If you knew what you were looking at you could see almost the entire course of yesterday’s Battlefield Half Marathon.
This is the “view” from my house – well, at least from straight above my house.
DJI
Because
Well, simply because I can. You know you’ve used that excuse at some point in your life, right?
Recon
A little course recon this morning for the Battlefield 1/2 this weekend. Hope the weather forecast is good for Saturday morning cuz I’m hoping to get some good running aerials.
Kernstown Battlefield near Winchester, VA
81
So I was driving down the interstate highway and got the urge to take this photograph. So I did. Its pretty colorful along our section of 81.
Our colorful section of I-81 near mile marker 309.
Cold
It was such a cold day for a football game. I know most people would say it was perfect weather for a football game, but not me. I’ve certainly become a fair-weather person in my “old” age. But the sunsets are no less spectacular – that’s one reason I could photograph the sunset every day. Maybe that’ll be my theme for all of next year – what a challenge.
Aerial HDR
So it’s tough enough to handhold an HDR image, but given a choice between handholding and aerial HDR – I choose handheld. Even with the 3-axis gimbal guiding the camera, the aerial cam just can’t hold still enough. I probably spent about 20 minutes trying to eliminate all the ghosting in this image (and could have easily spent another 1/2 hour). Enough’s enough. This will have to do. I think I’ll just stick to the one image post-processing using the raw data straight out of the camera.
I just realized that was an incredible amount of technical geek-talk. It’s late at night – thanks for listening. Now just enjoy the image.
Fall On The Mall – Old Town Mall in Winchester, VA.
Nature’s Palette
It’s nature’s color palette. What a great time of year to be a landscape photographer.
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Morning’s Here
“Morning’s Here
The Morning is Here
Sunshine is Here
The Sky is Clear
The Morning’s here (hey you’re back!)
(Hey!) Get into Gear
Breakfast is near
The Dark of Night Has Disappeared”– Joey & his neighbor (Friends)
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Favorite
Another awesome sunset over what has turned into my favorite place to shoot these days. Go figure.
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Second Spring
“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.”
– Albert Camus
The peaking foliage over Abram’s Creek in Winchester, VA.
Peak
Anybody have an issue saying the word “foliage?” I worked with someone once who did. Anybody have a guess as to who it was? I wonder if she’s reading now. Anyway, the fo·li·age [ˈfōl(ē)ij] is about to peak here in Winchester. Hope the weather holds for some great images.
The foliage on SU campus in Winchester around Wilkins Lake.
Rise and Shine
This is how I started my day – actually about an hour and a half prior to this. Long day for me.
HLSB (Shenandoah University’s Health and Life Sciences Building). | Order a print of this image.
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.
Always Learning
I’m a big fan of learning through workshops and tutorials and the like. I’m always on the lookout for new learning opportunities because you never know what you may learn even in a workshop or on a tutorial where you may think you know everything there is to know. Even if you do know most of the material, chances are there’s going to be some tip or shortcut mentioned that really has nothing to do with the overall content but you never knew about. I learn so much this way.
It’s been around for a long time, but I’ve just started really diving in to any and every new class being offered through CreativeLive. If you’re a creative type, are looking and haven’t found it yet you should check it out. For real. I just actually watched parts of a workshop on aerial photography. There’s a whole ton of stuff on there for all sorts of creative type endeavors.
I’ve been doing aerial panoramas for a while now, but picked up a few tips recently on further reducing noise in my low-light images. | Order a print of this image.
Do Something With It
When I started shooting (both video and stills) I would just shoot anything and everything. I had no vision and real purpose for what I was shooting. I shot because, well, I could. I see so many people these days shooting video and stills and I always wonder what they do with it. My philosophy these days is “why shoot if you’re not going to do anything with it.” It doesn’t have to be posted on a social media site. It doesn’t have to be on broadcast TV. It could simply be shared with friends around the kitchen counter, but do something with it, otherwise it was pointless to shoot it in the first place. IMHO.
I choose to share mine online. My original intent for purchasing an aerial camera was to shoot cyclocross racing. So here’s a first look at a couple of cross races I’ve shot this season. I actually plan on putting together a piece for the Psycho Cross race – a sort of promo of sorts. Order a print of the featured image here.
TBT
The photo isn’t really a throwback, but the place is. Todd Lake (the lake is directly below the camera) in the George Washington National Forest – it’s where I spent a lot of my childhood. I picked wild blueberries and ate them off the plant. I’d walk through the forest and get drinking water from the creek. My brothers and I would sit on top of my grandmother’s bronco and pick/eat persimmons from the tree. And I learned to drive said bronco in the field. I remember going up there every couple weeks to mow the huge field – I also learned to use a riding mower there, too. I spent the day up there shooting yesterday with my dad and my dog Waldo. Good times.
The cabin, where I spent a lot of my youth, sits at the bottom of the clearing in the middle of the image.
Maps
I’ve got a series of images that I’ll eventually combine to create a “mapping” image of the Psycho Cross course in Sykesville. There’s so much that’s cool about this venue, but what’s really awesome is that if I look up the address on my iPhone/Mac maps I can actually see the worn areas that mark the race course. Check it out.
Setting
I was near downtown today when the sun began setting. It pays sometimes to keep the gear in the car.
The new Discovery Museum in Old Town Winchester
Psycho
I’ve shot here for several years now at the annual Psycho Cross cyclocross race and I look froward to it every year. I enjoy shooting cycling, no doubt, but I really enjoy shooting this property. And this year I have a new angle of view! Just a little preview of what I’ll be shooting tomorrow.
One of the open windows at the Warfield Complex in Sykesville, MD. | Order a print of this image.
Water
There’s something about flying over water that unnerves me, but holy crap the results are worth it!
I’m on the shore directly opposite the boat.
Cedarmeade Studios 