In pictures: Drone Awards 2022

The Sienna Awards judges sorted through thousands of entries from 2624 participants from 116 countries and announced the image titled Bing Bang by French photographer Armand Sarlangue as the overall winner of the Drone Awards 2022.

Big Bang by Armand Sarlangue. Photo supplied by the Drone Awards 2022

Overall winner! In the picture, a secondary fissure happening a few hundreds meters from the main crater of Fagradalsfjall volcano, Iceland, during the very last eruptive phase. It was captured as a storm was hitting west Iceland, with rain and strong winds. Due to the difficult conditions, a drone capture like this is unique.

In the picture, a seal popping up out of a frosty Marblehead Harbor, USA. They call these ice discs, or ice pancakes. When the harbour reaches below zero temperatures, it freezes over in parts with wake and tide action, a solid sheet of ice is prevented from forming. Smaller discs, or pancakes are formed instead.

Flamingos sleep together at night for greater security and stay close together during the day, thus protecting each other. In this crowd of bodies the colourful nuances of the plumage and the reflections of the light stand out, at Miankaleh, Mazandaran, Iran.

After the bridal party shoot was all done and dusted, the photographer added something a little different to the gallery. Initially wanting to toss the groom up but decided it would be more fun to do it with the bride this time. And so here is the flying bride portrayed with the party guests and then framed by a field of autumn leaves. Old Forest School, Tauranga, New Zealand.

While the photographer was flying a drone near Beit Yanai Beach, Israel on a cold morning, two cyclists past quickly and continued along the waterfront. The photographer immediately started chasing them from above to get the best shot. The whole chase finished in a few seconds when they were already too far away.

Multi-coloured badlands in Utah, USA, as seen from an aerial perspective. The many erosion channels added lots of interest to the shot, reminding of human cerebral convolutions and sulci or of the bark of a thousand-year-old tree.

This is the mausoleum of Taj Mahal in Agra, India, over an incredible sea of clouds formations on river Yamuna. The eternal monument to love was built in 1632 to homage Mumtaz Mahal, the wife of Mughal Shah Jahan who died while giving birth to their 14th child.

Sadarghat river port of Dhaka is the busiest port in Bangladesh, with services to most of the districts in the country. People from both sides of the Buriganga river cross it using small boats. The boat men working on them, usually sleep at night on the boats themselves.

Some labourers at work in a salt pan in Habra, India, where they move the salt to form circular lines allowing a slow evaporation under the hot sun. At the end of the day the salt will be collected in baskets: it’s a really hard job!

Flying over the two lakes of Natron and Magadi in Kenya, on an helicopter allowed the photographer to take this picture. The clouds in the sky are reflected on the lake, and the flamingos are flying over it creating a magical atmosphere. From above, the colours and patterns change with the light and the direction of the wind, which is like a painter’s palette, colourful and constantly changing.

Four roads are crisscrossed with traffic flow and speeding vehicles. The moving lights create a spectacular enlightened yellow cross, which leads the viewer’s eye throughout the picture. The photo was taken at Jiaozi Interchange, Chengdu, Sichuan, China.

After years of efforts, decertified land has been turned into forest resources. On a slope of the park, the most representative and iconic landscape of the park: the “Princess Taiping”, made up of plants of different colours and shapes at Mile City, Honghe Prefecture, Yunnan Province, China.

This image was taken by a drone to show the working time of rural people during the monsoon season in the wetlands of West Bengal, India. Two workers occupy the scene with their colourful hats and clothes. Waterlilies create two concentric coloured rings from which one of the two characters seems to emerge.