Dec. 14, 2016

5 Times Drones Told the Story

The Times has used drones to give readers a sky-view perspective on some of the year’s most visual stories, from China’s rapidly growing deserts to a secretive island of graves in New York City. Here are some of our favorite stories told by drones in 2016.

Living in China’s Expanding Deserts

We braved sandstorms and a broken four-by-four to capture the visual story of how people living on the edges of the country’s vast sands are being displaced by climate change. After shooting drone video of a child playing on the dunes, we flew the drone out over the sand so readers could watch the desert stretch all the way to the horizon. Read more about the reporting journey here.