Sometimes the sheer scale and diversity of America’s landscapes can only be fully fathomed when seen from above. In these incredible drone shots taken between 2021 and 2023, we look at sights and spectacles stretching from the Pacific Northwest to the East Coast and the Wild West to the Deep South, spanning urban sprawls, coastal communities, nature spots and agricultural land. Please note that flying drones in America is subject to strict regulations – always check local legislation and never encroach on private property, protected areas or the wellbeing of wildlife.
Snapped over the Memorial Day weekend in 2023, this atmospheric aerial image shows the Ocean City Fishing Pier meeting the gathering waters of the Atlantic. The pier has stood – in various states of repair – since 1907, having borne the brunt of several storms over the course of its century-long life. It has also fallen victim to fire and ice and been shortened and elongated, but it continues to be an emblem of this East Coast resort town.
This mesmerising shot, taken by photographer Dan Meyers in 2022, captures the residual glow of a sunset on the Christmas Valley Sand Dunes in Oregon. A Wilderness Study Area, Christmas Valley forms the largest inland shifting dune system in America’s Pacific Northwest region. Its sands are mostly made up of ash and pumice dust, thought to have blown into the area seven millennia ago after Mount Mazama erupted – the same blast that created nearby Crater Lake.
Being the largest city in the southern US (with the third-largest skyline in the country), Houston really lends itself to aerial photography. Here, some of the city’s most iconic skyscrapers rise up behind the curves of the Buffalo Bayou. The tallest building in the photo is also the tallest in the entire state of Texas – and the tallest five-sided building on the planet – at 75 storeys high. The JPMorgan Chase Tower is the brainchild of IM Pei, whose most famous design is the Louvre Pyramid in Paris.
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This thought-provoking image, taken in September 2022 by David McNew, shows a tractor ploughing a field near the desert town of Yuma, at a time when the implications of climate change-driven drought (the region’s third in consecutive years) were being felt across America’s southwest states. Many farms in Arizona rely on groundwater to thrive, levels of which can be devastated by such arid conditions. In this scene, you can almost feel the blistering heat of the sun as it bears down on the field’s neat rows.
This intriguing shot may look like an extreme close-up of someone’s brain, but what you’re actually looking at is a series of evaporation ponds in the pitiful remains of Owens Lake. Once one of America’s largest inland bodies of water, Owens Lake has been a mostly dry expanse since the Los Angeles Aqueduct was constructed in 1913, syphoning water from the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the Owens River Valley to supply the City of Angels, leaving behind this exposed lakebed.
You might know that the humble orange is the official fruit of Florida, but did you also know that the state beverage is orange juice and the state flower is orange blossom? The vibrant citrus fruit has been synonymous with the Sunshine State for a long time; its history began with the Spanish introducing orange trees to St Augustine around the mid-16th century. Here, fruit is being harvested at one of the Peace River Packing Company groves in February 2022. We love the contrasting colours in this snapshot.
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One of the last remaining gold mines in California, Golden Queen Mine first started operating in the early 1900s on Soledad Mountain, a peak looming above the city of San Diego. When a powerful snowstorm dumped a load of the white stuff at unusually low elevations in February 2023, drone photographer David McNew caught it clinging to the site of the mine in this cool shot. When it’s not resembling a coconut macaroon, Golden Queen Mine still produces gold and silver metals from ore found on the mountain.
The Capitol Hill neighbourhood of Seattle has become known in recent years as the spiritual and creative home of the city’s queer community, with a slew of businesses run by LGBTQIA+ owners and dedicated LGBTQIA+ nightlife venues. In a bid to promote messages of love, equality and acceptance, Seattle rolled out 11 crosswalks in 2015 in the colours of the Pride flag, at locations across the district where sexuality-motivated hate crimes had historically occurred. They have remained in place ever since, and this amazing image shows some of the rainbow road markings from the air.
We love how the Golden Gate Bridge’s rust-red girders stand out against the turquoise waters below from this bird’s-eye view. Built over the Golden Gate – a strait where San Francisco Bay meets the Pacific Ocean – and opened to the public in 1937, the world-famous bridge has become a national symbol through the decades. From providing much-needed employment during the Great Depression and appearing in numerous Hollywood films to surviving several earthquakes and being slathered with toxic lead paint, the Golden Gate Bridge has seen it all.
This stunning drone shot was captured above Lake Kissimmee in 2021. Kissimmee forms part of the headwaters of Florida’s Everglades National Park in Polk County and is prime real-estate for largemouth bass, beckoning anglers of all ages and abilities to its 21,000 acres of bass-fishing grounds. The fishing boat in this image, seen circling a green smudge of duckweed on the lake, was taken from Camp Mack, where holidaymakers and outdoor enthusiasts can stay in lodges, cabins or their RVs.
The Carrizo Plain National Monument is recognised throughout the US for its cultural and natural heritage, as it's an important site for Native American peoples and a hotbed for wildlife. In this 2023 photograph depicting the Temblor mountain range, a coating of canary-yellow wildflowers can be seen accentuating the ridges and slopes of the hills. Though wildflower season comes around annually on Carrizo Plain, 2023’s 'superbloom' was especially verdant, following unprecedented rainstorms and snowfall across California during its colder months.
This striking drone shot of downtown Salt Lake City set against snow-capped mountains sums up perfectly what SLC is all about – incredible chances to get close to nature with the exciting thrum of the city always at your back. Named after the Great Salt Lake, which is said to be up to eight times saltier than the sea, Salt Lake City is renowned for its adventure sports, but has some amazing architecture too. Can you make out the white spires of the Salt Lake Temple?
