• Tagged aerial, aerial photography, drone photography, photo contest

When it comes to privacy, there are plenty of arguments to make against drones; yet it’s hard to make a case against the awesomeness of photos and videos captured by drones. Some droners take dronies — the drone photo equivalent to selfies — but drone photographers give us aerial views that rival the view of even superheroes like Iron Man and Superman. You’re probably familiar with Instagram, but what about Dronestagram? These fabulous bird’s eye shots were but a few of the entries from the more than 5,000 drone aerial photos submitted by professional and amateur drone photo enthusiasts in Dronestagram’s 2015 Drone Aerial Photography Contest. Thank you to all the photographers who captured these shots by potentially risking their ludicrously expensive drones and cameras. [30 Drone Aerial Photos]

• Tagged aerial, aerial photography, aerials, corn maze, Halloween, haunted, holiday, kite aerial photography, labyrinth, maize maze, maze, puzzles

Happy October! Before harvest, and popular in autumn around Halloween, fall festivals kick off a corn maze craze. Called maize mazes in the United Kingdom and labyrinths in Europe, corn mazes are a great way for farms to create income from tourism. This competition factor among Halloween fields of horror are also why these puzzles carved into the corn grow increasingly complex each year. The point is to solve the maze by finding a route from the start to finish, but many have “activities” and “secret” coded clues on dead end routes setup inside the maze. There are usually bridges, overlooking the maze both for viewing and for those folks who are a bit lost and need a little help with directions. Corn mazes range from family-friendly with additional attractions like hay rides, petting zoos, pumpkin patches and play areas for children, to very scary, haunted-house-type corn mazes. The farms decide on themes, the designs start on graph paper and then are plotted over the fields before planting. Farms and orchards grow specialty corn that is taller than most and very dense. These temporary works of corn art are usually huge, up to 45 acres, and are harvested in November. Here’s a look at the corn maze craze past and present, from aerial photos showing the entire theme-design, bird’s eye views from above, to inside the haunted corn maze. [77 Photos]

• Tagged adventure, aerial, cliffs, environment, Haena Point, Hawaii, HonopÅ« Valley, island, Na Pali, Napoli, nature, Nā Pali Coast State Park, places, travel

Anyone else thinking, come on Spring, I wanna go out and play in nature? The tropical beauty of Na Pali along the shore of Kauai, Hawaii, and the rugged coastline could give adventure seekers a case of spring fever all year round. Na Pali means “the Cliffs” and those characteristic sheer cliffs which drop 4,000 feet (1200 m) straight down into the ocean make much of Na Pali Coast inaccessible by car. Nā Pali Coast State Park has 6,175 acres and stretches for 16 rugged miles along the northwest side of Kauaʻi paradise. Honopū Valley has been made iconic from movies filmed on Na Pali. Are you tired of winter too? We love these gorgeous pictures which gave us a serious case of Spring Fever. Enjoy! [43 Photos]

• Tagged aerial, autumn, environment, fall colors, forests, lakes, nature, photography, seasons, space, trees, waves, woods

There is no doubt that ISS astronauts have enviable and breathtaking views of Earth, but when the fall season transforms foliage into a kaleidoscope of colors–rich hues of reds, yellows, oranges and browns, autumn is heaven as seen on Earth. As fall bursts upon the forests, changing them from green to vivid autumn colors, the tantalizing seasonal change can be seen from space. Yet astronauts may envy us for our beautiful view. Here’s a look autumn as seen from high above Earth, then zooming down to enjoy Indian Summer and the kaleidoscope of autumn colors that make our great planet a bedazzling fall spectacular. [46 Photos]