The Best Dronies from Around the World

Drone Pilot Ruben Caser brings us this extremely creative take on the "dronie" shot.  Using his FPV drone, he takes off, and in what appears to be a continuous shot heads off to an old railway bridge.  There, standing on the bridge to catch the drone, is none other than our talented content creator!  Watch it, watch it again, and let us know if you understand how he did it!  The video was filmed in southeastern Australia at the Nimmons Bridge in Newtown, Victoria.  This video won the Dronie category at the 6th Annual NYCDFF.

In one of the more remarkable "dronies" we've seen on AirVuz, top content creator and pilot jesus_tr brings us this fantastic drone selfie shot from a giant "field" of rugs and carpets somewhere in Turkey.  Watch how he was able to position himself in the center of this rectangular array of hundreds of brilliant colored carpets.  The video brings out the essence of the drone selfie as an art form, where the pull-out provides a gradual "reveal" of the surroundings, all in a single and continuous shot.  This video earned a nomination in the Dronie category at the 6th Annual NYCDFF.

AirVuz contributor and pilot David.Haring shows how it's done with this fantastic dronie shot from an iconic spot in northern Norway.  The scene is the now-famous football field in Henningsvaer, a tiny village built on several small islands in the country's Lofoten Islands.  This once-obscure field was used by a major European football organization for a popular promotional video; it's since become one of the most well-recognized spots in Scandinavia.  This video earned a nomination in the Dronie category at the NYCDFF.

Dronies really are the perfect way to capture a moment. In the archetypal dronie shot, the view of the human subject gives way to a "reveal" of the (hopefully epic) shooting location.  It's a shot that literally was impossible before the advent of drones.  Pilot la.drones took this dronie while laying on a bridge that passes over the Caqueta River in Canon del Mandiyaco, located in the state of Cauca in southern Colombia. This video earned a nomination for the Dronie category at the 6th Annual NYCDFF.

After you watch this epic mountain dronie, you'll understand how it won first place in the Dronie Category for the first annual AirVūz Drone Video Awards!   Top contributor Wellington Rodriguez traveled up into the Bavarian Alps with a drone, and shot this stunning pullout shot capturing some of the most amazing rock formations you'll ever see.  Keep the title in mind as you watch it.  This was voted by viewers as the top pick in the Dronie category for the first annual AirVuz Drone Video Awards.

Set in the wine country of Italy's Tuscany region in the west-central part of the country, this dronie by contributor Druno is very unique for its epic "reveal". The video begins with a shot of the pilot sitting in a chair near a table.  Then it reveals his companion sitting on a couch pouring a glass of wine.  In one continuous shot, it flies out the window, providing a magnificent shot of the fabled Tuscan countryside.   This video was voted the winner in the Dronie category for the second annual Drone Video Awards. 

The subject of this Dronie by AirVūz contributor and drone pilot mrsimone7is the great Colosseum of Rome. Filmed during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown, this talented content creator was able to use his DJI Mavic 2 Pro to take one epic dronie from inside one of Italy's most iconic locations. One of the great landmarks of the Antiquity, the great open-air stadium was built in the first century AD and could hold up to 80k spectators. This video was chosen as a Drone Video of the Week nominee in October of 2020. 

Female pilot wrenee is known for her epic dronie locations - hence her nickname, "Queen of the Dronie". This video by the powerhouse pilot takes the cake with her smooth flying above the trees while she lies below on a thin bridge. Shot above the Tenorio Volcano National Park in the Central American nation of Costa Rica, this video is a wonderful example of how to take the perfect top-down dronie. "Rio Celeste, Costa Rica Dronie" was nominated as a Finalist in the Dronie category for the second annual AirVuz Drone Video Awards. 

Shooting from a tiny islet in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Western Norway, top contributor and drone pilot hopenorway casts his drone up into the air and gives it a big smile.  There are many ways to take a good dronie, but what makes this one baffling is that although he's surrounded by sea water, there's not one drop of water on his knickers. It's one of the reasons why this terrific video was nominated as a Finalist in the Dronies category for the second annual AirVuz Drone Video Awards. 

