By Dean Murray
The Siena Drone Photo Awards 2025 winners have been announced.
The event showcases the impressive work of aerial photographers around the world.
The international jury chose German photographer Dennis Schmelz as the overall winner in 2025 with The Lone Horseman, made in Cappadocia: a lone rider immortalized on a rocky outcrop during the blue hour, in an image that blends beauty, mystery, and a unique perspective on an iconic landscape of Turkey.
Dennis Schmelz said, “I took this photo in Cappadocia while searching for new angles, which can be quite a challenge in a place where every corner seems to have been photographed already.
“During a sunset shoot with a horseman, I discovered this perspective with my drone. It creates the illusion that he’s standing on a plateau, when in reality it’s just the angle that makes it look this way.
“This shot feels truly rare, a fresh view from a spot that’s usually crowded and over-photographed.”
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Other highlights include cownose rays dividing a school of menhaden fish and an atmospheric wedding picture taken on the Isle of Skye during a cloud inversion.
The organizers said: “Drone Photo Awards 2025 is the award that celebrates aerial photography as a language capable of transforming the world seen from above into images of great impact and suggestion.”
