-down imagery has become quite a theme in my photos which happens to work well with my love for marine life.”

Concerto by Joanna Steidle — In this image titled “Concerto,” a group of cownose rays stirs up sand just a few hundred feet from the coast of Southampton, New York. Joanna Steidle / The Inaugural International Aerial Photographer of the Year

Diving by Joanna Steidle — In “Diving,” a humpback whale submerges itself after taking a breath some 500 feet off the coast of Southampton, New York. Joanna Steidle / The Inaugural International Aerial Photographer of the Year

Daniel Viñé Garcia of Spain finished as the runner-up for his volcanic photography from Iceland and Argentina and mining waste in Spain. David Swindler, from the United States, came in third place within the category for his portfolio featuring flamingoes, pelicans and a desert playa.

Smoking Skull, Daniel Vine Garcia — Daniel Viñé Garcia’s “Smoking Skull” portrays Iceland's Fagradalsfjall volcano as it cools. The cracks in the lava formed a skull, creating a short-lived and eerie natural illusion. Daniel Viñé Garcia / The Inaugural International Aerial Photographer of the Year

Flamingos Over Lake, David Swindler — David Swindler, who finished as the contest’s third place winner for Aerial Photographer of the Year, captured this image of seven flamingos flying over a lake. David Swindler / The Inaugural International Aerial Photographer of the Year

Single images were also recognized in the Aerial Photograph of the Year category. Australia’s Ignacio Palacios took home the top prize for his stunning image of Cono De Arita, a unique geological formation made from volcanic rock and salt in Argentina’s Andes Mountains. Glaciers were the focus of the category’s second and third prizes, with American photographer Talor Stone’s “Tree of Ice” finishing as runner-up ahead of Canadian photographer Thomas Vijayan’s “Austfonna Ice Cap.”

Tree of Ice, Talor Stone — "Tree of Ice" won second place in the Aerial Photograph of the Year award. In it, glacial calving reveals an unexpected organic pattern in the water in Northeast Greenland National Park. Talor Stone / The Inaugural International Aerial Photographer of the Year

Austfonna Ice Cap, Thomas Vijayan — On the Bråsvellbreen glacier, part of the Austfonna Ice Cap in Svalbard, Norway, early melting and powerful waterfalls are signs of climate change. Thomas Vijayan / The Inaugural International Aerial Photographer of the Year

Four other categories, which are planned to change each year “to keep things interesting,” the contest organizers write, acknowledge the submissions’ best black and white, drone and abstract photographs. The Chairman’s Choice Award went to Fabien Guittard of France for his photograph of lounging seals.