Shot on a DJI Phantom 4, chrisxgxc uses his skills and mighty imagination to bring us what a dronie would look like if the world was taken over by zombies. A master of visual effects, Chris says this is how he would break out of a horde of zombies - mapping his escape route with a drone!  Chris was a winner at the first annual Drone Video Awards with his classic "Cardboard Cadet"; he repeated the feat the following year when this video was chosen as the Winner in the Dronie category for the 2nd Annual Drone Video Awards.

Just wait until you see the dronie location amodst the Swiss Alps that kicks off this edit - it is epic! The rotating, top-down and flyaway shots that contributor Ultraprod takes of his "camp site" are great examples of how to showoff a singular subject in a very flattering and exciting way. When you finish this quick video you'll be left wondering, "how in the world did he get up there?"  Shot at Switzerland's Oldenhorn Mountain, this video was picked as a Drone Video of the Month Nominee in February, 2019.

Top contributor wrenee has a well earned reputation as the Queen of the Dronie.  Her AirVuz video portfolio consists of dozens of epic drone selfies shot from exotic places all over the world.  In this video wrenee and her drone, Furbie, collaborated to shoot a spectacular dronie on the Greek island of Milos outside of an abandoned sulphur mine.  Milos is the southwesternmost of the Cyclades islands, in the western Aegean Sea.  Among other distinctions, it was the home of the Venus de Milo statue before it was moved to Paris.  

The Besos, a husband-wife team known by their AirVuz profile as the Flip Flop Squad, has traveled the world during their four years of marriage, showing their destinations via dronies.  In this fantastic video, they've collected some of their best drone selfies from around the globe.  Watch this highly photogenic couple saying "hello" in their trademark style from locations ranging from a sailboat to the Sydney Harbor Bridge, from a beach in the Philippines to the famous Ayers Rock in the Australian Outback.  

You will need to watch this epic dronie by a top contributor to see what he did here.  Dronies, or drone selfies, are a fun and unique way to showcase your surroundings.  Top content creator and drone pilot Brent DeBleser did just that by showing off this amazing Norwegian "waterfall" with a truly unique (indeed, mind-blowing) dronie shot.  How long did you have to watch it before you figure out why the word "waterfall" appears in quotation marks?  This is a great example of how drones can change our perspective on the world around us.  

Easter Island is a territory of Chile which sits far out into the Pacific Ocean.  The UNESCO World Heritage site is known for approximately 100 stone statues which are believed to have been built by Polynesian settlers who came to the island beginning in the 12th century.  In this video, the Queen of the Dronie (and two-time Drone Video Award Finalist) Wrenee frames an epic selfie with five of these stone marvels in the background.  Since the 1990's, Easter Island has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

Contributor and Instagram phenom Dirka was one of the first drone pilots to gain a large following on Instagram; he currently has well over 200k fans.  He is a professional photographer and his drone videos reflect that background.  In this video, he sets up a group drone selfie flying backwards over the Columbia River Gorge in America's Pacific Northwest.  The  pull-out provides an epic view of the mighty canyon carved by one of North America's largest rivers, which divides the states of Oregon and Washington.

Top content creator and drone pilot Christian Cuvelier creates epic videos of the islands of the Indian Ocean as well as from Thailand.  His videos beautifully capture the look of these small bits of tropical paradise.  He also does a few drone selfie videos to mix things up.  In this video, he treats us to an incredible pull-away drone selfie shot with Christian and his son near Le Morne in the island nation of Mauritius.  Le Mourne is a peninsula off the southwestern tip of the main island in the western Indian Ocean, off the coast of Africa.  

Contributor Wrenee, aka the Queen of the Dronie, gives us her trademark pull-out shot from Disko Island off the western coast of Greenland.  Disko is the second-largest island of Greenland after the island of Greenland itself, the world's largest.  Disko, which is situated in Baffin Bay, is actually itself one of the world's 100 largest islands.  Disko has a population of about 1,000, making it the second most populated island of Greenland, which is governed as a semi-autonomous region of Denmark.

