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SkyPixel Chooses Best Aerial Imagery of 2015

UAO Staff
by UAO Staff
on Jan 07, 2016 No Comments

In conclusion of a two-month, global competition, SkyPixel – an aerial photography community run in cooperation with drone company DJI – has announced the top aerial and drone images of 2015.

The 2015 SkyPixel photo of the year went to “Surge,” a photograph of a lone swimmer, shot by Kirk Hille. SkyPixel’s judging panel selected his photo and other category winners from over 10,000 entries submitted from 146 countries.

For his winning entry, Hille will receive a DJI Inspire 1 RAW, a DJI Osmo, a one-year subscription to Adobe Cloud and a Zeiss VR One – prizes worth nearly $10,000, says DJI.

In addition to the grand prize, SkyPixel picked first-, second- and third-place selections in three different categories: “beauty,” “unique dronies” and “drones in use.” Professional and enthusiast entries were judged separately.

The SkyPixel competition also awarded prizes to photos designated as most popular, according to the number of “likes” they received on SkyPixel.

SkyPixel collaborated on the 2015 competition with Conde Nast Traveler, Adobe, Zeiss, Huawei and Lowepro. The judging panel included Pulitzer Prize-winning photographers Ken Geiger and Jahangir Razmi; nature, wildlife and landscape photographers Manish Mamtani, Sudhir Shivaram and Wang Jianjun; and Matt Waite, a journalism professor at University of Nebraska-Lincoln and founder of the university’s Drone Journalism Lab.

SkyPixel notes that it has also launched a revamped website. Version 2.0 of the site features an updated user interface, cleaner look and many new features, including aerial photography tips. The platform will support 360-degree photography with virtual reality later this year, says DJI.

All winning entries from the contest can be viewed here.

Thumbnail photo: “Hot Air Balloon,” taken by Glen Orsak, provided by SkyPixel

“Surge,” taken by Kirk Hille, provided by SkyPixel

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