I read somewhere about someone flying theirs while lying down. It was kinda relaxing. Look at Waldo there just chilling.
It’s a word. Look it up. I did.
aerial photography
Race
About 10k from finishing my ride this evening I realized that it was going to be an awesome sunset. All I could think about was getting back in time to send up the aerial cam and get some great shots. The race was on. That was a pretty fast 10k especially at the end of the ride.
My view at the end of my ride this evening in Clarke County, VA.
Crazy
The big downside to landscape photography is the incredibly early start times for the day, especially for shooting the sunrise. On a good day I could be up as early as 3 and as late as 9 that same evening just to shoot the sun. Am I dedicated or crazy?
I’m pretty excited to be heading into that time of year when the sunrise isn’t at some ridiculously early hour of the morning! | Order a print of this image.
New Chapter
Started my next chapter last night teaching Broadcast Video Production in the building I called “home” for seven years. Can you see me? Not a lot of time to get out and shoot today as I pack for California. Hopefully I’ll have some great images to post along the way.
Pride
pride
/prīd/
noun
1. a feeling or deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one’s own achievements, the achievements of those with whom one is closely associated, or from qualities or possessions that are widely admired.
- “the team was bursting with pride after recording a sensational victory”
- synonyms: pleasure, joy, delight, gratification, fulfillment, satisfaction, a sense of achievement; “take pride in a good job well done”
How is Handley Different? by Dr. V. Doug Joyner
From letter jackets to lunch lines, Handley isn’t outwardly intriguing, nothing differentiates us from any other high school across the nation-but step inside the checkered hallway; have a seat in the auditorium; cheer for the football players at a game and you will find there’s something else that lingers in the hallways. It’s an unfettered force that the community refers to as “Handley Pride”. It’s the one thing that sets us apart from the rest.
It’s embedded into the glistening marble hall, woven into the upholstery of the auditorium, and saturates the Handley Bowl on a sparkling autumn afternoon. The fundamentals associate us with every other school, but pride fractures the concord, and keeps the student reputation from being slandered into uniformity.
As a profile is examined and its features begin to tell a story, the inner thoughts come to the surface. Even though the picture hasn’t told its story with words the wrinkle of a brow and a shy smile tell more eloquently than words the sorrows of the character.
Most important to the piecing together of a person are the eyes. Are they quick and alert? Do they search for something beyond the four walls of the picture?
When a teacher watches many profiles agonize over a test or listens to one lone profile struggling over an oral presentation, they see focus in their student’s eyes. Focus and motive to achieve, to be known, to excel outside of the four walls of a classroom.
As we live our daily lives, our personalities become exposed, and we expose those of others. Each situation, whether within the walls of Handley high or experienced elsewhere, defines us. Our surroundings mold us emotionally- no two of us are the same. We are who we are; our appearance is unique, our mindsets are one of a kind, our experiences differ.
Through our activities, we have revealed ourselves to the school. As the school year has progressed, the definition of our individual profiles has become sharp, and we have placed our profiles along the halls among all other Handley attendees-past, present, and future. Our profiles, representing our lives – stay – waiting to expose our experiences for those who follow.
I disagree on that part about Handley not being outwardly intriguing.
Look, Up In The Sky…
So today I had somebody actually follow the camera to where it landed just to find out more about it. I was just flying over Shenandoah University and demonstrating it for a couple of friends and a guy drives into the lot, runs over and said that he followed it from the main campus because he wanted to know more about it. I gave him my card. Cool.
The almost-complete Health and Life Sciences building on Shenandoah University’s campus in Winchester, VA
Night Vision
An entirely different ballgame flying this thing at night. But still as much fun. I was in such a hurry to get up and start shooting that I forgot to change the settings for a better night-time image. Not too shabby for being shot at ISO 100. The fact that the flag is lit up doesn’t hurt. And, no, the camera isn’t that close to the flag. It’s probably about 30 feet away.