What could possibly be better than lounging at the beach in a bikini with a drone in hand? And let's just add that this is in Krabi, Thailand - one of the hottest beach destinations in Southeast Asia, how about now?  Get a sky-high view of the ultimate tropical relaxation destination with contributor wrenees, more familiarly known as the Queen of the Dronie. You’re going to wish you were there too!  Krabi is one of the primary Thailand beach regions; it sits on the eastern side of Phang Nga Bay.

Contributor and drone pilot Wrenee, aka the Queen of the Dronie, applied her trademark pull-out shot to a gigantic (and very much frozen) lake in eastern Russia.  Lake Baikal is situated in southern Siberia.  Formed by a giant rift valley, the long, narrow lake extends hundreds of km/mi northwards from its southern end near the border with Mongolia.  While it's surface area is not as large as some of North America's Great Lakes, its enormous depth makes it the world's largest freshwater lake by volume.

Top AirVuz contributor jesus_tr was a finalist for the Sixth Annual New York City Drone Film Festival for his dronie shot from over a "field" of rugs in a Turkish market.  The talented content creator strikes again with another incredible dronie video from Turkey, this one shot in the famous Cappadocia region.  Lying on a large plateau southeast of Ankara, Cappadocia is famous both for its "fairy tale" rock formations as well as for the balloons which take tourists over them.  Watch how his dronie incorporates both in a single shot.  

Contributor and pilot Elena Buenrostro has turned her passion for drones and aerial videography into a career; she's been featured in numerous high profile publications including the Washington Post and Fast Company.  In this video, she puts her DJI Mavic Pro 2 drone to work creating an look at the Caribbean island of Jamaica.  The video includes epic timelapse and asteroid mode shots, and a very creative dronie with her "Woman Who Drone" tagline etched into the famous white sands of this tropical Caribbean island.

Contributor and pilot Tyler Rooke used a DJI Phantom 3 drone to create this epic selfie from Namotu Island, one of the 300+ islands which make up the nation of Fiji in the South Pacific.  Namutu is situateed just a few km/miles to the west of Viti Levu, the main island of Fiji.  Namotu is the southernmost in a chain of tiny islands called the Mamanuca Islands.  It's known for having some of the best surfing beaches in Melanesia, as the southwestern part of the South Pacifc island region is commonly known.  

Contributor and drone-explorer extraordinaire brings us this epic pull-out shot taken on the longest river in southern Africa.  The Orange River sources from the Drakensberg mountains and runs most of its 2.2 km (1,4k mi.) course westwards through South Africa, serving as its northern border with Namibia before discharging into the South Atlantic Ocean.  It is considered one of South Africa's greatest natural resources, supplying vast amounts of irrigation and hydropower to the region's most populous country.

Check out this phenomenal dronie shot from top contributor Bbloss. It was shot from the Echo Park neighborhood, which lies just to the north of downtown Los Angeles.  The shot was taken facing south, towards the downtown skyline.  You don't see it, but if the shot had continued for another five seconds then you would have seen another Los Angeles landmark on your left: Dodger Stadium.  Home of the city's Major League Baseball team,  the stadium is located in Chavez Ravine, which is the next neighborhood to the east of Echo Park.  

Founder and CEO of Women Who Drone,  Elena Buenrostro is killing the dronie game with this flyout and reveal of the New York City skyline as well as its emerging satellite in Queens.  The first shot is from Brooklyn facing west, with Freedom Tower luring in the background and the massive Con Ed powerplant on the East River in the foreground.  The second reveal faces north to the Long Island City mini-skyline in Long Island City, a newer high-rise district which sprung up in recent years in the western end of Queens.

