Thousands of protesters rendered as collective force from above
Desde las alturas, un fotógrafo israelí ha capturado algo que el suelo no podía mostrar: la masa humana convertida en símbolo. Or Adar ganó el Drone Photo Awards 2023 con 'Must Resist', una imagen aérea de miles de manifestantes en Tel Aviv parcialmente ocultos tras tres enormes pancartas de protesta. El premio, celebrado en el marco del festival visual de Siena, reconoce no solo la destreza técnica, sino la capacidad de la fotografía aérea para transformar el instante político en documento universal.
- Entre miles de imágenes enviadas desde todos los rincones del mundo —volcanes activos, icebergs colosales, elefantes dormidos—, una sola fotografía de Tel Aviv se impuso como la más poderosa del año.
- La imagen de Adar no muestra rostros: muestra una fuerza colectiva, miles de cuerpos que la perspectiva aérea convierte en marea, con tres pancartas que ocultan y al mismo tiempo amplifican el mensaje.
- El premio de 500.000 euros en equipamiento fotográfico subraya la ambición del certamen y la seriedad con que la fotografía con dron es hoy tratada como disciplina artística legítima.
- La tecnología de drones ha democratizado una perspectiva antes reservada a pilotos y producciones de alto presupuesto, abriendo nuevos horizontes para el fotoperiodismo, la documentación ambiental y la expresión artística.
- Las obras ganadoras serán exhibidas en la Abadía de San Galgano en Siena del 30 de septiembre al 19 de noviembre, bajo el título 'Sobre nosotros solo el cielo', donde el peso histórico del recinto medieval dialogará con la contemporaneidad de las imágenes.
El fotógrafo israelí Or Adar se ha alzado con el primer premio del Drone Photo Awards 2023, la competición internacional de fotografía aérea más prestigiosa del mundo, con una imagen titulada 'Must Resist'. La fotografía muestra a miles de manifestantes reunidos en Tel Aviv, sus siluetas parcialmente ocultas tras tres enormes pancartas de protesta. Captada desde las alturas, la escena transforma a los individuos en una fuerza colectiva, y las pancartas —a la vez obstáculo visual y ancla temática— amplifican el peso del mensaje que portan. Por esta imagen, Adar recibe 500.000 euros destinados a equipamiento fotográfico.
El Drone Photo Awards forma parte del festival de artes visuales de Siena y recibe cada año miles de propuestas de fotógrafos de todo el mundo. Las imágenes finalistas de esta edición abarcan una diversidad notable: volcanes en erupción, icebergs monumentales, animales en reposo y escenas de movilización ciudadana. La selección de la obra de Adar como gran ganadora refleja un reconocimiento creciente de que la fotografía aérea no es solo un alarde técnico, sino un medio capaz de documentar la experiencia humana con una perspectiva inédita.
La democratización del dron como herramienta ha puesto al alcance de muchos fotógrafos un punto de vista antes reservado a costosas producciones aéreas, transformando el fotoperiodismo y la expresión artística. Las obras premiadas en las nueve categorías del certamen podrán verse en la Abadía de San Galgano, en Siena, del 30 de septiembre al 19 de noviembre, en una exposición titulada 'Sobre nosotros solo el cielo'. El entorno medieval de la abadía ofrecerá un contrapunto singular a estas imágenes que hablan, desde las alturas, del mundo contemporáneo.
Or Adar, an Israeli photographer, has won the 2023 Drone Photo Awards, the world's premier competition for aerial photography, with an image titled 'Must Resist.' The photograph captures thousands of protesters in Tel Aviv, their forms partially concealed behind three towering protest banners. For this single frame, Adar receives 500,000 euros to invest in photographic equipment—a substantial prize that underscores the caliber of work the competition attracts.
The Drone Photo Awards operate within the larger Siena Awards, an international visual arts festival held in Italy. The competition draws thousands of submissions from photographers across the globe, each year selecting images that demonstrate technical mastery, compositional strength, and the unique perspective that only aerial vantage points can provide. This year's entries showcase the range of subjects that drone photography has made accessible: active volcanoes, massive icebergs, sleeping elephants, and scenes of human gathering and dissent.
Adar's winning image stands out not for technical virtuosity alone, though the composition is precise. The photograph captures a moment of civic engagement—a mass gathering in one of the Middle East's most politically charged cities—rendered from above in a way that transforms individual protesters into a collective force. The three banners function as both visual obstruction and thematic anchor, their scale emphasizing the weight of whatever message they carry. The image works on multiple registers: as a technical achievement, as a document of a specific moment, and as a statement about resistance itself.
The selection of Adar's work as the grand prize winner from thousands of international entries reflects a shift in how photography competitions value subject matter alongside craft. Aerial photography has evolved from a novelty enabled by drone technology into a legitimate artistic medium, one that can capture human experience and natural phenomena with a perspective previously available only to aircraft pilots or those with access to expensive helicopter shoots. The democratization of this viewpoint through consumer drone technology has opened new possibilities for photojournalism, environmental documentation, and artistic expression.
The winning photograph, along with the category winners from nine separate divisions within the competition, will be exhibited at the Abbey of San Galgano in Siena beginning September 30 and running through November 19. The exhibition, titled 'Sobre nosotros solo el cielo'—'Only Sky Above Us'—will present these works in a setting that itself carries historical weight, a medieval abbey providing context for contemporary visual documentation. For photographers and those interested in how technology reshapes artistic practice, the exhibition will offer a window into what the aerial perspective reveals about our world.
Notable Quotes
The photograph captures thousands of Tel Aviv protesters partially concealed behind three towering protest banners— Image description, Drone Photo Awards 2023
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
What made this particular image stand out among thousands of submissions?
It's the intersection of technical clarity and political weight. You see thousands of people from above, but they're not reduced to abstraction—the banners anchor the image to a specific moment of protest, a specific place. That's harder to achieve than it sounds.
Why does the aerial perspective matter here? Couldn't a ground-level photograph of the same protest be equally powerful?
Different power entirely. From the ground, you see faces, individual stories, the texture of the crowd. From above, you see the scale of it—the sheer number of bodies gathered in one place. It's a statement about collective action that only works from that distance.
The prize is substantial—half a million euros. What does that signal about how the photography world values this kind of work?
It signals that drone photography has moved beyond novelty into serious artistic territory. The competition receives thousands of entries globally. They're not rewarding a gimmick; they're rewarding an image that uses a relatively new tool to say something that matters.
The exhibition title—'Only Sky Above Us'—seems to carry its own weight.
It does. It suggests vulnerability, exposure, the feeling of being watched or witnessed. For an image of protest, that resonates. The sky is the only thing above them—no shelter, no cover, just the act of gathering itself.