Shipbreaking Tanker Wins 2026 Siena Drone Photo Award

George Steinmetz won the top prize at the 2026 Siena Drone Photo Awards for a photograph of a ship being dismantled on the mudflats off Bangladesh. The image, titled "Shipbreaking on the mudflats, Bay of Bengal," shows a large liquid natural gas tanker that resembles a spacecraft settled on a golden beach. Steinmetz captured the scene north of Chattogram, a 13-mile coastal strip where vessels nearing the end of their lives are broken down for reuse.

Steinmetz, a geophysics graduate from Stanford, has long studied the relationship between human populations and the environment. He described the shipbreaking industry as an extraordinary example of recycling on a vast scale. However, he noted that shipyard owners are often wary of photographers. Local photographers initially warned him that securing access might be nearly impossible, but he eventually convinced the tanker’s owner to allow the shoot.

The timing of the photo was critical for its composition. Steinmetz waited for low tide to expose the surrounding mudflats and reveal workers moving around the massive hull. He spent several days photographing the vessel as tides shifted and workers used winches and boats to pull scrap metal ashore. He wanted the workers to appear like ants to convey the mammoth scale of the ship.

Other winners in the 2026 awards focused on landscapes and livelihoods in the Global South. Dilek Yurdakul won first place in the People section for a photo of carpet fields in southern Türkiye. She traveled six hours from Ankara to the Döşemealtı district of Antalya to document the traditional process of fading handmade rugs under the Mediterranean sun. Yurdakul described the aerial view as a visual metaphor for the invisibility of labor in many societies.

In the Nature category, Colas Decloitre received a high commendation for a photo of Tumpak Sewu waterfall in East Java, Indonesia. The image captures the horseshoe-shaped waterfall at sunrise with Mount Semeru erupting in the background. Decloitre said a drone was the only way to align the waterfall and the active volcano in a single frame. Isabella Tabacchi also earned commendations for two photos: one of a volcanic cone in the Argentine Puna and another of geological patterns in Mangystau, Kazakhstan.

Holly Kirkland’s photo "What Lies Beneath" was another highly commended entry in the Nature category. The image shows lesser flamingos flying over Lake Natron near the Tanzania-Kenya border. Kirkland, a former kindergarten teacher from Delaware, took the shot from a helicopter using a Sony A1 Mark II camera. The photo highlights the soda lakes of the Rift Valley, where high concentrations of dissolved sodium carbonate allow flamingos to thrive despite the caustic waters.

The Siena Drone Photo Awards recognize bird's-eye views that reveal landscapes and human stories often invisible from the ground. This year’s selections emphasized the diverse environments of the Global South, from industrial coastlines to remote volcanic plateaus. Steinmetz continues to use drones to explore how aerial perspectives can uncover stories that remain hidden at ground level.