In this video, the top contributors and drone pilots Besos (aka the Flip Flop Squad) give us a bird's eye view of one of Australia's top beaches.  Whitehaven beach is on Whitsunday Island, the largest of a group of islands which lie off the coast of the state of Queensland.  They lie between Conway National Park on the mainland and the Great Barrier Reef.  Whitsunday Island was recently ranked #2 in a survey of the world's best beaches published by the Lonely Planet, and it regularly appears atop other "best beach" lists.  

Top content creator and drone pilot Wrenee, aka Queen of the Dronie, took this epic drone selfie shot off of Dead Horse Point, in southern Utah.  It's part of the Moab Canyon area in southeastern Utah.  This area has been a go-to shooting location for moviemakers for decades, due in part to its similarity to the Grand Canyon.  The spot where this video was taken was the filming location for the opening scene of Mission: Impossible 2 (1999) in which Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is seen scaling a giant rock face.  

This less-than-forty-second, 4K edit of the mountains in Switzerland may be short, but it is also memorable. Brought to us by accomplished pilot Ultraprod, it features an early evening/setting sun drone flight at the Haute Cime peak.  Haute Cime is the highest peak in the Dents du Midi mountain chain (masif) near Lake Geneva is known for its incredible views since there are no higher peaks within 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) of it. This video was a Drone Video of the Week nominee in May, 2019.

AirVuz' own tylerjmason created this beautiful dronie with his family on vacation at one of the most iconic spots in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States.  They were standing on Cannon Beach, which is part of a state park of the same name in the northwestern corner of the state and was visited by Lewis & Clark in their historic trip in 1805.  In a great "reveal" you'll see the emergence of Haystack Rock, a giant (72 meter, 235 ft.) sea stack which sits just a few yards offshore from the beach.

Check out this amazing dronie from atop one of the world's most famous rocks, compliments of contributor shkundas.  The Rock of Guatape (El Peñón de Guatapé) is what's known as an inselberg (isolated rock formation) in northwestern Colombia.  It rises 200 meters (about 650 ft.) from the base, and is stunningly prominent in the flat terrain in this part of the country.  The top of the rock wasn't scaled (at least officially) until the 1950's.  Now it is accesslble by a staircase which runs up one of its sides.  

Top contributor and pilot Zekedrone took this awesome dronie from the town of Guangueng, South Korea.  It's a coastal city situated in the Gangwon Province which covers the northeastern part of the country.  Located less than an hour's drive northeast of the city of Pyeonchang, Gangwon hosted the skating competitions for the 2018 Winter Olympic Games.   A nearby attraction is Jeongdongjin, a smaller town which is the famous throughout South Korea as a spot to watch the sun rise on New Year's Day.

Contributor and DVA winner druno created this epic selfie from one of the world's most famous beaches: Navagio Beach, on the Greek island of Zakynthos.  Situated on the southern side of this bit of paradise in the Ionian Sea, the cove was named as the #1 beach in the 2018 edition of Lonely Planet's World's Best Beaches survey.  Navagio Beach is sometimes called Shipwreck Cove in reference to its famous landmark: the wreck of the MV Panagiotis, which grounded here in 1980 under somewhat mysterious circumstances. 

Drone Video of the Week Winner el gringo rojo brings us this marvelous dronie shot from a well-known archaeological site in Colombia known as the Lost City (Ciudad Perdida).  Discovered only in 1972, it's located in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, an isolated mountain range (not connected to the Andes) in the northern part of the country.  The site consists of a series of mountain terraces, roads, and circular plazas.  It's believed to have been constructed around 800 AD, centuries before the more famous Machu Picchu site in Peru.

This twenty-second drone video has quite the reveal, one that you see within just a few seconds. The dronie, by pilot Fujiabra Films, has a familiar location - Mount Fuji. The active volcano is about 60 miles outside of Tokyo and, at 12,388 feet, it is the island country’s tallest peak. It has been a pilgrimage site for centuries and is considered one of Japan’s three sacred mountains. You may know the profile of the volcano from various works of art, specifically famous Japanese prints by Hokusai and Hiroshige. 

