Winners of the International Aerial Photographer of the Year

World
By Breaking News Nigeria
An aerial view of many gently rolling hills covered by young green grasses and other plants
Chengming Liu / The 2nd International Aerial Photographer of the YearEmerald Waves at Dusk. Captured above the rolling hills of San Jose, California, at golden hour, this image reveals the Diablo Range at its greenest after winter rains, highlighting smooth contours and flowing patterns.
An elevated view of a dense herd of reindeer moving in circular patterns on snowy ground
Michiko Kimura / The 2nd International Aerial Photographer of the YearArctic Pulse Sámi Reindeer Migration. From above, a migration becomes a living heartbeat with more than 2,000 reindeer flowing northward across Finnmark, Norway. Guided by Sámi herders and ancient instinct, this seasonal movement reflects a rhythm older than borders, where survival and culture move as one.
An aerial view of two dolphins swimming through very clear blue-green water
Dylan De Haas / The 2nd International Aerial Photographer of the YearElectric Blue. Rockingham, Western Australia. Two Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins glide through impossibly clear blue water, their bodies suspended above shifting sand patterns. The vivid tones and flowing textures turn a quiet moment into something almost surreal.
Sunlight streams through pine tree tops above a forest on a misty morning.
Alexandra Moldovan / The 2nd International Aerial Photographer of the YearBasking in Divine Light. Views on a moody morning over the treetops of Denmark. This light and atmosphere allowed the photographer to create a graphical, geometrically pleasing image with the sunbeams pushing through the treetops.
An aerial view of a riverbank packed with people, on shore and in small boats near the shore, seen at night, in India
Thibault Gerbaldi / The 2nd International Aerial Photographer of the YearAarti Under the Stars. Each night in Varanasi, India, several thousand people gather to attend the Ganga Aarti, an ancient ceremony. Population pressures lead many devotees to follow the prayer from the Ganges itself aboard tightly packed boats.
A flock of flamingoes flies low, above a colorful lake.
Cédric Tamani / The 2nd International Aerial Photographer of the YearMagadi Dream. Picture taken from a helicopter, Lake Magadi, Kenya
A single oryx walks across a sand dune, leaving hoof prints, dramatically lit by low sunlight.
Zhengze Xu / The 2nd International Aerial Photographer of the YearOryx Walking on Dune. Taken from a helicopter in the Namib Desert, Namibia. It was late afternoon and sunset was beautiful, illuminating dunes with golden color and amazing shadow lines. This single oryx was walking on the dunes with its shadow and footprints.
An aerial view of a vineyard, seen on a frosty morning.
Laszlo Siman / The 2nd International Aerial Photographer of the YearVineyard. A picture taken at dawn in spring in a vineyard in the Czech Republic. The cold mist colored the surface of the earth, and in some places the ground was still frozen.
A top-down aerial view of a person wearing cold-weather gear who is lying on their side in a 'walking' pose on a frozen lake
Jiri Kostal / The 2nd International Aerial Photographer of the YearDead Man Walking. Self-portrait on a frozen pond
A drone view of a fire raging through tall apartment buildings
Yau Tat Hui / The 2nd International Aerial Photographer of the YearNight of the Century. A tragic photo; more than 100 residents died.
An aerial panorama of coastal hills and mountains in Iceland, covered in greenery, beneath a rainbow
Abhijeet Sawant / The 2nd International Aerial Photographer of the YearEmbrace of the Sky. In this aerial panorama of Iceland, a gentle rainbow arcs across the sky, casting soft hues over dark slopes and deep-blue waters. A lone road winds toward distant shores in perfect, breathless harmony.
An aerial view of a shark carrying a turtle in its jaws at the water's surface
Dylan De Haas / The 2nd International Aerial Photographer of the YearCircle of Life. Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia. A tiger shark carries a green turtle in its jaws, revealing a rarely witnessed moment of predation. Predator and prey meet at the surface, exposing the raw tension and ecological reality that sustains ocean balance.
A view, from above, of a very twisty mountain road on a snow-covered slope