That’s one BIG flag. I’ve been living in my house now for 10+ years and it’s still a little eerie to hear this flag flapping in the wind at night.
UAV
As it is with any government agency, the FAA has a “crap ton” of regulations and the hottest topic these days is UAV – Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. There are huge numbers of differing opinions about their use and with them becoming much more accessible and affordable it’s gonna get really crazy really quickly very soon (already in some instances). There are no-fly zone maps, advisory circulars from 1981, COA application procedures, and so on, and so on and so on. It’s dizzying to say the least. So here are some simple pieces of advise from me to other/future “droners:”
- Be respectful of anyone who approaches you about anything to do about your drone. Whether it’s simply to find out more about what you’re doing and to watch or someone who’s got an issue with you flying it. Doesn’t matter – be respectful in your conversations. If it really gets heated just don’t fly there.
- Know your craft – EVERYTHING about it. Not just how to get it up in the air, but what to do if you encounter an issue while it’s up there. Know how to troubleshoot what’s going on from the batteries to the blinking lights to the regular maintenance. Know its limitations and don’t push them just for the sake of pushing them.
- Be aware that there are regulations out there for UAV. They may not be specifically for this new category of aerial drone per se, but they are for UAV which technically includes your new DJI Phantom (or whatever you’re flying).
- Here’s a link to the current FAA set of regulations for UAV
- The National Park System has also issued its own policy on UAV within their parks.
- Know the regulations or at least be learning about the regulations. I know there are pockets of rebellious “droners” out there who are going to put up the good fight for their rights, but the FAA’s ultimate goal for its airspace is the safety of everybody involved – in the air or on the ground.
- Use some good ol’ common sense folks. Don’t be stupid about this. We’re privileged to be part of a new group of enthusiasts that may very well affect the way the FAA leans when it comes to that 9/30/2015 deadline for integration of UAV in the NAS. If we’re stupid about it now, guess what’s gonna happen when it comes time to develop new/updated regulations.
- Be safe.
This post was initially going to be a rant about a confrontation I had with an individual this evening who wanted to make me aware of all the regulations that prompted his company to “ground” their drone and that I shouldn’t be flying if they can’t. I was initially ticked off, but after careful thought, I decided to go this route to help promote awareness for common sense when it comes to this extremely touchy subject. I began to realize that I’m just as guilty of not following these tidbits of advice at one point or another so I want to make sure that I ultimately keep myself in check, too.
All I wanted to do was take some pictures of my elementary school…
My elementary school, which is no longer a public elementary school. This one’s for all those who attended Bridgewater Elementary School when it was located in “downtown” Bridgewater.
Golf
Aerial images of a golf course – no-brainer.
Rock Harbor Golf Course in Winchester, VA
Turn Around
Every sunset and every sunrise is different to me, which is why shooting them will never get old. But if you’re wondering “how can I shoot them differently?” Simple answer…turn around. You’d be amazed at what it sometimes looks like behind you.
I’m surprised none of the birds that were attacking the drone showed up in this image. | Check out my other sunset/sunrise images.
Mini Me
That’s me on my roof with my son. Turns out there’s no difference in flight distance from my roof compared to the ground. Might as well have launched from the driveway. Oh well, it was fun anyway.
I can do your house, too – just contact me.
Catching The Train
I’ve wanted to shoot aerial images of a train. I just think it would be cool, but I just haven’t been in the right place at the right time so far. Today I heard the train, but I was at home when I did. I figured I’d try to catch it. And I did. The image isn’t that impressive, but in capturing this image, I was at the limits of both distances (altitude and distance from transmitter). I have to fly it higher if I want to go further from me to maintain a solid signal between transmitter and receiver. It’s more than a little unnerving when you’ve lost sight of the craft and you’re just about to lose visuals and geo-location in the monitor. It doesn’t look very far on a map, but it’s a good 500-600 meters away from me.
It’s pretty cool that the geo-location of the image includes the altitude – 389.2 feet by the way.
