The winners of the first international drone photography contest, organized by social network Dronestagram, have been revealed!
Launched May 15 in a partnership with National Geographic, it is a successful first edition with over 1500 photos published and a global participation. Winning authors come from Indonesia, Singapore, Mexico, Bulgaria and France.
According to the members of the jury composed by Dronestagram and National Geographic France team, "picking winners was a very difficult task especially because of the great quality of the photos that have been submitted. We tried to reward the photos that show the best the fantastic potential offered by drones in terms of image. "
The "most amazing aerial view" price was won by an Indonesian drone pilot who managed the feat of shooting an eagle in flight. Very pleased to have won the first prize, the author told us the story of this great performance :
"The photo was taken on 2012, we were working on aerial photos for eco-tourism spot at Bali Barat National Park (west Bali, Indonesia) . We were taking vertical aerial photos using autopilot. Suddenly the eagle came and chasing our drones, so I decided to take over and switch to manual control. After few minutes we discovered that the eagle did not attack the drone but chasing and playing with it. So we decided to do manual fliying (with fpv) and make the eagle chase the drone and do maneuver so the eagle positioned just in front our camera. So it just a huge luck and a perfect moment combination."
In addition to earning a DJI Phantom, a Go Pro and a printing of its photo, the winner will have the chance to be published first in National Geographic magazine, french version.
Very satisfied with this first edition, Dronestagram website is already working on similar projects to promote the work of drone enthusiasts.
Dronestagram & National Geographic Prizes: Awards of the most amazing aerial views.
1st Prize Winner: Bali Barat National Park (picture at top)
Comments
All are beautifull and powerfull, proving the technology is uniting the world.
Its also not the first international UAS photo competition but lets not let the truth get in the way! Love the winning pic.
Hi, The first photo is ours... and thank you for all the concern... and yes we think about the same think as you guys...
1. We are not flying on populated area, actually its a private property near national park. And our intention of course not the eagle, but taking pictures of the coastline for ecotourism project.
2. The eagle approaching us, and we try to avoid (like you, my concern the eagle would attack the plane ( we are not using multirotor).
3. after few minutes and maneuvering we are convinced the eagle did not try to attack our bixler, we decide to do a little manuver so the bixler positioned above the eagle and taking picture (our camera are facing down)
4 We fly line of sight, i can see clearly the plane and the eagle. (fpv used to monitor the camera position) So yes, its legal...
5 No Eagle Hurts on this photo, and we never attempt to try the same stunt again, or encourage other to try. (like i said, it just a lucky shot :) )
And BIG yes, we care about the eagle.. even more.. we spread this photo because we think we could use this photo to aware people that this awesome creature in danger. We also participate in documenting several national park in indonesia... to promote the ecotourism.
The complete story are here http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/eagle-shot posted in 2012.
Cheers... :)
Capungaero team
Almost every pic there is "illegal" in a sense that is very dangerous and or forbidden to fly over people etc.
Very good point John. Surely it is one of the reasons why US have banned drones (even the smallest ones) from national parks.
That eagle pic is amazing, but when I see how close an eagle comes to a drone I get cold shivers. Raptors are territorial and they usually attack intruders without hesitation. The novelty of a drone could cause more sanguine raptor types such as eagles or buzzards to restrict themselves to just flying over for a look, but other raptors such as falcons (Peregrines, Lanners, Praire Falcons) and hawk (Goshawks, Sparrowhawks) could attempt to attack the drone. Given that the standard attack is from above using the feet, they could lose a toe or a foot in the attack if it hits a propeller (very likely if its a multirotor). This would mean certain death by starvation, because their main weaponry is their feet.
Raptors are much more likely to attack aerial intruders when they are breeding, so please be aware of how a raptor is behaving towards your drone and if its very aggressive please land or fly away.
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