Last January, I spoke about the dawn of the age of drone-based photography.  Well folks, the future is now!  National Geographic France/Dronestagram has announced the winners of the First Drone Aerial Photocontest.  And there are some beauties among the winners.  I am especially drawn to first prize winner “Flying with an Eagle,” made in Bali Barat National Park, Indonesia, by Dendi Pratama.  What better epitomizes the meaning of this new age of flying cameras than to leave the bounds of Earth to soar like and with an eagle?  For millennia this vision of true flight has been the dream of humankind.

Uh oh! Wolf is waxing philosophic again.  Here’s trouble.  But do recognize that from its beginnings photography has offered new visions of the world, extending both our physical and artistic vision, venturing into new worlds where anything is possible.  So in this context the use of drones as modern day mobile tripods, guided by photographic artists, is the latest stop in the development of photography, the artistic extension of the omnipresent, but impersonal, robotic eyes that we have spoken so much about.

While leafing (do we still leaf in this digital age?) through the contest winners, I find myself taking a deep breath.  There is a dark side to all this technology as well, but its forward push is both compelling and unstoppable.  I await this Brave New World with a touch of trepidation.