So now I have the freakin’ “Memories” song going through my head because I was trying to think of something profound to write about memories! Ah well.
All day. That song’s gonna be bouncing around in my head all day!
Images
Kite Fest
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.
Compression
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.
Waking Up
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.
Order a print of this image.
Pi Day
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’m High
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).
Angle of View
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
Look Harder
Can you spot the drone? It may be a little tough to see.
Did I make you look (come on…be honest)?
Daylight
Looking forward to the longer days! Yippee, we made it through the dark days of Winter!
Order a print of this image.
Inspired
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.
Delay
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?!
The Last Supper
No. Not that last supper. I know that’s the end of this season.
I’m talking about the meals that we’ve been receiving for the last couple weeks since I came home from the hospital. What an awesome outreach from my church. We’ve enjoyed some really great meals compliments of the Guardian Angels at First Presbyterian Church.
Last night was the last one and we’re so thankful to all those who brought us a meal in this frigid weather. Thank you.
Capturing The Cover
I’m always curious about what the scene really looks like in photographer’s scenes. Just going through some of my images as I prepare my year-long contract with Getty Images and I came across this one. This is the setup I had for capturing the cover image for Winchester City’s annual calendar.
Capturing the cover
Derailed
It’s been a week now since my surgery ended and I suppose I’ve made a good bit of progress. And although I’ve been slightly derailed from some of my early season goals, I feel I can easily get back on track. That track will forever be a different track though, now that I’ve faced a fairly significant life event. I know I’ll be much more motivated now to complete goals and to live an even more healthy life than I have been. Let’s face it, there’s always something more healthy we all can do.
I certainly have a changed perspective on various levels. For instance, I have a clearer grasp on how much pain my body can withstand. And this experience has certainly made me more focused on my physical health.
I haven’t had a real camera in my hand in almost two weeks and, believe me, I’m chomping at the bit to get back out there. I promise there will new images soon. Most of my Facebook Page followers have seen some of these images, but I wanted to put them here as well.
But more importantly, I’m focusing on my recovery and am thinking back on all the nursing staff that got me through it all. The care that I received from the nursing staff on the Step Down unit at Winchester Medical Center was just top-notch. What an intensive line of work that can really test one’s patience (ha!). Most of the time I really felt as if I was the only patient on the unit, they were that good.
So my sincerest gratitude goes out to the following nurses on Step Down unit at Winchester Medical Center:
- Danielle
- Stephanie
- Skylar
- Joe
- Annie
- Julie
- Dawn
- Amber
- Somer
I had never met any of them before and will probably never run into them again, but man it felt good to get the care I needed to get through this.
A thrombosed popliteal aneurysm caused my lower leg to start “dying.”
On the road to recovery.
Catch Up
My course just missed an entire week’s worth of class time. Gonna have to play catch up.
Yep, that pretty much sums it up.
From The Top
A view I grew up with near Harrisonburg – Reddish Knob. Road this mountain many times. By the way, hope you enjoy the new look.
Class
Since I’m teaching photography this semester I need to start making images that support the stuff I’m teaching. Today it was patterns.
Perspective
I know I used that blog title before, but hear me out.
I had a shoot at an undeveloped site today and got pretty excited that I found a place that was big enough to really test the range of the aerial camera. At one point I determined that I was about 1600 feet away from my launch point. Pretty cool and I was having a blast (getting some great footage, too).
Tonight I saw the movie American Sniper, which really makes you think about things differently. Anyway, if you follow the road in the upper middle of the frame (it starts with a left-hand bend) away from the camera to where the open field ends and the forest begins, that’s about the 1,600 feet. That’s still 4,700 feet short of the longest shot from Chris Kyle, the featured soldier in American Sniper!
Perspective.
Recipe
Look through your fridge/pantry and find all the leftovers, open bags of unused veggies, miscellaneous cans of soup and meat that needs to be used soon and just throw it in the crock pot. Turn it on high and you’ve made yourself a meal, right? Yeah, I just did that with this photo. Ha!
By the way, I’d throw that meal out and order a pizza…
Really?
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.
Cedarmeade Studios 