These were the winners of an inaugural international drone photography competition held by DJI.
The creative use of drone photography is truly astounding.
Launched in 2017, the Da-Jiang Innovations (DJI) Drone Photography Award called for project ideas that made creative use of drone technology to explore new possibilities in photography.
In capturing subjects impossible to view on foot, the idea was that the drone-shot work open the eyes of the audience and make them consider the world from alternative perspectives.
The winners of the inaugural award, Markel Redondo and Tom Hegen, were each provided with a DJI Phantom 4 Pro drone and the financing to realize future projects, among other prizes.
The Salt Series, a project by Hegen, documents salt production across Europe. With the use of a drone, Hegen was able to y above some of the continent’s largest salt production sites and reveal the intricate process that many take for granted.
“The production of sea salt is one of the oldest forms of human intervention in natural spaces,” he said. “But we rarely ask where it actually comes from and how it is being produced.”
Markel Redondo returned to a project he had begun in 2010. In Sand Castles (part II) he documents a handful of the estimated 3.4 million government houses that stand empty and deserted throughout Spain. According to Markel, the developments were built in a “dizzying rush to make the most of cheap loans and favorable government regulations.”
