Aerial View of Bangladesh Shipbreaking Takes Top Prize at 2026 Siena Drone Photo Awards
Photographer George Steinmetz has secured the overall winner title at the 2026 Siena Drone Photo Awards with a striking aerial image capturing Bangladesh’s massive shipbreaking operations along the Bay of Bengal. Steinmetz captured the image, titled “Shipbreaking on the mudflats, Bay of Bengal,” using a drone along a 13-mile coastal strip north of Chattogram. The photograph depicts a stranded liquefied natural gas tanker undergoing disassembly on the mudflats. The vessel, which resembles a spacecraft from above, is broken down by a crew of 60 men using blow torches and winches to harvest tons of steel and metal parts for resale overseas. Steinmetz surveyed the coastline to locate a ship at a unique stage of demolition. The dismantling process requires workers to wait for favorable tides before hauling heavy sections ashore using specialized boats and powerful winches. Aerial photography has evolved dramatically since Steinmetz’s earlier assignments. In 1996, National Geographic agreed to finance an aerial photography project around the Sahara, for which Steinmetz learned to fly a motorized paraglider. Modern drone technology has since reshaped the discipline, enabling imagery from vantage points that were previously difficult or cost-prohibitive to access.
Global Perspectives Captured From Above
Other notable entries in the competition highlighted diverse cultural landscapes and natural phenomena across the globe. Ankara-based documentary photographer and lawyer Dilek Yurdakul earned first place in the People category. Yurdakul traveled six hours in intense heat from Ankara to the Döşemealtı district of Antalya to document thousands of carpets and kilims laid across vast open fields. Viewed from the air, the traditional rugs form a giant patchwork pattern separated by subtle shadows between the colorful strips. Explaining her technical approach, Yurdakul noted: “I wanted to create an image that first attracts the viewer through its beauty but then invites them to look deeper, to discover the people, traditions and cultural memory behind it,”
In East Java, Indonesia, Boston-based photographer Colas Decloitre received a highly commended recognition in the Nature category. Decloitre deployed a drone at sunrise to frame a horseshoe-shaped waterfall alongside Mount Semeru. The aerial positioning enabled him to capture the active volcano during an unexpected eruption, showing glowing red lava and rising ash clouds framed directly behind the cascading water. Italy-based photographer Isabella Tabacchi also earned a commended placement in the Nature category for “The Last Ember,” an aerial shot depicting an iron-rich volcanic cone within the high-altitude desert plateau of the Argentine Puna.