With the advancement in drone technology, photographers are now able to capture more detailed and stunning aerial shots of different scenery, sights, and spectacles like we never have before. And each year, the Siena Drone Photo Awards gathers some of the best drone shots photographers have sent in and gives the winner €500 worth of photography equipment, the "Pangea Prize" crystal statuette, and two overnight stays at the Siena during the awards ceremony among other prizes.
This year, the promising crop of finalists include an aerial shot of Indian wrestlers, a pack of pelicans, a whole village trekking a 160-kilometer-long (100-mile-long) stretch of mountainous jungle and swamp called the Darien Gap, crowds gathered around a bull fight in Mexico, roaming Banni buffalos, a six-mile bridge in China, and the village of Kargapazari in Turkey steeped in snow. These are only some of the nominees of the Siena Drone Photo Awards, also featured on NPR.
Out of the these, I thought that the most captivating one was the photo by Hüseyin Karahan, a former Turkish naval officer, who took a photo of Kargapazari village during a time when people were about to leave a mosque after prayers. Seeing as they were struggling to go out, he used his drone to take a wider view of the situation, and that's when his camera saw a very picturesque, almost abstract landscape, showing how the whole village had been snowed in.
Talking about the photo, Karahan mentioned how Turkish photographer Ara Güler inspired him to take up photography, and how there was such beauty that we can see in the spontaneity of our world. From his experiences taking the photo of Kargapazari, he was reminded how vast our world really is, and how small we are in comparison to it.
Meanwhile, Roberto Hernandez's photo of a bullfight in Mexico City's Plaza Mexico arena shown above is a great depiction of the spectacle, not just of bullfighting itself, but how that event brings people together. In fact, the photo shows more than 42,000 people who were gathered at the arena to witness the final moments of that bullfight.
From above, the collective throng seem so small and insignificant that one doesn't realize how many there really are, and that there's such a great number packed into this arena. Apparently, in order for Hernandez to get this great shot of the arena, there was much planning and testing that went into it. He shared how he had to rent the roof of the tallest building near the arena, and from that height, he was able to take this shot.
Finally, the other photo that stood out for me from among the collection was Sanchayan Chowdhury's photo of the famed Abdul Jabbar's Boli Khela - a wrestling tournament that was being held in Chittagong, Bangladesh. What entranced me in this photo was the geometry of the shot as well as the use of space.
According to Chowdhury, he took the photo not only as a commemorative token of the event, but also as a means of honoring his cultural heritage and capturing the passion of the wrestlers and the vibrant atmosphere of the event.
(Image credits: Hüseyin Karahan; Roberto Hernandez; Sanchayan Chowdhury/NPR)
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