A stunning overhead shot of the Fagradalsfjall volcano has been awarded the top prize in this year's Drone Photo Awards – an international competition for aerial photography. The contest is part of the Siena Awards International Festival of Visual Arts
Hikers have flocked to see the eruption for themselves, despite warnings from the Icelandic government that eruptions are unpredictable, and visitors put themselves at risk of exposure to toxic gases.
The Drone Photo Awards 2022 photo of the year, by Armand Sarlangue, gives a much more interesting view of a secondary fissure, and was captured as a storm was hitting west Iceland. The weather conditions, with rain and strong winds, make it a particularly difficult shot. It was selected by the jury from thousands of images submitted by 2,624 participants from 116 countries.
You can see the full gallery of winners and shortlisted entries on the Drone Photo Awards website, but here we've picked out two more of our favorites.
This shot, Meeting by David Rouge, received the first classified award in the Nature category. It shows a meeting between the desert and the Southern Atlantic ocean. As his drone climbed, Rouge was particularly attracted to the way the light emphasized the unusual shape of the sand dunes.
The image Hani Terraces, by photograph Ran Tian, was commended in the Nature category. It shows the Hani rice terraces in Duoyi Shu, Yunnan, China in slanting sunlight that emphasizes their striking colors.
The awards festival will take place in Siena, Italy, from October 1 to November 20. It will include three exhibitions: the Siena International Photo Awards, Drone Photo Awards and Creative Awards.
Four solo exhibitions are dedicated to Danish Siddiqui, killed in 2021 in Afghanistan during one of his reports; Ami Vitale, National Geographic photographer; Dan Winters, an icon of international photography and author of the most popular portraits of celebrities of the past 15 years, and Peter Mather, a member of the International League of Conservation Photographers.
