My Drone Journey 

I'm a professional drone pilot and artist based in the Hamptons on Long Island, New York, flying commercially since 2017. As owner of Hamptons Drone Art, LLC,  I specializing in fine art drone photography, videography and FPV flights. I have done everything from real estate to content creation for major corporations and even have my photography works on exhibit in Italy and England. I’ve had the pleasure of working with numerous organizations, including National Geographic, Discovery, Hulu, BBC, Disney and most major news outlets.

I started off flying small non automated drones and fell in love with flight immediately. I quickly graduated to a camera drone and found the new perspective of my home vicinity captivating. I try very hard not to put out "cookie cutter" images. When I began to capture the marine life off the coast of New York, I hit my sweet spot. I invest a tremendous amount of time in editing. Sometimes one piece will take me months of work to make it just perfect in my eyes.

 I now have a DJI fleet including Mavic 3 Pro, Mavic 3 Cine, Mini 4 Pro, Avata, FPV and the Phantom 4 ProV2; these pretty much cover all my needs.

2023 has been my most successful year to date and began with being honored as a Global Woman to Watch 2022 by Women and Drones, then published in Reporters without Borders 100 Photos from Around the World. In the summer months both me and my shark footage was featured on National Geographic and BBC. I received three Siena Drone Photography Awards this year.  I also was the photography winner at the California Drone Film Festival 2023 and Arizona Drone Film Festival 2023. To top it off I had two magazine covers, Dan’s Papers and Hamptons Social.

I was also invited and accepted to be a DJI Creator. It was a huge dream come true! It gave me a bit of confidence, but I also found it terrifying.  I quickly realized being included to fly and create with the top pilots in the world would only help excel me to improve my skills and content further.  After only eight weeks in the program, I received the "Top Creator" of the month!

My passion is capturing the beauty of our oceans, earth, it's landscape and wildlife from the sky. I use drones to offer a unique perspective of marine life, farms, and waterways providing visual stories of the Hamptons and the Atlantic Ocean most people have never seen before. I use my photography and videos to inspire others to appreciate, respect and conserve our natural resources.

Joanna L Steidle
An aerial view of a lake in the middle of a forest

My Mission

Capturing the natural beauty and interesting people of the Hamptons has been a passion since I first took flight, and my hope is that my story & photos inspire other women to take to the air, too. Giving back is very important to me, and I spend a fair amount of time teaching, consulting, and mentoring women. Being able to shorten the learning curve for them with accurate information, flying tips & even purchasing tips is paramount to their rapid success. There were countless people who took time to help me when I started & I'm honored to do the same.

Throughout all the learning, I have maintained a strict safety regime and privacy ethic, which I'm extremely proud of. Ultimately, I'd love to travel the World, bringing the joys of drone life with me to distant lands, while sharing the beautiful images with the masses.

Awards

  • AZDroneFest Photography Winner 2023, "Another World"
  • American Photography Open 2023 Top 40 Shortlist, "Another World" & "Good Match"
  • Southern California Drone Film Festival 2023 Winner, “Another World”
  • Siena Drone Photography 2023 Awards, “Streaming”, Runner up in Sport Category
  • Siena Drone Photography 2023 Awards, “Paving the Way”, Highly commended in Animal Category
  • Siena Drone Photography 2023 Awards, “Vibrant Speckled Way”, Commended in Abstract Category
  • Whalebone Photo Contest 2023, “Another World”, Finalist in Water Category
  • Dan’s Paper Cover Artist Winner 2023, “Valentine”
  • Dan’s Paper, Best of the Best Photographer & Drone Photographer 2023
  • Global Women to Watch List 2022, Arts & Visual Category by Women & Drones
  • International Photography Award Winner 2023, “Parting Ways”
  • Thunderbird Drone Film Festival Photography 2022 Winner, “Parting Ways”
  • Southern California Drone Film Festival 2022 Winner, “New Day”
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