Another awesome sunset over what has turned into my favorite place to shoot these days. Go figure.
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aerial
Cut Short
There was going to be a great sunset at the school this evening, but I had my first complaint about the aerial camera that cut me short. A lady was going to go walk somewhere else this evening (as opposed to her usual walk at the school) because she was “uncomfortable” with the drone. I was just hovering taking a shot every couple of minutes – just waiting for the money shot. This is the last shot I was able to get. I never did get a clear answer as to what made her uncomfortable. Oh well.
Another great sunset over Handley High School. | Order a print of this image.
Auto Pilot
There’s a feature on the aerial camera that I didn’t think I’d be using, but it came in handy last night. It’s not really auto pilot, but for a photographer it comes pretty darn close. The camera can be set to snap a photo every 30 seconds for as long as I want. So I can concentrate on getting some cool HDR series on the ground while the aerial cam just hovers and snaps away. I used it last night to shoot an awesome sunset. I sent it up as the sun was hitting the horizon and just left it there until I was done on the ground. Pretty cool if you ask me.
This is my go-to spot for awesome sunsets. I’ve never been disappointed. | Order a print of this image.
And I did promise that I would reveal what last night’s photo actually was. Here’s a before/after comparison.
Scenic View
Those scenic view overlooks along the highway take on a whole new look when you bring a drone to the party!
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…”
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The Buzz
Are you tired of the aerial stuff? I’m not and won’t be for a long while. I think subconsciously I decided to shoot the race this weekend to make sure I still knew how to use my DSLR! Along with so many things, another cool thing about the aerial viewpoint is that I can be in the images and not draw a lot of attention. It’s kinda like “Where’s Waldo.” Maybe I should make a cameo in the aerial images and make you try to find me.
I was shooting for a job today and, although I know this is very novel to many people right now, sometimes I just want to get my shots and move on. I enjoyed talking to a lot of people today though about my work and this new perspective. It’s quite the buzz around town – literally!
Can you see me now? I started with an easy one.
Mobile Office
My office “window” for the day (that’s Shenandoah National Park in the distance). Today was the first race I shot with the new camera and it was certainly a challenge. At times I was shooting with three different cameras almost simultaneously. It’s a crazy concept to shoot with the quadcopter. When I needed to shoot with my wide on the ground, I would simply elevate the drone and let it hover until I was finished shooting – weird. I really only shot video with it because I didn’t want to miss an actual still shot from the ground. It was photog multi-tasking to the extreme. And loads of fun!
By the way, race photos are being posted here.
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Alma Mater
While my laptop is on the fritz (my GFX processor has all but blown up), it’s next to impossible to do anything creative while I’m traveling. I shot some amazing images this evening at James Madison University (my alma mater), but am essentially “flying” blind in post. I have absolutely no idea what this actually looks like (until, of course, I post it and look at it on one of my mobile devices. So, here goes…
Foreground
I like to shoot sunrises and sunsets. I’ve said this before. But after a while, as with anything, it gets harder and harder to shoot it differently. Granted, each sunset and each sunrise is different, but how do I create something unique. A big deal for a perfect composition is to have depth to your images and that’s done by introducing foreground elements. That’s kinda tough when your camera is 250 feet up in the air. I just wonder if I’ll get any backlash from this image because of how close I was to it.
By the way, if you live in the Winchester-Frederick County area of VA (and maybe even if you’ve driven through), you’ve seen this water tower along I-81 at exit 310.
New Series?
I think I should try my hand at a “series.” What do you think?
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Annie Lisle
I’ve posted “One-A-Day” since January 1 and have yet to actually post a video. It’s about time I did. I’ve been collecting plenty of video footage over the past couple weeks with this new drone and had an idea to create some school videos for various local high schools and universities. What better school to start with than the school that both my kids and my wife attended – John Handley High School. And what better music to accompany than the alma mater. I wonder how many people really know the origin of this tune. The original lyrics don’t really paint a pretty picture, but I’ll leave that up to you to research.
You may know it as “the ubiquitous alma mater song used by almost every school in the universe.” – +oldwhtman
I looked all over for this song and all I could really find was the Kellerman’s Anthem from Dirty Dancing. Or a university glee club singing their own lyrics. Thank goodness for YouTube! And thank you +oldwhtman for allowing me to use your performance of it.
Daredevil
Shhh, don’t tell anyone. You’re not really allowed to fly over 400 feet, but I just really wanted to see what it could do. It’s kinda like the sports cars (or most cars for that matter). If the speed limit is 70 here in the states, why make a car that can do 184?! Somebody, somewhere is going to put it to the test. It just has to be done.
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Curiosity
“Curiosity is the wick in the candle of learning.”
– William Arthur Ward
It definitely draws attention. Glad these kids had some fun with it. It’s always interesting to see people’s reaction to it when I rev it up.
Above All
You know when you look out your back window and you see those colors of the sunset and think “wow, that’s an awesome sunset?” Well, you’re right, it is an awesome sunset.
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Cedarmeade Studios 