Known as the Queen of the Dronie, contributor and drone pilot Wrenee brings us this epic shot from a well known canyon in Iceland.  Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon was formed by glaciation; the Fjaðrá River, which runs through its bottom, did not actually create it.  Located in the southeastern part of the island, the canyon has a maximum depth of 100 meters (330 ft.) and is about two km (1.2 mi.) long. Easily accessible from Iceland's Ring Road, the canyon was (famously) used to film a wildly popular music video by Justin Bieber.  

Contributor Bbloss, who passed away tragically in 2019, developed a distinctive drone selfie shot which he called the "Bloss Out".  the shot involves a pullout with a steep ascent that keeps the subject center frame and fades into a reveal of a suitably epic background.  This video is his compilation of Bloss Outs from a trip to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2016, when the city hosted the Summer Olympics.  The locations featured include central Rio, Pipa Beach, Tibau do Sul, Conde, and Porto De Galinhas.  

If only drones had microphones...if they did, this is what the jungle of Bali would sound like. Bomastory_ recorded sounds he heard in Ubud, Bali, Indonesia and added them to this great reveal dronie. Part of a rainforest and surrounded by some of Bali's most famous landscapes and holy sites you can see and hear why it's becoming quite the tourist destination! Ubud is one of the main cities of interior Bali; situated in the south-central part of the island, one of the Lesser Sunda's in southern Indonesia.  

Top contributor Brent de Bleser created this jaw dropping drone video from a highly unusual rock formation in Western Norway.  Kjeragbolten is a suspended boulder on Kerag Mountain, near Forsand in Rogaland County.  It was created by a glacial deposit thousands of years ago.  Let's hope it stays there, because it's a long drop from here - almost 1,000 meters (a bit over 3k ft.) to the ground.  The rock is accessible by hiking and it is one of the more popular tourist destinations in Western Norway.  

AirVuz contributor Esteban Castle brings us this rather epic drone "selfie" from the Algarve region of southern Portugal.  What makes this video unique is his flight pattern, in which he backs up through one of the region's famous rock arches.  These formations, which generally lie just offshore of the cove-type beaches which are prevalent here, were created by the unique sedimentation and erosion patterns found on Algarve's coastline.  Formations like this are one of the reasons why Algarve's beaches are some of the most popular in Europe.

As the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak became a worldwide pandemic in early 2020, "Social Distancing" became the norm as hundreds of millions of people around the world were forced to isolate themselves to stop the spread of the disease.  During these dark times, solo dronies became a means for drone pilots to safely communicate with the rest of humanity and show their solidarity.  In this piece, top AirVuz contributor PilotViking and his canine friend show us his corner of the world in Western Norway.    

Now this is an incredible dronie location, brought to us by top AirVuz contributor and drone pilot iDrone Aerials. He’s taken us to the remote Svínafellsjökull, an outlet glacier of Vatnajökull, the largest ice cap in Europe. “Game of Thrones” fans may recognize it, as it was the main location for the scenes north of the wall in seasons two and three of the HBO hit TV show where the characters Jon Snow and Ygritte met. The lower parts of the glacier were also part of the frozen planet in “Interstellar.” 

Check out this epic dronie from a famous Irish mountain range, compliments of AirVuz contributor Peter and Loki.  It was filmed at Comeragh Mountains on the border between Counties Waterford and Tipperary, in the southeastern part of the country.  The range consists of a dozen mountains, the highest of which (Fauscoum) has a peak elevation of about 800 meters above sea level (around 2.6k ft.).  Offering extensive trails and climbing routes, the Cameragh's are a popular destination for hikers and other outdoor enthusiasts.  

The new DJI Mavic Air 2 is the first drone in the Mavic series to be able to shoot 4k at 60 frames per second.  What better use than to use it for an epic dronie from one of Norway's most iconic locations?  AirVuz contributor and pilot Evan-Armas did just that, using this < half kg (about a pound) bird to film his part on the cliff of Norway's Trolltunga Mountain.  Located in Vestland County in the country's Western region, the cliff here lies 700 meters (about 2.3k ft.) over lake Ringedalsvatnet.