Model
I know that a lot of apps and cameras and software will emulate the Tilt & Shift effect these days – it became really popular really quickly. I experimented with it, but never really got into it because it was hard to get the camera into the right position to accomplish one of the primary requirements of the effect – shoot from an overhead angle. Well, I think I have that covered now. This effect was done entirely in Lightroom, by the way.
Handley High School in miniature.
Hard-To-Reach Spots
So now that the novelty of “how high does that thing go” has worn off, I’m concentrating on shooting unique images. Images of scenes that people see every day, but they’re unique because I can’t normally get a camera into that position. No crazy 900-foot high photos (although that still is fun) – mostly 150 feet or less. Just enough to get over all the hustle and bustle at street level and it’s a totally different image. Bet you can’t find me in this image (I am in it by the way).
Order a print of this image.
Down Time
There’s a lot of down time when I shoot a road race. Even though there are 3 fields on the course at once, they pass by me within 10 minutes of each other leaving me a big gap of about 25-30 minutes until they come by again. What do I do during those breaks? These days I attract a lot of attention with the drone.
Whenever I shoot a race I’m always concerned about being on somebody else’s property because most road races are out in the country and the only place to park is along the road. And when I’m in their way it’s even worse. At my first location today I ended up blocking the entrance to a farmer’s field. He needed to pull in and I was in the way. Great! Not a good way for me to start the day. Fast forward to the last location of the day. I had pulled over near a very colorful barn because I thought it would make a great background in my shots. Next thing I know, a truck pulls up and I get that feeling that I’m about to get chewed out – you know the feeling. But no, that same farmer (the one I had blocked before) pops out of his truck and excitedly asks about my aerial camera. We get to talking and I discover that he’s in the Screen Actors Guild and he’s met some amazing people through that work. He asks how long I’ll be there because he wants to go get his daughters to watch me fly. Then he flags down a buddy to pull over and watch, too! Party at Jimmy’s place! He tops the day off by telling me that he respects all the riders in the races and thinks it’s a great thing for the county. There are some awesome people in Page County! Thanks Jimmy for letting me park on your property today.
Click here for more race photos from today.
Marching Band
Thought I’d pop on over and take some preliminary images of the John Handley Marching Band during their band camp. I dove right in and edited a couple images and thought “it’s just weird that I can shoot like this.”
Something’s Not Quite Right
One of my responsibilities at TV3 Winchester was to train the production staff and one of the first ways to demonstrate the “rule of thirds” was to show somebody a camera framing that was not quite right. I would then indicate that maybe people at home couldn’t vocalize what was wrong, but they would know it. Kinda like this image. Something’s not quite right about it. It looks normal at first, but as Mufasa from “The Lion King” would say “look harder…”
Order a print of this image.
Cemetery
I wasn’t initially going to post this one, but once it all came together I changed my mind. I just like the perspective this one gives to the landscape. By the way, this is the big cemetery in Winchester – Mt. Hebron Cemetery. They advertise that they have space available for the next century! Yeah, it’s huge.
Historic District
Every city has one. Ours just got a major facelift over the past couple years and it’s really been revitalized. Lots of stuff going on down there. Only thing it’s missing is the view from up here.
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Head On
I’m self-taught on several subjects. Specifically bike maintenance and mechanics and videography/photography. The two areas that have essentially dominated my life for the past 20/30 years. I’ve turned both into successful professional careers at one point or another.
As a side note, I have a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from James Madison University.
My kids think it’s hilarious that I have a BS Degree.
It’s really a tough way to do it for many reasons, but mostly because you’re at the mercy of your own motivation and commitment. Freelancing is a tough road, but it can be rewarding. The one thing I’ve learned through my “travels” is that whatever the new technique is or whatever the new trend in the industry is, you gotta jump right in to stay current. Learn as you go, make mistakes and improve your craft. Whatever it is. Just go for it – head on.
Trying to take my photography to a new level. Ha! I just heard that in my head.
Cedarmeade Studios 