Taken earlier this year, this image of the Eastern Sierra landscape is a testament to the expansive beauty of California’s wide open spaces. Mammoth Lakes is a majestic mountainous enclave where hiking and bike trails fill up with adventurous visitors in the warmer months and skiers take to the slopes of Mammoth Mountain in the winter. Beyond the alpine scenery, you can also explore volcanic craters and geothermal springs, or venture into town to sample the spoils of local craft breweries and distilleries.
In this drone still taken by Valentin Wechsler in 2023, Boston’s Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge dominates the city skyline. Named after civil rights activist Lenny Zakim and the American colonists who fought against the British at the Battle of Bunker Hill in 1775, the bridge was dedicated in 2002 and is one of the widest cable-stayed bridges in the world. It was designed as a physical symbol of Zakim’s desire to build bridges between people and cultures.
Dan Meyers caught this remarkable shot in 2023 on the outskirts of the Painted Hills, where flying drones is permitted. The layers in the rock of these otherworldly hills tell a story millions of years in the making, formed from a series of volcanic eruptions that have resulted in red, golden and black soils that seem to change colour by the hour. Painted Hills is one of three units that make up the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, which holds over 40 million years of natural history.
A seven-mile-long (11km) barrier island just 20 minutes from the Manatee County city of Bradenton, Anna Maria Island is surrounded by the Gulf of Mexico and characterised by white sandy beaches. It’s a haven of relaxation where a free trolley service rattles through every 20 minutes and strict regulations dictate the kind of infrastructure that can be established, so the island retains an old-world, unspoilt quality. This recent drone shot was taken above the island’s northern tip.
Taken in summer 2022 by Vasilis Karkalas, this shot shows the all-encompassing beauty of Idaho’s Shoshone Falls, named for the Native American tribe that inhabited the area long ago. Sometimes referred to as the Niagara of the West, Shoshone Falls is one of the largest natural waterfalls in the US, actually surpassing the height of Niagara Falls with its 212-foot (65m) cascade. Spring is typically the best time to visit to see the falls at their most powerful, freshly replenished by the melted winter snow.
There are concerns around Lake Abert, Oregon’s only salt lake. In recent years, the lake has been shrinking, having mostly dried up in 2021 and 2022 due to water withdrawal and dry weather. Photographer Dan Meyers describes how snowmelt helps revive the alkaline lake and, in this mind-blowing drone shot from 2023, you can see the lake’s only inflow making shifting patterns on the lakebed. Abert is also an important stopover for migratory birds, who come to feast on the flies and brine shrimp that live here.
Sea Bright is a coastal borough located on the Jersey Shore, captured in this moody 2023 drone shot by photographer Hunter Reilly. While the tourism infrastructure is modest, with just a few bed-and-breakfasts and locally-owned restaurants, it means the long public beach never gets too crowded and you won’t struggle to find a parking spot when you come to explore.
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One of the newest landmarks in Los Angeles, the Sixth Street Viaduct, was lit up in a patriotic palette of red, white and blue when it opened in July 2022. It has 10 pairs of arches and cost around £450 million ($588m) to build, making it the largest and most expensive bridge to ever cross the city. It replaces the original Sixth Street Viaduct, which was constructed during the Great Depression and demolished in 2016 due to disrepair – but not before starring in major films like Grease and Terminator 2: Judgement Day.
Orange Beach, a resort city on America’s Gulf Shores, might seem deceptively named at first with its surprisingly sugar-white sands, as photographed here earlier this year. But the name actually stems from the short-lived success of local people who attempted to grow orange, grapefruit and satsuma trees on the shores here once upon a time. Nowadays, Orange Beach is much better known as a popular family holiday destination, offering dolphin-watching cruises, amusement parks and nature trails.
The Centennial Wheel stands almost 200 feet (61m) above Chicago’s Navy Pier and has done so since 2016, when it was unveiled as part of the Pier’s 100th-anniversary celebrations. But this isn’t the first Ferris wheel to grace the Windy City’s skyline – an original was built for the World Fair in 1893, but was demolished in 1906 after being relocated to St Louis, Missouri. This shiny new wheel, seen here at sundown through the eyes of drone photographer Margo in 2023, boasts views over Chicago and Lake Michigan.
The Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational, or just 'The Eddie' for short, is a surf competition named after the first lifeguard on Oahu’s North Shore. It has been held just nine times since the inaugural event in 1985, with 2023 marking the first time in seven years that the Eddie could go ahead, as the spectacle demands waves consistently over 20 feet (6m). This shot provides just a small glimpse of the action, with the arc of the surf catching the light perfectly to form a rainbow.
This bird’s-eye view of California’s epic Wine Country may have been snapped by a drone, but similar idyllic vistas could be all yours if you take to the skies in a hot air balloon. Tours with Wine Country Balloons whisk passengers over Sonoma’s verdant vineyards and valleys, sometimes with a side order of Pacific coastal views if you fly on a clear day. Once back on the ground, head to the biodynamic Benziger Family Winery to taste exactly what these fabled winelands are capable of.
Particularly popping with colour in the autumn, as captured here, Fishlake National Forest is a sweeping strand of aspen woodland named after the largest natural mountain lake in Utah, which sits at its heart. Aside from fishing, visitors are drawn to this lush forest for its wildlife – various birds, black bears, moose, cougar and elk are known to roam among the trees, so always have your ears and eyes peeled. Fortunately, there are 628 miles (1,010km) of motorised trails if you prefer to explore in your vehicle.