SkyPixel and DJI launch annual aerial photography contest
Celebrating the art of aerial photography
October 27, 2016 – When Kirk Hille took a photo of his fiancé struggling to cope with surging waves in the water, he knew he had an incredible photo with the perfect composition of half white wash and half crystal-clear blue water. But framing the image required an aerial perspective, something made far easier with his DJI drone.
"I really love how aerial photography complete changes your perspective on the world around us and gives us a total different view on the world," Hille wrote in his submission to SkyPixel's 2015 Photo Contest. The Australian's photo went on to win last year's grand prize, chosen from more than 11,000 photos submitted from 140 countries worldwide.
Now, SkyPixel is seeking its next Kirk Hille, calling for all creators to enter its 2016 annual aerial photography contest in conjunction with DJI, the global leading manufacturer in aerial-imaging technology.
The contest, which runs from Oct. 26 to Dec. 30, is open to all entrants and features both "enthusiast" and "professional" groups to which users can submit their photos. Entrants will choose between the categories of "beauty", encompassing natural landscape and urban architecture and "360-degree aerial panorama," which showcases immersive 360-degree views from above, aided by Virtual Reality (VR). Photos can be taken with any aerial equipment. A final category, "Drones In Use," features photos taken from any device of drones in flight.
This year's Grand Prize will be a DJI Mystery Box, a DJI Mavic Pro, Epson Moverio BT-300 smart glasses and Epson SureColor P400 Wide Format Photo Printer and an Adobe Creative Cloud Photography membership (1-year). Other prizes include the DJI Osmo+ and DJI Osmo Mobile.
SkyPixel will also award a so-called Popular Prize to the top-10 most-popular photographs at the end of the submission period. Winners will receive a copy of “Above the World: Earth Through a Drone’s Eye,” a book from DJI celebrating its 10th year anniversary and drawing from photos submitted to SkyPixel, an Insta360 Nano and a Ctrip coupon worth USD 290.
This year's contest is sponsored by DJI, Epson, Adobe and Insta360 and is in partnership with Fstoppers.
The judging panel includes a select jury of renowned photographers and camera brand ambassadors.
- Mike Kelley: a renowned architectural and real-estate photographer and regular contributor to Fstoppers;
- Koji Ueda: a Hasselblad ambassador and instructor at NIKON College and Panasonic LUMIX Photo School;
- Wang Jianjun: a famous Chinese contemporary landscape photographer and winner of the China Golden Photography Award;
- Liu Kuanxin: a well known aerial photographer, the Director of China Photographers’ Association, and winner of the China Golden Photography Award;
- Ilhan Eroglu: a Sony Alpha brand ambassador, whose works have been featured in Digital Photography Magazine
- Christina Tan: a Travel + Leisure Magazine social ambassador and drone enthusiast who works closely with hotel brands and tourism boards worldwide to create engaging travel content.
Contest details
Submissions Start: October 26th, 2016 2:00PM CST
Submissions End: December 30th, 2016 1:59PM CST
Award Announcements: January 20th, 2017 (Times correspond to China Standard Time CST)
To enter the contest, visit www.skypixel.com/events/photocontest2016
