A flock of thousands of Pink-footed geese taking flight at their breeding grounds in Norway captured by local photographer Terje Kolaas won the top prize of the 2021 Drone Photo Awards.

The popular international contest of aerial photography last year received nearly 14,000 images for their 2020 edition from amateur and professional photographers from 104 countries. The Siena Awards also curate some amazing winners every year in still photography.

First prizes in the Drone Awards are presented in the eight categories—Nature, Wildlife, Urban, People, Sport, Abstract, Storyboard, and Wedding. Here are some of our favorites:

First place in the Urban category was won by the photo titled "Metaphorical Statement About City and Winter," by Russian photographer Sergei Poletaev. The image portrays an old monastery near Moscow with a large power plant in the background.

Oman photographer Qasim Al Farsi won the Wildlife category with "Back to Adventure," an aerial shot that immortalizes a green turtle ready to return to the water after laying its eggs on the coast of Oman.

"Gold at the End of the Rainbow" by Australian photographer Phil De Glanville, which captures a striking rainbow above surfer Ollie Henry taming a frightening wave, is the winning image in the Sport category.

Pierluigi Orler of Italy was runner up in the Sport category with this image of a snowmobile in Bernau, Germany.

"Fishing in Mangrove Forest," taken by Vietnamese photographer Trung Pham Huy, won in the People category. It portrays a fisherman who begins his working day in the mangrove forest of the Tam Giang lagoon, in a white winter atmosphere.

A runner up in the People category was taken by Alexandr Vlassyuk in Kazakhstan, a shot of people lying on the ice in the Kapchagai reservoir.

This shot by Chinese photographer Wujiang Zhu captured in a flower garden in Dafeng Jiangsu was a runner-up in the Wedding category

The image that portrays many small tributaries, shot by the Romanian photographer Gheorghe Popa won first place in the Abstract category. The photo documents water channels in the mountains of Transylvania.

See all the winners and runners-up in the gallery of Drone Awards 202 on their website.

The images will be featured in an exhibition which will run in the Italian city of Siena from October 23 to December 5 as part of the Siena Awards festival dedicated to the visual arts.

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