The Siena Drone Photography Awards Show How Beautiful Our Planet Is From Above

Many awards and festivals around the world celebrate the art of outdoor photography, but one special award — the Siena Drone Awards — focuses solely on the beauty of the world from a bird’s-eye perspective.

The Siena Awards were started in 2014 in Siena, Italy, with the Siena Drone Photography Awards launched shortly after, in 2015. Now, it’s a separate competition focused on aerial photography and videography by drones or other airborne cameras. The idea is not just to continue the city of Siena’s reputation for artistry, but to celebrate and promote the versatility of airborne photography. Entrants can compete in nine categories — Urban, Wildlife, Sport, People, Nature, Abstract, Wedding, Series, or Video — and entries can come from professional photographers or first-time camera drone users.

There are other drone awards in the world, such as the International Aerial Photographer of the Year. However, the Siena Drone Awards has a slightly larger reach, with more than 2,000 entries from 114 countries, compared to the International Aerial Photographer of the Year’s 1,500 entries (though both competitions are quite esteemed). The Siena Drone Awards also has a bit of extra cache owing to its integration within the high-profile Siena Awards and Festival. It’s a two-month festival open to the public celebrating the arts with lectures, classes, exhibits, events, artist profiles, and more.

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The top winner of the Siena Drone Awards receives the “Pangea Prize” statue, plus press exposure, a photography equipment package, and their work showcased at a well-known exhibit in Siena’s San Galgano Abbey. The fact that photography is shown in person in a real gallery, for both finalists and honorable mentions, differentiates it from other global photo competitions, many of which are online only.

Here, Matador Network highlights some of the best photos from the 2025 Siena Drone Awards, highlighting some of the beauty and splendor available to see in the world, if you just step back enough to see a bigger picture.

Aerial Photographer of the Year: Dennis Schmelz, The Lone Horseman

The winning photo was taken in Cappadocia, Türkiye, known for having some of the world’s most otherworldly landscapes. The region’s unique “fairy chimneys” — towering rock spires — were formed by eons of volcanic eruptions and are now one of the country’s most popular tourist destinations. The judges praised Schmelz’ ability to shoot a “unique and breathtaking perspective that had never been captured before.” Schmelz is a German-born filmmaker who has shown at the Cannes World Film Festival, though he’s also produced music videos for European artists and has an upcoming photography book in partnership with National Geographic.

Follow him at: @DennisSchmelz

Winner, Urban: Mohammad Ataei Mohammadi, Swallowed

Mohammadi’s winning drone shot is of Lake Urmia, Iran, where a boat called the “Artemis Pleasure Boat” now sits permanently in the lake bed. Lake Urmia was once one of the largest salt lakes in the Middle East, but it’s dried up in recent years due to extended droughts, water diversion for agriculture, and dam construction on the rivers that once fed it. In 2020, it once again had water for a short amount of time, but is generally now considered a dry lake.

The photographer, Mohammad Ataei Mohammadi, is a professional photographer and photography instructor, with more than a dozen awards and accolades to his name.

Follow him at: @ataei_mohammadi

Commended, Urban: Neil Bennett, Ocean Pool

Ocean Pool is a drone photo of Mona Vale, a human-made ocean swimming pool at the far end Mona Vale Beach in Sydney, Australia. It has two large pools: a larger pool for lap swimming and adults, and a smaller, shallower pool for children. At high tide, water surrounds the pools, making them look like they’re emerging from the ocean. The photographer is Sydney-based portrait and event photographer who’s been taking photos professionally for more than three decades.

Follow him at: @neilbennettpictures

Winner, Wildlife: Joanna Steidle, Another World

The winning wildlife photog of the year shows cownose rays, named for lump on their snouts that look semi-cow-like, hunting a school of menhaden fish as a group. It was taken off the coast of Southampton, New York, in August 2022. Interestingly, the photo comes from photographer Joanna Steidle of New York, who also won top honors in the 2025 International Aerial Photographer of the Year awards. That award also praised one of her manta photographs, though it wasn’t this exact shot.

Follow her at: @JoannaSteidle

Commended, Wildlife: Ibrahim Sarhan, Solitude in the Sands

This simple but stunning photo shows a lone camel moving through the dunes of Abraq al-Azzaf in Saudi Arabia. The dunes sit in a remote part of the country without much infrastructure or official tourism development, making access tougher than other more visited dunes in the country. So while it is possible to go there, most travelers will find places like the Red Sand Dunes or Al-Ahsa sand dunes much easier to visit.

Follow him at: @sarhaniy

Commended, Wildlife: Matt Deakin, Ethereal Encounter

This photo may look like an AI-created photo of an ancient dinosaur, but it’s actually just a celebration of how diverse the ocean’s wildlife can be. It shows a green sawfish, also called a longcomb sawfish, swimming for a brief moment through a group of sea turtles in cloudy water. Green sawfish can grow more than 24 feet long, effectively dwarfing a full-size sea turtle. They’re also critically endangered due to overfishing and declining ocean health in their primary habitats. It was taken off the coast of Australia.

Follow him at: @from.miles.away

Commended, Abstract: Marek Biegalski, I See You

Usually, the badlands of Utah are photographed in shades of yellow and orange, but Ireland-based photographer Marek Biegalski won for capturing the landscape at the very end of night, when the first rays of sun are just starting to illuminate the landscape. It’s described as a “mesmerizing tapestry of deep, textured blues that ripple like veins through the landscape,” and shows that even the landscapes we think we know can always be shown in another light (literally, in this case).

Follow him at: @marek_biegalski

Commended, Nature: Ivan Pedretti, Lava Falls

This stunning photo shows Hraunfossar waterfalls in Iceland, called “Lava Falls” in English, in the transition between autumn and winter. The falls are actually a series of streams that emerge from the Hallmundarhraun lava field and fall over a 3,000-foot-wide ledge into the Hvítá River. The rivers originate from the Langjökull glacier and filter through porous, solidified lava rock lava before crashing into the river below. It’s a protected national monument and is one of many scenic stops on Iceland’s Silver Circle roadtrip loop.

Follow him at: @IvanPedretti

Highly Commended, People: Gilad Topaz, Miniature Paradise

This winning photo shows bathers on a busy day at the Cascate del Mulino hot springs in Tuscany, Italy. The photographer thought they looked like miniature sculptures from above, hence the name of the photo. It was shot by Gilad Topaz, an amateur drone photographer who has been shooting for about six years.

The famous hot springs sit near Saturnia and are famous for the travertine rock terraces and continuously flowing waterfalls. The water is heated from underground and carries minerals and sulfur as it rises to the surface through limestone. The water comes out at a temperature of about 98 degrees Fahrenheit and is free to access, though several spas near the area also have mineral-fed waters in more high-end, exclusive surrounds.

Follow him at: @giladdrone

Highly commended, People: Esengül Alıcı Biber, Ice Fishing

Photographer Esengül Alıcı Biber took this photo of an ice fisherman pulling his canoe through an unfrozen section of Beyşehir Lake in Türkiye. It’s the country’s largest freshwater lake at about 251 square miles. Depend on the year, it can not freeze at all, or be frozen for most of the winter. Regardless of ice or not, it’s a key fishing spot for many people who live in the area.

Follow her at: @esen.artt