Panayiota Vasiliades is building a reputation for herself in filming FPV drone footage, winning competitions with her videos which have captured the attention of and been shared by the Cypriot government.
Panayiota, a 15-year-old Sydneysider, has taken great interest in FPV drone footage which she has posted on her Panayiota.FPV page on various social media (YouTube, Instagram, TikTok).
Her journey has seen her travel to Cyprus and capture numerous iconic spots across the island, including Ayia Napa, Paphos, Akamas, Limassol, the Marcos Baghdatis Academy, and the famous Philippou Yiapanis Museum.
She said that she was motivated to film in Cyprus due to the number of scenic places across the country, singling out Bridge of Love, Blue Lagoon and Edro Shipwreck as three of the sports that impressed her most.
“My highlight of the trip was filming in Philippos Yiapanis Art Nest Museum. It was a really fun, unique place to fly through that really challenged my skills,” Panayiota told Neos Kosmos.
She has already proven to be quite successful in the area, winning the ‘Anything Awesome’ GoPro competition and notably seeing the Instagram page of VisitCyprus.com (the official account of the Deputy Ministry of Tourism) share her work on their account.
“Having my footage featured on Visit Cyprus’ social media was awesome. It was nice to know that my videos were helping promote the beauty of Cyprus,” the 15-year-old said.
“Seeing my videos being appreciated by such a large audience was really rewarding and hopefully encourages more people to visit Cyprus.”
While in Cyprus, Panayiota visited her grandfather’s village, Farmakas, wherein she managed to shoot some footage during the Farmaka Village Festival.
“Having the opportunity to film the community was really nice. Being able to document my family’s story with my FPV drone was really meaningful,” she said.
The youngster explained that her interest in drone filming began after going to waterfalls with her father and brother.
“At one of the waterfalls, we could only get to the top, and I remember thinking it would be cool to have a drone to see the entire waterfall from above.”
“Not long after, I was scrolling through Instagram and saw a video of a drone diving down a waterfall, filming it in a way I’d never seen before. I started researching, and I discovered FPV drones. The more I learned, the more I wanted to give it a try and that’s where it all started.”
Panayiota said that drones offer a unique perspective as they can capture shots visually in ways that one cannot achieve with regular cameras.
“Drone filming lets you shoot places from much higher up and can really show the beauty of large place. The videos are also much more immersive, especially when the drone flies through tight gaps or flying low over a place,” she said.
Panayiota’s father Anthony stressed his immense pride in his daughter’s achievements with drone filming.
“She is self-taught, learning through YouTube videos and practicing on computer simulators. She researches and plans all the trips to the locations she wants to film; I just drive her there,” he told Neos Kosmos.
“She is a very driven young person, which is an impressive quality at her age.”
Panayiota said she won the first competition after submitting her very first video that showed Gerringong Falls, and she hopes that she will be able to win further competitions with videos she has submitted from Cyprus.
