These incredible award-winning pictures were taken by drones

In a feat of photographic excellence, amateur and professional drone nerds have proven a point they've been trying to make for years: drones can shoot.

Photographs, that is; and stunning ones at that.

Dronestagram - the first social network dedicated solely to drone snaps - announced winners of its second annual aerial photography contest earlier this month.

A panel of experts, including Ken Geiger, a National Geographic photographer and Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer, and Jean-Pierre Vrignaud, editor in chief of National Geographic France and Dronestagram, selected nine of the best photographs from more than 5,000 entries.

We refer to the photographersspa here by their Dronestagram handles, not their full names.

The winning images are breathtaking. Check them out: