Just got the updated drone today. Not really enough time to put it through its paces. There’s an enormous library of learning videos they suggest I watch first. It makes sense that I’d need a pilot’s license for this stuff!
One of the first images from the DJI Inspire 1.
Due to extreme temperatures and weather conditions, Spring will be operating on a 2-month delay.
I’m giving up Winter for Lent. Who’s with me?!
I’ve looked forward to flying this thing while it snowed. Now that I have – meh…
I got the call that the city schools were called off so I got excited that it might make for some great images. Schools were cancelled because of this!?
This is as bad as it got today.
Photography is such a personal thing for me – it’s really taken over. There’s just something about it that’s satisfying and calming. I actually try to avoid taking anybody with me when I’m photographing because I know it must be painfully boring for anybody who’s with me. I could explore a scene for hours and still not feel like I’ve explored all of it.
There are just so many interesting things going on in this room.
Ah, the first snowfall.
I actually got a little freaked out about not posting an image yesterday. I certainly didn’t want to get out of the habit of shooting so I’m glad it snowed because I recently posted that I wanted it to so I could get some snow pictures.
Ta-da. Of course I shot Handley.
Order a print of this image.
Gonna have an image on one of those historical plaques you always see near historical monuments and buildings. Cool.
This image will be on the historical plaque outside my church in Old Town Winchester, VA.
Ever wonder what the split toning can do in Lightroom? Scroll down to see the “before” image.
Pretty boring “before” image
Well, this is it. At least for this year. I haven’t decided what I’m going to do as I move forward. My first thought is to continue. It’s such a large part of me now especially after 365 consecutive days of doing it. That’s a long streak. But my goal was 365 and I did it. So I may continue, but maybe not as intensively.
So, what did I accomplish. My initial goal was to stay active as a creative-type. I lost a job as the Creative Director of a TV station in December and instead of packing up the family and ripping my daughter out of her high school as a senior, I decided to stay put and figure something out. In the meantime, I needed to remain active so the 365 project was where I landed.
Starting out was a little rough. Here are some tidbits of advice – no explanation just tidbits. I discovered most of these in my research before I started. I get it now. I’m not including any explanations – just trust me.
You’ll develop the habit during the first month and before you know it, it’s December 31st.
Happy new Year Year!
I never understood the “First Night” naming convention. Shouldn’t it be “Last Night?”
Alright, I didn’t think I’d be saying it, but it needs to snow so I can jazz up my images.
I think I’m going to challenge myself to go on my next trip and ONLY bring the GoPro as my single camera. The challenge wouldn’t be in getting some great images. The challenge for me would be trying to leave everything else behind!
Most of my images this time of year would be jazzed up with just a little snow on the ground.
I took the new GoPro out tonight to determine if it’s worthy enough to be considered a decent camera in my photography tool box. I’ve made my decision. What do you think?
The “Beacon of Light” all decked out for the holidays. | Order a print of this image.
I know a lot of people aren’t big on the “creative” images full of filters that come off a cell phone these days – me included. But I’m a real sucker for a photo that has that graphic novel look to it.
I chose to only take my phone to the Christmas parade tonight. My thinking was that I’ve shot this parade for 6 years now and I always come home with the same shots. BORING!! So here’s what I came home with tonight.
The John Handley Marching Band in the annual Winchester Christmas parade.
I think it’s cool how you can sometimes see a rain storm way off in the distance. That’s what I saw here, only it’s a sun shower. One of these days I’m going to figure out how to shoot those rays so they look like they do when I’m looking at them.
This morning’s glow was pretty cool. It completely wrapped around the entire sky. So many times I’m so focused on the actual sunrise that I forget to do a 180 and check out the other view. It was tough to pick just one image so here are two.
It’s a real race to get in position for the sunset these days. The last buses from the school day haven’t even left the school, yet! It’s worth it though. I’m flying from the comfort of a heated vehicle these days. I wonder how easy it would be to fly from a moving vehicle. I suppose I should be even more careful now that the FAA is gaining ground with the NTSB, huh?
This one’s on my gallery site, too.
So it’s not graffiti. I thought it was something like a senior hallway that changes every year or something like that. Nope, it’s a wall of constellations. Yeah, look really closely. I always wondered what it was. And I’ve always wanted to take a photo of the cupola through the glass hallway. Here’s both – well, sort of…
The “bridge” at John Handley High School. | Order a print of this image.
Wow, that was just cool! When we first started talking about shooting some aerials of the entire student body of WPS, I thought sure it’ll be neat. That was just cool and a little overwhelming. To be honest, I was nervous until it was all over. Shooting aerials of that many people gathered in one space with an aerial camera makes me nervous. But we pulled it off. How about that?! And the camera was a huge hit. Kids love that stuff – and I’m including adults ‘cuz we’re just big kids, right?
The entire student body of Winchester Public Schools (roughly 4,400 students) gathered today for an aerial shoot promoting cultural diversity. The footage will be featured in a video to be shown in January on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
Well, simply because I can. You know you’ve used that excuse at some point in your life, right?
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
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.
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.
Cedarmeade Studios 