About Lewis Whyld: Emmy-Winning FPV Drone Pilot, Cinematographer & Director of Photography.

I’m Lewis Whyld, a London-based FPV pilot and drone cinematographer working across premium campaigns, film, television, documentary, sport and broadcast.

I shoot everything from sweeping aerial landscapes to technically demanding FPV interior fly-throughs, high-speed tracking and complex live environments - safely, legally and repeatably. I’m also the founder of production company Whyldthings, providing FPV fly-throughs, cinematic drone filming and photography for productions and brands in the UK and worldwide.

I’ve been developing and flying camera drones professionally since 2011 and design and build bespoke FPV and cinema drones when a project needs a specific form factor, payload or flight profile. That might mean a compact cinewhoop for a controlled interior sequence, a high-speed platform for vehicle tracking, a cinelifter carrying a cinema camera or a specialist aircraft designed for a shot that conventional equipment cannot achieve.

My work has taken me from the war in Ukraine to the Arctic and into some extraordinary places. I’ve completed fully permitted interior FPV flights inside Notre-Dame Cathedral and London’s Imperial War Museum, threaded drones through Venice, chased drifting cars at speed, flown through live performances and flown FPV into an erupting volcano — and back out again.

Before focusing primarily on FPV and drone cinematography, I spent more than two decades working in international photojournalism and filmmaking, including a decade at CNN. I covered conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, Gaza and Ukraine, as well as major disasters including the Asian tsunami, the Nepal earthquake and Typhoon Haiyan.

At CNN, I helped pioneer the use of drones in international news coverage. In 2013, after Typhoon Haiyan devastated Tacloban in the Philippines, I became the first journalist to use a drone to film a major breaking-news story. I later continued that work through the Nepal earthquake and the war in Ukraine, using both conventional drones and FPV alongside photojournalism and filmmaking.

My work in Ukraine earned me an Emmy Award. I am now a six-time Emmy nominee, with my most recent nomination coming at the 2026 Sports Emmy Awards for CNN Originals’ Kobe: The Making of a Legend. My work has also received recognition from the Royal Television Society, Foreign Press Awards, Online Journalism Awards and News Photographer of the Year awards.

Innovation has always been a major part of my work. At CNN, I developed a custom 360° drone system that received recognition from the Online Journalism Awards and worked extensively with immersive media, VR and live FPV. That included FPV work on Anderson Cooper’s 2022 New Year’s Eve broadcast, flying directly through live performances.

My photography career has taken me through many of the defining events of the past two decades, from Royal Weddings and the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II to conflict, disaster, portraiture and major international news stories. In 2020, I received a Foreign Press Award for my coverage of the Covid pandemic.

One of my best-known photographs captured Concorde on its final flight and was later described by CNN as “possibly the greatest aviation photograph of all time.” My work has been exhibited at Proud Galleries, the Imperial War Museum and elsewhere.

That background still shapes the way I work today. Photojournalism taught me to anticipate moments, operate calmly under pressure and understand that the most technically impressive shot is worthless if it doesn’t serve the story.

Today, I specialise in FPV and drone cinematography for productions that need ambitious, precise and visually distinctive camera movement. Whether that means a one-take flight through a complex interior, tracking a vehicle at speed, operating around a live event, filming in an extreme environment or designing a bespoke aircraft for a shot that hasn’t been done before, I approach every production with the same combination of visual instinct, engineering, planning and safety.

Emmy winner • 6× Emmy nominee • Foreign Press Award winner • RTS Award winner • OJA winner

Awards & Recognition

Lewis Whyld is a six-time Emmy nominee and Emmy winner whose work across drone cinematography, FPV, photojournalism, immersive technology and visual storytelling has been recognised by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, Royal Television Society, Online Journalism Awards, Pictures of the Year International, Foreign Press Awards, Peabody Awards and UK Picture Editors’ Guild.

Emmy Awards

2026 — Sports Emmy Nomination — Outstanding Sports Journalism
CNN Originals: Kobe: The Making of a Legend
Lewis was nominated for an Emmy for his FPV and specialist drone cinematography across sporting venues and locations featured in the three-part documentary series about Kobe Bryant. The series was nominated for Outstanding Sports Journalism at the 47th Annual Sports Emmy Awards.

2023 — News & Documentary Emmy Award Winner — Outstanding Live Breaking News Coverage
CNN Worldwide: Russian Invasion of Ukraine
Emmy-winning coverage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Lewis won an Emmy for his FPV and drone cinematography, delivering aerial cinematography and rapid-turnaround field imagery from the conflict.