Top contributor and drone pilot Christian Cuvelier brings us this marvelous dronie shot from a famous beach in the Seychelles, the tropical island nation in the western Indian Ocean.  It's called Anse Lazio Beach, and it's located on the northwestern side of Praslin Island.  Praslin is the second-most populated of the 115 islands which make up the tiny country.  Anse Lazio routinely shows up amongst the top half-dozen beaches in the world in various rankings of the world's top beach destinations.  

Top AirVuz contributor and pilot Bbloss created one of his trademark "Bloss Out" dronie shots from a famouns pass in the Rocky Mountains of the western United States. Engineers' Pass is located between Ouray and Silverton, Colorado, in the southwestern part of the state.  The pass has an elevation of about 3.9k meters above sea level (around 12.8k ft.), making it one of the highest mountain passes in the United States.  If you watch this all the way through, you will realize how small humans are! 

Check out this stunning drone video of the North Cascades Mountains in the USA's Pacific Northwest, compliments of top AirVuz contributor and pilot chrisneibaur.  Part of the greater Cascades system, the North Cascades cover a portion of northern Washington state, extending north into Canada's British Columbia province.  The best known peak of the North Cascades is the active stratovolcano Mt. Baker, which has a maximum elevation of just under 3.3k meters above sea level (about 10.8k ft.).  

Ballarayana Durga is located in Karntaka, a state in southwest India with coastlines along the Arabian Sea. Situated in the state's Chikmagalur district, the hiking trail is known for its spectacular views of the surrounding jungle and magnificent towering rock formations.  The area is part of the  Western Ghats, a mountain range which runs parallel to the coast.  Contributor and drone pilot pushpaka vimana created this excellent "dronie" shot which will give you a bird's eye view of this spectacular wilderness area.

Top contributor and drone pilot The Flip Flop Squad put together this excellent video record of a trip to the Philippines.  The video features footage from four spots.  The first is the El Nido beach area on the northern end of the island of Palawan.  Then it's on to the smaller island of Coron, which lies just to the north of Palawan.  From there you'll head over to the island of Cebu one of the main islands of the Central Visayan group in the middle of the country, lastly stopping at the island of Bohol, also one of the Visayans.  

Check out this very creative dronie from a wheat field in the Ukraine, compliments of contributor Energy Butterfly.  Once known as the Breadbasket of Europe, the Ukraine suffered massive declines in agricultural productivity during Soviet times.  In the past couple of decades though Ukrainian wheat production has staged an amazing comeback: in recent years, its annual exports have been approaching 20 million tons.  The country is now amongst the world's top half-dozen wheat exporters.  

Top AirVuz contributor and pilot Nathan Jermy took a bit of a gamble with his drone to create this epic dronie flying out of a church in Wales, the region which covers a western portion of the island of Great Britain.  When you watch the video, you will see why this was a tough shot.  What you can't see made it even tougher - 25 mph winds, which challenge the ability of any drone to maintain the desired course with so little room for error.  You say, “do it for the ‘gram,” we say “do it for the dronie.”

Known as The Flip Flop Squad, Alexis and Ola Besos have been traveling the world for over seven years - after all, he's from France and she's from Poland, but they met in Estonia! Their idea of besos began as a way to send video postcards to their families so everyone knew they were happy and safe while they were traveling through South America, Australia, Fiji, Everest, France, Dubai and more.  Check out this episode of The Drone Dish to hear more from the traveling duo as they chat with host Tyler Mason.

Contributor Renee Lusano goes by the profile name Wrenees, but her nickname is "Queen of the Dronie".  With over 100,000 followers on Instagram as of early 2019, she has developed a trademark pull-out dronie selfie shot which she's honed from locations around the world.  Her dronie from the jungles of Central America, "Rio Celeste, Costa Rica" was chosen as a finalist in the Dronie category for the second annual Drone Video Awards.   Tyler Mason catches up with the Queen in this episode of the Drone Dish.