I hope you’re able to get out there and enjoy the holiday weekend. Our fireworks display in Winchester was tonight. This was my first “official” shooting flight from my house and I’m diggin’ my view! I wish I could have gotten just a little bit closer to the fireworks so they don’t come off looking so small, but I was already 1200 feet away from my launch site and at my max ceiling. I suppose it’s not so bad because I didn’t have to leave my back yard.
This image makes me think about what it must have looked like before we came along.
You’d never finish anything if they keep calling it commencement. Just a thought.
Congratulations to all graduates today – including my daughter!
Life has no remote. Get up and change it yourself.
Normally you’d see all the parents gathered around taking their own pictures, but I wanted something different. It took me a while and it’s far from perfect. This was one of those projects where I did it just to see if I could.
My daughter makes it known (daily) that she only has about a week left in school before she’s finished. She likes stating that she (as a senior) finishes before the rest of the school. That means I only have 8 more school days of taking her to school. I’ve been driving her to school for the past couple years. That’ll be weird to not have to do that anymore.
Hey, it’s an aerial shot of a school that’s not Handley! This is Blue Ridge Middle School in Purcellville, VA.
I think I’ve discovered a new, fun way for shooting fireworks. I was just going through my Apple Blossom images and stumbled upon this one – at first I thought it was no good, but I like it.
There’s definitely a dichotomy when it comes to Apple Blossom. I know people who avoid it like the plague and I also know people who go to every single event. Regardless of how you feel about it here’s a little aerial eye candy to start your week.
note – make sure you click the little gear wheel and watch in HD
This was my 21st year of Apple Blossom Festivals. I realize that’s still fewer than a lot of people, but when you want to shoot unique images, it starts to get difficult. Every year I think to myself “self, there’s nothing new to shoot. You’ve seen it. Yep, that’s another fire truck.” But this year I got to see a different vantage point. Yep, you guessed it – here’s a bird’s-eye view of that same parade.
A fun new perspective on an annual event in Winchester, VA.
I wanted to get some “before” images and the sunset was perfect today. Can’t wait to really test out the low-light performance of this rig. The video is gonna be off-the-chart awesome!
The beginning stages of set-up and prep for the carnival at this year’s Apple Blossom Festival.
“How far can you go with that thing?”
It’s inevitable – people want to know how far this thing goes. And I was bitten by that bug when I first started using these aerial cameras last year. My answer has shifted now and is more in line with being creative and practicing common sense and a lot of safety. It’s no longer about how far it goes, but more about what kind of imagery can I get from it? Where can I put it to shoot totally different perspectives? How can I differentiate myself from every other photographer out there?
By the way, it goes pretty far!
I’m standing on the front steps of Handley. Line of sight becomes an issue this far out so I didn’t go any farther (but I wanted to).
I don’t know if it’s writer’s block or what, but sometimes I struggle with my posts. Or even figuring out what to write. I’m sitting here staring at this image and am coming up short. Maybe I have nothing to say or maybe there’s too much to say. All I know is that I truly enjoy finding new images to make. There is an endless number of possibilities and I’m constantly drawn to this place.
I love how art is so subjective. I see what I see. You see what you see. It’s all up to the viewer. | Order a print of this image.
It was quite a day to fly a kite today. Thought I’d check out the FCPRD Kite Festival today in Sherando Park. A little nerve-wracking to fly it around all those kit strings!
The aerial camera is definitely a people magnet.
Gotta get back into shooting every day. Slacker! <— Spoken in the best Principal Strickland voice you can muster.
I haven’t been consistent with my shooting these days and since I’m pretty much back to normal here at Cedarmeade Studios, I’m making that my goal moving forward. I may not post every day, but I’m going to shoot every day which will inevitably lead to posting more. At least that’s what I’m hoping.
Is that the “something wicked” that’s coming this way? | Order a print of this image.
No, I’m not afraid of heights. I’m terrified of the imminent probably of my death and/or dismemberment from the fall.
I want to say thank you to all the firefighters this weekend for making me feel welcomed to their training burn in Clarke County especially Chief Jason Burns who let me shoot all over the place. I was so concerned about being in the way and, at every turn, there was somebody allowing me to be right in close to all the action. They even fed me lunch!
I came away with some awesome images and footage for their recruiting video. I produced a recruiting video 5 years ago and this one will be a complete refresh of that one (in the same style).
A big shout out to Zayna Elhady for allowing me to buzz her with the aerial camera and also for letting me post the image here.
Before anybody gets too upset, the camera was really nowhere near the cupola. Photographers use compression all the time – it’s what makes objects in z-space look so much closer than they really are. A longer lens will make the objects’ relative size so drastically different and they appear closer to each other. I was using a 400mm lens (which, on my crop frame camera is essentially a 640mm lens). I was probably 40-50 meters away from it.
I always err on the side of caution. I quickly grabbed this shot and then got the heck out of there.
Every morning I sit at my desk and watch the sun rise from inside. It looks awesome, but today I wanted to do it properly. I also have to do some night shooting with the Inspire 1 to test its low-light capabilities. I’m thinking it’s going to impress.
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Did you have your pie today, we did. Blueberry – YUM!
The image has nothing to do with Pi Day – just thought the sky was awesome tonight. This is directly opposite the actual sunset! Order a print of this image.
I know my pilot friends are gonna hate me, but I just wanted to test the limits. The whole flight took less than a couple of minutes. The Inspire 1 has incredible propulsion and it descends almost as fast. I was nervous the entire time (for what it’s worth).
My depth perception is always a little off when I’m flying this thing. Since it’s a pretty wide-angle lens, it’s really difficult to gauge where exactly I am in z-space. But it makes for some really cool angles and images when I can figure it out.
The iconic cupola at Handley High School
Can you spot the drone? It may be a little tough to see.
Did I make you look (come on…be honest)?
Looking forward to the longer days! Yippee, we made it through the dark days of Winter!
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