Judith Kuhn / The 2nd International Aerial Photographer of the YearMaloja. Fascinating from above: the serpentines of the Maloja Pass. Shortly before, it had snowed intensely for a few days and the larches had not yet completely shed their autumn dress.
A top-down view of a white horse rolling on its back on dusty ground
Fabio Pappalettera / The 2nd International Aerial Photographer of the YearTumbling White Horse. The photographer was riding in northeast Italy and catching some stills of a wonderful white horse, when suddenly he rolled over to scratch his back, raising the dust—and the epic moment was frozen forever.
A helicopter flies low beside lava erupting from an active volcano.
Cody Roberts / The 2nd International Aerial Photographer of the YearEvent Horizon. Like the Greek hero Icarus who soared too close to the sun, approaching the boundary beyond which nothing escapes, how close can you get? A USGS aircraft soars next to the historic eruption of Mauna Loa on Hawaii in 2022.
A half-dozen mountain climbers, seen as tiny specks, reach the summit of a snow-covered peak, with much-taller jagged mountains in the background.
Peter O’Hara / The 2nd International Aerial Photographer of the YearCloud City Mount Yanapaccha. Mount Yanapaccha; 17,913 feet; Peru. Photographers stood on the summit early in the morning above a sea of clouds and sent the drone up into a magnificent sunrise. Surrounded by three dramatic peaks, it was one of those rare moments that felt almost surreal.
A top-down view of hundreds of worshippers dressed in white, arranged in rows, forming a circle around a central shrine
Sanghamitra Sarkar / The 2nd International Aerial Photographer of the YearWari. Second-place winner. A gathering of Warkaris during Maharashtra’s Wari pilgrimage forms a circular pattern around the central palkhi carrying sacred padukas. Dressed in white, devotees sit in rows, creating a powerful visual of unity, devotion, and harmony.
An aerial view of two black-and-white dolphins swimming near a large outcrop of kelp
Koki Shinoda / The 2nd International Aerial Photographer of the YearCommerson’s Dolphin and Giant Kelp. Commerson’s dolphins were swimming near giant kelp. The giant kelp makes the dolphins look very small. Taken in the Falkland Islands.
Sunset light over an iconic narrow butte, surrounded by a bare landscape of rippling ridges
Kevin Nyun / The 2nd International Aerial Photographer of the YearThe Factory. Sunset light over Southern Utah’s iconic butte.
An aerial view of curving rows of plants growing in a farm field
Giacomo Feroldi / The 2nd International Aerial Photographer of the YearPainted Fields. In spring, the fields of South Moravia in Czech Republic are filled with a variety of colors, mainly due to the sowing of rapeseed. The crops follow lines that look painted. A tree with a leafy canopy casts its shadow over the scene.
A top-down view of a circular opening in lake ice, with dark cracks radiating through the ice
Koki Dote / The 2nd International Aerial Photographer of the YearEye. A large opening in the surface of the ice. Cracks radiating from it give the impression that something is watching from within.
An aerial view of farm machinery plowing furrows in a field, surrounded by a small flock of gulls
Chris Gurton / The 2nd International Aerial Photographer of the YearPotato Ridging. A Caterpillar Challenger ridges soil ready for planting potatoes while gulls circle, looking for worms in the freshly turned soil. Assington, Suffolk, U.K.
A view from above of a herd of horses being driven across dusty ground
Kah-Wai Lin / The 2nd International Aerial Photographer of the YearThunder of Hooves. Third-place winner. At sunset in Cappadocia, Turkey, Yilki horses surge across the dusty plateau. Raised by villagers and released to roam free, they embody resilience and tradition, moving like a river of fire beneath the fading Anatolian sky.
A single bird stands in a shallow pool of water on a plain, seen from an elevated distance.
Vitaly Golovatyuk / The 2nd International Aerial Photographer of the YearBirdie in the Sky. First-place winner. Birdie is sitting on the water of a tiny, crystal-clear lake with reflection of the sky and surrounded by red grass, somewhere in Dongtai, Yancheng, Jiangsu province, China.

Be sure to visit the IAPOTY competition website to view the full list of this year’s entries and winners.

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