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These 16 Splendid Aerial Views Capture Wildlife From Above, Revealing the Beauty and Mystery of Nature

The second International Aerial Photographer of the Year contest selected its winners and 101 top images. Here’s a selection of the photos that spotlight animals from a new perspective

A polar bear puts one paw on an iceberg and looks up, making eye contact with the camera
A polar bear puts one paw on an iceberg and looks up, making eye contact with the camera

Gripping onto the edge of an iceberg in East Greenland, a polar bear looks out across the sea ice and sniffs the air. “The scene reflects a landscape that never stays still, where ice fractures, drifts and reforms around it,” photographer Rhiannon Lawler of the United Kingdom writes in a caption. Lawler captured the photo with a drone, keeping a safe distance from the animal.

Rhiannon Lawler / The 2nd International Aerial Photographer of the Year

These 16 Splendid Aerial Views Capture Wildlife From Above, Revealing the Beauty and Mystery of Nature

The second International Aerial Photographer of the Year contest selected its winners and 101 top images. Here’s a selection of the photos that spotlight animals from a new perspective

A polar bear puts one paw on an iceberg and looks up, making eye contact with the camera
Gripping onto the edge of an iceberg in East Greenland, a polar bear looks out across the sea ice and sniffs the air. “The scene reflects a landscape that never stays still, where ice fractures, drifts and reforms around it,” photographer Rhiannon Lawler of the United Kingdom writes in a caption. Lawler captured the photo with a drone, keeping a safe distance from the animal. Rhiannon Lawler / The 2nd International Aerial Photographer of the Year

To take in the landscape and all its components, some photographers go to great heights—literally. Shooting from airplanes, helicopters, hot air balloons and drones, these visual artists can take a familiar scene and make it look like something new.

More than ten years ago, photographers David Evans and Peter Eastway started noticing breathtaking aerial imagery showing up in photography competitions. “The aerials were very popular with the judges, and many of us expected their ‘surprise value’ would diminish over time,” Eastway writes in a statement. “But we were wrong.”

That’s why the duo started the International Aerial Photographer of the Year competition in 2025, after having successfully run the International Landscape Photographer of the Year awards together since 2014.

Entrants from around the world submitted nearly 1,600 photographs to this year’s contest, the second annual competition, and a panel of three judges gave each one a score. The top 101 images are now compiled in an e-book.

This year’s overall winner is Azim Khan Ronnie of Bangladesh, who has spent 19 years as a broadcast journalist and 11 as a professional photographer. Currently a resident of France, the photographer has traveled widely for his work, with his winning portfolio entries spanning Bangladesh, Switzerland and India.

a small rowboat sits in water among hundreds of birds
Siberian gulls congregate around a boat in Yamuna Ghat in Delhi, India. Azim Khan Ronnie / The 2nd International Aerial Photographer of the Year

“From above, everyday scenes reveal patterns, geometry, textures and relationships that are often invisible from the ground,” the photographer says in a statement. “Aerial photography allows me to tell stories about people, nature and the environment from a perspective that inspires curiosity and offers a deeper understanding of the world.”

When setting up a shot, he looks for beauty and a strong photo composition, but he also keeps an eye out for emotional impact. “I want viewers to pause, explore the details and connect with the story behind the image,” he adds.

a circular lake reflects clouds and sky as a bird stands within it
A bird stands in a lake, surrounded by red grass, that’s reflecting the sky outside Dongtai in China’s Zhejiang Province. Vitaly Golovatyuk / The 2nd International Aerial Photographer of the Year

Vitaly Golovatyuk of Russia won first place in the single image category, taking home the award with a photograph of a bird in a lake that clearly reflects the sky. Golovatyuk, who has spent 11 years doing aerial imaging, captured the winning picture in November 2025 at Elk Park in Zhejiang Province, China.

“After several days exploring the area during sunrise and sunset, I photographed this bird on a tiny lake surrounded by red grass,” Golovatyuk says in a statement. “The clarity of the sky’s reflection creates a striking illusion, as if the bird is suspended weightlessly in the air.”

The contest accepts a wide range of photos, leaving the subject of aerial imagery open to interpretation. According to the competition’s website, the team is “just as happy” with a photograph taken from a tall building as they are with one taken from a helicopter. “Some are hardly edited; others are deliberately manipulated. It’s not for us to define what aerial photography is; we leave that to our entrants and our judges,” Eastway writes in a statement. “The only rules we have is that all entries must be created by a real person, and no A.I. that generates new content is permitted.”

Below is a selection of the contest’s top images capturing rare and stunning views of animals.

a hoofed creature with horns walks through sand, leaving footprints on the side of a dune that is shaded, moving toward the bright sunlit side
Amid a desert landscape, where the setting sun brings golden hues to the sand and dramatic shadows, a lone oryx climbs a dune. Photographer Zhengze Xu of China captured this shot from a helicopter flying above Namibia’s Namib Desert. Zhengze Xu / The 2nd International Aerial Photographer of the Year
a giant mess of kelp looks like a large, hairy animal compared to two small black and white dolphins swimming to its right
A pair of Commerson’s dolphins look small compared to a giant kelp in the Falkland Islands in this image by Koki Shinoda of Japan. The animals are also referred to as skunk dolphins or panda dolphins for their distinctive black-and-white coloration. Koki Shinoda / The 2nd International Aerial Photographer of the Year
a flock of dozens of flamingoes flies over dark water, with one spot illuminated in a shimmering white-blue-green
Cédric Tamani of Switzerland spotted this flock of flamingos passing above Lake Magadi, Kenya. The sun and clouds are reflected in the water. Cedric Tamani / The 2nd International Aerial Photographer of the Year
a white horse lies on the ground on its side, rolling in the dirt and spotlighted against the outer part of the photo
Dust rises around a tumbling horse, rolling on its back in northeastern Italy. Fabio Pappalettera watched the rolling creature and “froze this epic moment forever,” as the Italian photographer writes in a caption. Fabio Pappalettera / The 2nd International Aerial Photographer of the Year
an overhead view of reindeer spiraling in a circle, guided by Indigenous Sámi people
More than 2,000 reindeer migrate seasonally in Finnmark, northern Norway, guided by both instinct and Indigenous Sámi herders. They move between inland areas and their calving grounds along the coast. Captured from this uncommon perspective, “a migration becomes a living heartbeat,” photographer Michiko Kimura of Australia writes in a caption. “This seasonal movement reflects a rhythm older than borders, where survival and culture move as one.” Michiko Kimura / The 2nd International Aerial Photographer of the Year
a pod of dolphins swims in gray water, some at the surface and others just visible below
A pod of dolphins swims off the coast of Rockingham, Washington. At the surface, six individuals can be seen in full definition, but below them are the silhouettes of even more dolphins. Those deeper animals “resemble ghosts, faint echoes of an older lineage,” photographer Dylan De Haas writes in a caption. “Past and present seem to merge, hinting at the long evolutionary path that shaped these animals into what they are today.” Dylan De Haas / The 2nd International Aerial Photographer of the Year
against a white backdrop that looks like crashing ocean waves, an eagle soars
Photographer Yihsun Chou of Taiwan captured this overhead view of a wedge-tailed eagle soaring over a salt lake. The species is Australia’s largest eagle, and it can also be found in southern New Guinea’s lowlands. Its wingspan can be more than seven feet long. Yihsun Chou / The 2nd International Aerial Photographer of the Year
seals lie on ice on either side of a cone-shaped crack revealing the lake water below
On either side of a narrow crack in a frozen Icelandic lake’s surface, seals rest, hauled out on the ice. Photographer Marco Di Marco of Iceland captured this image. Marco Di Marco / The 2nd International Aerial Photographer of the Year
a flock of flamingos flies toward the top of the frame above a pink lake, making a solid background
Flamingoes fly above a pink salt lake in Camargue, France, the water colored by microscopic organisms and algae, photographed by Magali Chesnel. Magali Chesnel / The 2nd International Aerial Photographer of the Year
a shark swims behind a green sea turtle, its jaw around the back of the reptile
In a rarely seen form of predation, a tiger shark grips a green sea turtle in its jaws. Photographer Dylan De Haas captured the moment in Western Australia’s Ningaloo Reef with a shot “exposing the raw tension and ecological reality that sustains ocean balance,” the photographer writes in a caption. Dylan De Haas / The 2nd International Aerial Photographer of the Year
a small group of elephants walks in a line away from the camera during golden hour
Not all aerial shots are captured by drone or helicopter; American photographer Sapna Reddy snapped this view from a hot air balloon. The herd of elephants was ambling across the Serengeti, looking for a morning meal. Sapna Reddy / The 2nd International Aerial Photographer of the Year
a mother and calf right whale in blue-green waters
In the winter, Neil Vincent of Australia commonly sees humpback whales near his home, but these southern right whales were a much rarer sight. The mother and calf rested in shallow waters near New South Wales’ Budgewoi Beach for hours. Neil Vincent / The 2nd International Aerial Photographer of the Year
a herd of horses rushes toward the top of the frame, shrouded in dust, with one person on a horse at the back
Running across a dusky plateau at sunset, these Yilki horses “embody resilience and tradition,” American photographer Kah-Wai Lin writes in a caption, “moving like a river of fire beneath the fading Anatolian sky.” The horses have been domesticated in this region of Turkey for more than 1,000 years. Kah-Wai Lin / The 2nd International Aerial Photographer of the Year

Carlyn Kranking is Smithsonian magazine's associate web editor for science.

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