2026 Aerial Photographs of the Year
One of the photography websites I sometimes visit (I forget which one now 😁 ) had a piece while back showing their picks for the Aerial Photographs of the Year. They had something like 16 of them, but here I’m going to narrow it down to the nine, and rank them in order of my choice - from my #9, to my #1. (No, not my top ten. I had to leave space for my obligatory click-bait, play on words, bewbie shot! Plus that other shot didn’t really make sense to me. See the first comment if you’re curious.)My #9 Choice-"Birdie in the Sky“-Credit: Vitaly Golovatyuk The photographer wrote: “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.”My #8 Choice-"Steam Eruption"-Credit: Jeroen Van Nieuwenhove The photographer wrote: “An active volcanic crater in Iceland is erupting while engulfed by steam caused by a sudden torrential rainfall.”My #7 Choice-"Family Outing"-Credit: Sapna Reddy The photographer wrote: “At dawn a herd of elephants sets out in search of breakfast in the Serengeti. This shot was taken while flying in a hot air balloon over the herd.”My #6 Choice-"Grand Prismatic Spring"-Credit: Wayne Montag The photographer wrote: “Recently my wife and I found an aviation company in the Yellowstone area willing to fly us over Grand Prismatic Spring in their Cessna 172. It was quite a challenge to photograph from the plane, but well worth the effort. A photo from my bucket list!”My #5 Choice-"Complete Rainbow"-Credit: Paolo Lazzarotti The photographer wrote: “While shooting the amazing seas off the north eastern coast of Sardinia I was suddenly caught in a rainshower at sunset and magic happened in front my disbelieving eyes!”My #4 Choice-"Southern Right Whale"-Credit: Neil Vincent The photographer wrote: “Humpback whales commonly travel past where I live, during winter but rarely do I see Southern Right Whales. This mother and calf came in close to Budgewoi Beach, NSW and rested in the shallows just behind the surf break for half of the day.”My #3 Choice-"Oryx Walking On Dune"-Credit: Zhengze Xu The photographer wrote: “Taken from a helicopter in the Namib Desert, Namibia. It was late afternoon and sunset was beautiful, illuminating dunes with golden colour and amazing shadow lines. This single oryx was walking on the dunes with its shadow and footprints.”
My comment: Photographers are frequently cautioned not to track up the snow or sand when out photographing in such conditions. But here, with the animal doing it, it makes for an interesting shot.My #2 Choice-"Circle Of Life” The photographer wrote: “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.”
My comment: Quite a dramatic shot, and the sites #1 pick. I could not find any credit for this shot in the article. Given the similarity to “Southern Right Whale", I have to believe it is another from Neil Vincent.My #1 Choice-"Golden Gate Framed"-Credit: Marcin Zajac The Golden Gate Bridge framed by its own iconic steel and suspension cables, overlooking the San Francisco Bay at dawn.
My comment: WOW! A dramatic shot made even better with the framing.
What is you favorite image and why?
The photos were all complete and correctly placed when I posted this. Sorry if the site F’s them up.
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13 comments
Great photos. I like photos #2, #3, #5, #7 and #8, though photo #1 is my favourite.
I understand! 😀
The Prismatic Spring is my fav! I love the colors!!
Hugs!!
It surely is colorful. Hard to believe those colors come from bacteria living in scalding hot water. 😮
Poor turtle.
I like the volcano and I am hoping to do a balloon ride in the Serengeti (although I think that photographer got lucky - feedback from my online travel friends is that often no animals are seen, but it’s still a beautiful ride).
Planning can lead to a good outcome, but luck leads to the greatest ones.
I like them all but #9 really got my attention. It has an optical illusion quality to it. The oryx would be my second fave. I love the golden colors. I can totally understand why the bridge is your fave but I prefer nature scenes over man-made.
I was really learning towards the circle of life one, until I saw the Golden Gate Bridge one.
These are all great photos thank you for sharing them with us I especially liked the full complete rainbow how awesome is that.
I hope your Friday is a fantastic start to an even more exciting weekend.
That rainbow one was kind of cool for sure.
Thanks, hope you have a great weekend too.
Here is what would have been my #10 choice. "Dawn Net"-Credit: Chin Leong Teo
Here is what the website said the photographer wrote: Bali's rice terraces cascade down the hillsides in vivid green steps, shaped by centuries of careful irrigation. Four ladies with a dog work the fields in a line, moving steadily through the paddies as they tend the young rice plants.
This only marginally matches the image and makes no sense to me, so I didn’t include it in the main post.
@bustinout20202 I think the narration and the picture, are from the same series of shots that somehow got switched around.