It looks like a spacecraft that settled gently onto a golden beach. Off the coast of Bangladesh, an enormous vessel lies stranded on the mudflats, its steel hull partially dismantled as workers mill around it. This unusual aerial view of a tanker, specially designed to transport liquified natural gas used for cooking, electricity and transport, won photographer George Steinmetz the top prize — overall winner of the 2026 Siena Drone Photo Awards.
Each year, the Siena Drone Photo Awards highlight bird's-eye views of our planet, revealing landscapes, livelihoods and human stories often invisible from the ground. Here, we've selected some of this year's winning and highly commended photographs, focusing on the countries of the Global South. In an interview with NPR, Steinmetz says he's been long fascinated by Bangladesh's shipbreaking industry, where enormous vessels from around the globe, nearing the end of their working lives, are dismantled and their materials recovered for reuse.
The photograph is titled "Shipbreaking on the mudflats, Bay of Bengal." Steinmetz sent up his drone north of Chattogram (Chittagong), along this 13-mile coastal strip, offering a stark glimpse into what this industry is like. He was exploring the relationship between human populations and the environment for a book project and saw the industry as an extraordinary example of recycling on a vast scale. Photographing it proved surprisingly difficult.
The ship breaking industry has faced criticism from environmental organizations, human rights groups, labor unions and non-governmental organizations for its unchecked pollution, the leeching of chemicals into the sea and dangerous working conditions. Shipyard owners are wary of journalists and photographers. Local photographers initially warned Steinmetz that securing access might be nearly impossible.
Undeterred, he surveyed and photographed the entire coastline north of Chattogram with his drone, searching for a vessel that would make an especially striking photograph. He eventually settled on the liquid natural gas tanker. "The trick for me was to find the right ship, that was in a really interesting state of disassembly.
And these tankers are very unusual boats. It just looked weird, like some kind of a spaceship. It takes workers a long time to break it down.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
