Karolis Janulis loves snapping aerial photos with his drone. He captures traffic circles, sporting events and even penthouse parties throughout Lithuania, providing a fascinating glimpse of the otherwise ordinary world around him. But this winter, Janulis finally got to shoot something he'd been waiting for all year—aerial snowscapes.

He bought a DJI Phantom II Vision Plus camera-equipped drone a year ago, but unseasonably warm weather kept him waiting until December for that first big snowfall. But then it happened; one morning, Janulis awoke to find the capital of Vilnius transformed into a winter wonderland. "The snow was covering the trees and the rooftops," he says. "It looked really beautiful."

Janulis bundled up, grabbed his drone and rushed to a nearby park. The temperature hovered around freezing, and he wasn't sure the drone would fly in such conditions. The Phantom managed well enough, but his phone kept switching off, making it hard to control his drone. Janulis had to periodically return to his car to warm it. "It wasn't very easy or very comfortable," he says.

Back home, Janulis used Photoshop to add a little contrast and adjust the color before posting the pics to his Instagram. The fairytale images of snow-covered trees were especially popular and inspired Janulis to make a cross-country road trip in January for more. He sent his drone up near bridges, castles and other interesting locales dotting the landscape. Sometimes getting an interesting photo required waiting for just the right moment, like a car fishtailing on an icy road. Other times it resulted from pure chance, like when he took a wrong exit and stumbled on several abandoned greenhouses, their roofs pockmarked with holes. "They had nice, abstract lines," he says.

Dusted in white and viewed from above, ordinary landscapes appear somehow miniature and quaint, like the world within a snow globe. Whether it's a solitary fisherman on a frozen lake or an icy bridge in the woods, the photos illustrate the transformative power of snow. The winter weather that inspired him eventually gave way to spring, but Janulis' quest to document Lithuania from above goes on. And rest assured, when the next big snowstorm hits, Janulis and his drone will be there.