Photo Assignment: From the Sky

A whole new perspective on photography

A drone is just a camera with wings. Or propellers, I guess. Just like, to a cat, a bird is just a mouse with wings. It’s all your perspective.

And yes, I now have a drone. It’s been about six or seven weeks since I bought the device and four weeks since I passed my FAA Part 107 UAS (Unmanned Aircraft System) exam, which means I’m now a licensed drone photographer. Without going too deep, the reason I did this was that, as a real estate photographer, when a real estate agent wants aerial photography or video, I had to hire a friend of mine, Tony, who is a great guy and a terrific drone pilot. But it meant I made no money off of his services, and I wasn’t having the fun he was by flying his drone around, snapping off photos from the sky.

I knew this was coming, and I’m glad it’s here. Since I received my UAS certificate, I’ve done several real estate photoshoots that included drone shots. Some of them were part of the job, and others I just included to expand my flying experience.

That’s all good and well, but to me, the real fun of being a drone photographer is the world that having a flying camera opens up. It’s an entirely new perspective on taking photos and videos, and it’s fun.

One thing I’ve heard among drone pilots is not “if” you crash your drone, but “when.” So far, so good! I haven’t crashed and haven’t even had any close calls. But this post isn’t about the drone or the rules of flying or FAA-regulated airspace. It’s more about some of the images I’ve captured in the last few weeks.

Let’s start with this one: I headed out east of Salem to see what I could find and came across the Gilkey Covered Bridge. Oregon is home to dozens of these old bridges, and this was a great opportunity to explore with my winged camera a bit:

Gilkey Covered Bridge in the Willamette Valley

But to back up a bit, the very first place I flew the drone was in Keizer Rapids Park. I have to say it was exhilarating to put that little DJI Mini 4 Pro in the air for the first time:

Keizer Rapids Park

My next stop a few days later was east of Salem over some farmland, where I came across an old cemetery:

Farmland and rural roads east of Salem

Back in Salem, I took the flying lens to Riverfront Park:

Riverfront Park, Salem, Oregon

The weekend after Mother’s Day, I was camping with friends at a cool campground on the Deschutes River on the Warm Springs Reservation in central Oregon, so of course, I got up early to take some images:

Camping on the Deschutes River in Central Oregon

To close out this week’s post, a bit on the video capabilities of the drone, which can do programmed shoots based on some damn sophisticated software. For example, in one program, it takes what it calls “hyper-lapse” images, and then assembles the images into a short movie. Timelapse, basically. And the drone stays in place while it snaps the images. This 17-second video took 17 minutes to capture as it took a frame every two seconds. I purposely timed this so it would catch the rays of the rising sun coming over the ridge, illuminating the treetops. I got lucky with some unexpected visitors at the very end:

This week, while shooting some aerial videos and stills for a client, I realized that I’ve made a lot of progress in a very short time. My comfort zone while flying the drone has increased dramatically, my array of shots and videos is more thorough and better, and I imagine it will only get better from here.

Loads of fun, no doubt, you’ll see more of my aerial photography in the future!