2021 — News & Documentary Emmy Nomination — Outstanding Short Feature Story in a Newscast
CNN Newsroom: The Body Collectors
Lewis was nominated for an Emmy for his FPV and drone cinematography on CNN’s pandemic reporting, including aerial cinematography documenting the impact of Covid-19.

2018 — News & Documentary Emmy Nomination — Outstanding Video Journalism: News
CNN: Global Warning: Arctic Melt
Lewis was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Video Journalism: News for his FPV and aerial cinematography, immersive imagery and pioneering 360° drone filming from Greenland and the Arctic.

2018 — News & Documentary Emmy Nomination — Outstanding Breaking News Coverage
CNN Worldwide: Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria
Lewis’s Emmy nomination was for his FPV and drone operator work, as part of CNN’s nominated breaking-news coverage of the devastating 2017 Caribbean hurricanes.

2014 — News & Documentary Emmy Nomination
CNN: Typhoon Haiyan, Philippines
Lewis was part of CNN’s nominated coverage of Super Typhoon Haiyan, providing pioneering drone imagery from devastated areas of Tacloban. The work became an important early example of drones being used for major international television news coverage.

Innovation & Technical Recognition

2019 — Gannett Foundation Award for Technical Innovation in the Service of Digital Journalism — Winner
Online Journalism Awards / Online News Association — 360° Drone
Awarded for the pioneering 360° drone system Lewis developed at CNN. He engineered the aircraft, multi-camera configuration and post-production workflow required to capture stable 360° aerial imagery without the drone appearing in the finished frame. The system enabled immersive aerial filming, post-production virtual camera moves and simultaneous conventional broadcast imagery.

2019 — Royal Television Society News Technology Award — Finalist
CNN — 360° Drone Image Capture
Recognition for Lewis’s development and implementation of a bespoke immersive drone system combining custom hardware, 360° image capture, stabilisation and post-production technology for international news production.

2013 — British Journalism Awards, Innovation of the Year — Finalist
Press Gazette / Press Association
Shortlisted for the design and implementation of a bespoke 360° interactive camera system developed before consumer 360° cameras were widely available, creating an immersive new approach to visual journalism.

Pictures of the Year International

2018 — 75th Pictures of the Year International — Three Honours

Lewis received three separate POYi recognitions connected to his work with CNN and Global Warning: Arctic Melt:

Award of Excellence — Multimedia Photographer of the Year
Lewis Whyld, CNN

Judges’ Special Recognition — Documentary Project of the Year
Global Warning: Arctic Melt

Award of Excellence — Online News & Issue Story Editing
Lewis Whyld, CNN — Global Warning: Arctic Melt

The project combined traditional photojournalism, documentary filmmaking, aerial cinematography and advanced 360° drone imagery to document environmental change across the Arctic.

Journalism & Broadcast Recognition

2021 — Peabody Awards — Special Commendation
Lewis was part of the CNN field teams included in the Peabody Awards’ collective Special Commendation recognising journalism crews reporting from the front lines of the Covid-19 pandemic. The commendation recognised the wider journalistic effort and public-service reporting carried out during the global health crisis.

2020 — Foreign Press Award — Winner
CNN: A Deadly Business: The Other Frontline Workers
Lewis worked as a photojournalist and drone operator on the Foreign Press Award-winning report documenting workers facing exceptional risks during the Covid-19 pandemic.

2014 — Royal Television Society Television Journalism Award — News Coverage: International — Winner
CNN: Typhoon Haiyan
CNN’s coverage of Super Typhoon Haiyan won Best News Coverage — International. Lewis provided pioneering drone cinematography from Tacloban, using aerial imagery to reveal areas devastated by the storm that were difficult or impossible to document from the ground.

2011 — Press Association Editorial Awards — Video Journalist of the Year — Winner
Lewis was named Video Journalist of the Year at the Press Association Editorial Awards.

Photography Recognition

2004 — UK Picture Editors’ Guild — News Photographer of the Year — Winner
Awarded for Lewis’s aerial photograph of Concorde on its final flight over the Clifton Suspension Bridge.

Lewis was also a UK Picture Editors’ Guild Awards finalist in 2012 for Business Photographer of the Year and Photo Essay of the Year.

CAA-approved • Fully insured • GVC • A2 CofC • EASA A1/A2/A3 & STS

Risk assessments, compliance and safety-first procedures are built into every job.

Based in London and available worldwide.

Published Works

Selected published work by Lewis Whyld across major international news and editorial platforms.

Case-Studies

Real-world examples of FPV drone filming, indoor fly-throughs, aerial cinematography, high-speed tracking and specialist drone work for film, television, brands, venues and live productions.