The 2nd International Aerial Photographer of the Year (IAPOTY) has unveiled its winners, showcasing a breathtaking array of perspectives.
This is a gallery of images. By shifting the vantage point, these photographers expose patterns—the rhythm of a reindeer migration or the geometric precision of a spiritual pilgrimage. These winners show that the human eye, paired with a lens in the air, finds the soul in the scale.
The Art of the Invisible: From Arctic Pulses to Volcanic Horizons
The winning portfolio is a study in contrast. Vitaly Golovatyuk secured the first-place honor with “Birdie in the Sky,” a minimalist image featuring a bird on a crystal-clear lake in Dongtai, Jiangsu province, China, where red grass and reflection of the sky blur the line between water and air.
Further north, Michiko Kimura captured “Arctic Pulse,” a visual of over 2,000 reindeer migrating across Finnmark, Norway. The image transforms a seasonal movement into a living heartbeat, guided by the ancient instincts of the Sámi herders. It is a reminder that while borders are man-made, the rhythms of survival are older.
The technical range of the competition is impressive. Cody Roberts pushed the limits of proximity in “Event Horizon,” utilizing a USGS aircraft to soar next to the historic 2022 eruption of Mauna Loa in Hawaii. The result is an encounter with geological power, echoing the myth of Icarus.
Ecological Tension and the Rawness of Nature
The IAPOTY winners embrace the honesty of the wild. Dylan De Haas provided two views of Western Australia. In “Electric Blue,” he captured the grace of bottlenose dolphins in Rockingham. However, his “Circle of Life” at Ningaloo Reef offers a pivot: a tiger shark with a green turtle in its jaws, revealing a rarely witnessed moment of predation.
This captures the duality of the ocean—its beauty and its food chain. Such imagery serves as a record of marine biodiversity and predation patterns.
Similarly, Koki Shinoda’s work in the Falkland Islands emphasizes scale. By framing Commerson’s dolphins against the towering stalks of giant kelp, Shinoda renders the mammals small, highlighting the architecture of the underwater forest.
Geometric Devotion and Human Imprints
Beyond nature, the competition explores the choreography of human belief and labor. Sanghamitra Sarkar’s second-place entry, “Wari,” documents the Maharashtra pilgrimage in India. From above, the devotees dressed in white form a circular pattern around the central palkhi, turning a religious gathering into a powerful visual of unity.
This theme of human geometry continues with Thibault Gerbaldi’s “Aarti Under the Stars” in Varanasi. The image captures the Ganga Aarti ceremony, where population pressures lead many devotees to follow the prayer from the Ganges itself aboard tightly packed boats.
Even the mundane is elevated to art. Chris Gurton’s “Potato Ridging” in Suffolk, U.K., transforms agricultural labor into a scene, with gulls circling a Caterpillar Challenger tractor as it turns the soil. It is an observation of the relationship between industry and nature.
The Evolution of the Aerial Perspective
The IAPOTY winners show that the “drone look” is evolving. We are moving away from simple top-down “flat lays” and toward dynamic storytelling. Peter O’Hara’s “Cloud City” at Mount Yanapaccha in Peru, shot at 17,913 feet, uses a drone to pierce a sea of clouds during a sunrise, creating a sense of verticality and isolation.
This evolution mirrors a broader trend in visual anthropology. As we use these tools to document everything from the “Painted Fields” of South Moravia (Giacomo Feroldi) to the “Magadi Dream” in Kenya (Cédric Tamani), we are creating a digital archive. These images act as benchmarks, documenting the “greenest” moments of the Diablo Range in California, as seen in Chengming Liu’s “Emerald Waves at Dusk.”
The collection concludes with a reminder of the stakes involved. Yau Tat Hui’s “Night of the Century” serves as a counterpoint to the beauty, documenting a photo where more than 100 residents died. It proves that the aerial lens is a tool for witness.
Which of these perspectives resonates most with you? Does the raw predation of the reef or the silent symmetry of the pilgrimage change how you view the world from above? Let us know in the comments.
