Autumn in the amber city: Photographs capture Russia's imperial capital Saint Petersburg bathed in orange, gold and red


When photographe r Amos Chapple sent a small drone helicopter up into the skies above Saint Petersburg to take pictures, he had no idea how they would turn out.

But as you'll see from the results, New Zealand-born Mr Chapple needn't have worried.

His airborne cameras have captured stunning images of the Russian city, bathed in an orange, gold and red autumnal glow.

Awesome autumn: A picture of the Smolny Convent at sunset, taken by a camera mounted on a small drone helicopter The Church on Spilled blood lit by morning sunlight on a squally day Mesmerising: Hermitage Pavilion, in the grounds of the Catherine Palace, at sunrise

Landmarks that he captured include Mikhailovsky Castle, the Church of Spilled Blood, Hermitage Pavilion in the grounds of the Catherine Palace and the Peter and Paul Fortress.

Saint Petersburg was founded by the Tsar Peter the Great in 1703 and was the Imperial capital of Russia until 1924, when the communist government that emerged from the revolutions of 1917 established its headquarters in Moscow.



The city was renamed Leningrad, but reverted to Saint Petersburg in 1991.