My 5 Favourite Drone Photographs Of 2024

After my first year-in-review blog about my favourite 5 camera photographs of 2024, it is time for that other “camera” I use: my drone. In this blog, I go over my favourite drone shots of this year.

Introduction

It’s that time of year again! Another year has passed and that means it’s time for my yearly overviews. It is safe to say that 2024 has again been an amazing year for my photography. I started out the year wondering how it could possibly become more exciting than the year before and somehow it does. Thinking back to this year, it feels fulfilling and fills me with gratitude.

This year has been the busiest in my photography career, possibly even in my entire life. I visited two new continents where I explored Patagonia & Antarctica, two of my bucket lists locations. I have also never guided as many photo workshops as I did this year & got to meet incredible people along the way. My work at the series of eruptions at Sundhnúksgígar in Iceland was published multiple times in international media, I helped produce a documentary, my photography received international recognition, and I developed a 12+ hour video course with a good friend. It feels like I have been going non-stop until this well-needed Christmas break.

Just like last year, I am publishing 3 different blogs: one about my favourite camera shots of the year, this one about my favourite drone shots of the year and, finally, my classic ‘Year in Review’ blog.

Disclaimer: This article is not sponsored in any way. However, when you make a purchase using the link in this article, I may earn a small commission.

My Five Favourite Drone Photographs Of 2024

Let’s continue my yearly overview with my 5 favourite drone shots! In 2024, I continued using my DJI Mavic 3 Pro with pleasure and it will probably remain to be my trusty weapon-of-choice until a significantly better drone comes along.

This year, I have used my drone much more than I have ever done in the past. One of the reasons for that, is the Drone Photography Masterclass I have been working on. It made it even harder this time to stick to a top 5 list. And as you will be able to tell, I may or may not have included many more images than five… I have been really happy with what I managed to capture with my drone this year and, to me, many photographs stood out.

1. The Moody Icelandic Highlands

The weather conditions this year have been incredibly challenging for photography. During the summer, we had quite rough weather with often poor visibility. This required me to often adjust the photo workshops I guided to fit the conditions. Sometimes, against what you’d normally expect, such weather can also be very interesting in the right locations. These two images were captured on such a day, when rain and low clouds came and went every 5 minutes. On this day, I flew in rainstorms and dense fog, looking for interesting compositions.

This image also got rewarded in the Belgian Photo Awards as well as selected for the World Photographic Cup.

2. A Galaxy of Ice

During the most incredible adventure in East Greenland, I didn’t just use my camera but also often used my drone. On one morning, we were flying around our sailboat with our drones. After getting a few shots of the sailboat moving through ice, I decided to fly back to a previous location. To my amazement, I found this incredible spiral of slush ice. It was only there very briefly before completely vanishing again.

The first image was awarded the Snow & Ice award in the International Landscape Photographer Of The Year 2024 awards.

3. Revisiting A Shot From Winter

This photograph is one I have been thinking about for a long time. I first visited this location with a drone during winter, where my goal was to capture the same composition with the setting sun in the distance. However, I didn’t really feel like it fitted the mood of the scenery. By accident, because of changed plans during a Highlands workshop, I ended up in this location with much moodier weather. On my final flight, I noticed a cloud rolling down the glacier so I flew back, began scaling the glacier and as I found the ideal position, the cloud moved into the perfect position for my composition.

4. A Challenging Sandstorm

On my first photo workshop in the Highlands this year, we encountered a massive sandstorm near Mælifell, a green cone-shaped mountain. The conditions were incredibly challenging, with a wall of sand blocking our path to progress further. I decided to try and fly my drone, which somewhat succeeded. I managed to fly high enough, against the strong winds, over a dune so I could get a good view of what was unfolding in the rest of the desert.

5. An Overturning Lava Lake

This year I spent a lot of my time documenting the eruptions taking place at Sundhnúkagígar near Grindavík. On one occasion, I was there for a whole day recording footage for a news broadcast. As I flew out to the erupting crater, suddenly the lava lake south of the crater began overturning. The solidified top layer began flipping over as I managed to capture this frame. It was a tricky shot to get due to the movement of the lava but by carefully picking how I organised my vertical panorama, it all worked out well.

6. Visiting The United Kingdom

Finally, I couldn’t not mention my first proper visit to the UK where I recorded a large portion of the Drone Photography Masterclass together with my friend Nigel Danson. Because I was there with the main goal of making drone photographs, it was interesting for me to see what I could come up with in an unfamiliar setting. The environments to photograph there are very different from what I am used to as I usually avoid human structures in my images. I ended up being very happy with these two shots.

What’s Next?

After my favourite drone shots of 2024, it’s soon time for the final blog: my ‘normal’ Year in Review. Stay tuned!