Jim Picot of Blue Bay has won Photo of the Year, and two others Commended, in the international Drone Photo Awards 2020.
Drone Awards is a worldwide competition for aerial photography and video shot from all manner of platforms including fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles, balloons, blimps and dirigibles, rockets, kites, parachutes and, of course, drones.
It’s a project of the Siena International Photo Awards, and Picot’s work will be exhibited in November in Siena, Italy, alongside the Siena Awards Festival.
“I was absolutely astonished to win Photo of the Year, with so many other equally deserving images in the mix,” Picot said.
“There were hundreds of entries from photographers in 126 countries, and I was thinking it would be nice to win a category, but to win the whole overall thing, it’s just mind-boggling.
“It’s the first time I’ve entered this award and to also get 2 Commended, is a great honour.
Picot’s Photo of the Year, called Love Heart of Nature, was shot in waters off Avoca Beach and shows a shark inside a school of salmon when, chasing the baitfish, the shape became a heart.
His Sunrise Surfing picture was Commended in the Sport category, as well as The Snake, which shows a swirling white wake left by a boat.
Picot’s landscape photography has taken him all over the world and to many locations throughout Australia, yet he still believes the Central Coast “has it all”.
“The drone really opens up a whole new world in photography, it helps you see things from a whole new perspective,” Picot said.
Sue Murray