Why We Fly

As artists and photographers we tend to be an opinionated lot.   Some folks are pro this brand of camera and have what appears to be contempt for other brands.  I think this is typical of human nature,  I have noticed this type of rivalry around favorite sports teams.  I think when we become passionate about something, we can not help but be opinionated as well.  I'm not seeking to change any of that with a short blog post, but perhaps some perspective on why we fly drones and the occasional push back we hear from photographers and others that find flying drones somehow offensive. 

First why we fly.  I must admit I enjoy flying and at this point I'm over 100 flights and it's been a long time since I had an accident.  There was the time where I crashed into a tree.  I was suffering from a bit of overconfidence in my flying abilities and that was a good lesson.  As such I fly a bit more carefully these days.  Also I recommend that people get a cheap quadcopter to learn on before spending the big bucks on a real drone.   Yes I crashed a couple of times while learning. 

DJI is the market leader in the drone market and their products are very easy to fly.   The crafts are GPS stabilized and this makes flying much easier.  The craft goes just where you send it and you don't have to worry about the craft drifting or being pushed from moderate winds.  Without the GPS, flying under these conditions would be challenging without experience.  So yes there is a learning curve and like anything else the more you do the better you get as a pilot. 

Back to the reason we fly (both Denise and I fly).  Flying a drone gives us a vantage point that would not be available otherwise.  For instance, the roof of the Waterside Woolen Mill feature above.  When we were in Palouse this past summer Denise took a shot of the Miller House that is otherwise not available.  The reason it is not available is because the family that farms the field the house sits on is adamant that photographers shoot from the road and not step on to the field.  Her shot of the Miller house was one of the best taken during that trip in my opinion. 

When I started flying I liked to shoot down on the subject, what is commonly called top down from altitudes of a 100 feet or so.  Denise has a different approach,  she prefers to shoot at heights that are much closer to earth, perhaps 10 of 20 feet off the ground, This can give much different perspective than you would get just shooting from a standing height.  I find today that I do a combination of top down and much closer to earth.  But please don't tell her that she was a positive influence on my shooting style... 

 Back to people who do not share our love of drone photography.   Most of the time when I'm flying, assuming there is anyone around, people are curious and generally positive.  However, I also hear negative comments from time to time.  I think the best way is for people who fly to do so responsibly.  There are a number of rules and regulations regarding the flying of recreational drones and it makes sense to be aware of these rules and fly responsibly. 

If you would like to start flying, DJI is currently having a sale on their products. 

Return to the Familiar

A few weeks ago we hosted a meetup at a place we call the Truck Farm.   It's a wonderful collection of a couple hundred old trucks.  Since I have made several trips to this location it would be easy to say I have all the shots I need and then move on to photographing something else, but I like returning to old favorite locations for a number of reasons.  I think first and foremost the thing I like most is sharing really cool places with fellow photographers.  Also I usually find some new angles and compositions to shoot. 

Crash Test

When you are a photographer you like to take pictures.  There are different ways to say this, I prefer to make images rather than take images.  To me this implies I try to put effort into my craft and not just stand there and click a button.   I mean no criticism of others when I say this, it is just how I view the process.  

Several months ago I had an opportunity to watch a crash test at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.   It was not my first crash test, over the last 20 years I have seen several.  But this time I decided to take my camera after first making sure it was okay to do so.   I was told pictures are fine, just don’t post online before the Institute releases the crash data for this particular vehicle.

Having witnessed crash tests before I knew the layout of the crash hall and how the hall will be lit and more importantly the vantage point that is available to spectators.   The car is accelerated toward an offset barrier using a catapult.  Just a few feet short of the barrier the vehicle is released so it impacts the barrier under its own inertia.  The engineers make the vehicle hit the barrier at precisely 40 mph.   With the car located down an enclosed ramp from the crash hall, it makes the several hundred feet or so trip to impact.  It is worth noting the crash hall and ramps are climate controlled and the crash test dummies are put in the cars only moments prior to the test.  The dummies have specific requirements for temperature.   This is just a small part the highly scientific work these researchers and engineers conduct.    Crash testing is a lot more than just running a car into a barrier.

Getting back to the crash test and how I planned to shoot it.   Remember I’m trying to craft an image and not take myself too seriously when I say this.  The car starts accelerating toward the barrier and you only have a few seconds before impact.   From my vantage point I figured I would shoot high speed multiple shots and blend them in Photoshop.   I could have used the 10 shop multiple exposure setting in my camera, but since I only had one shot at this, I decided I would just let the camera run at 9 frames per second and I would blend them later.  My other option would be to use a slower shutter speed and hope for some motion blur,  perhaps next time.   Hopefully there will be a next time…

In case you are wondering  the photographers at the IIHS use a medium format camera with a digital back that is triggered by a switch placed on the floor just in front of the barrier.   They only get one shot, but it is at the decisive moment.  The bright lights overhead also allow for incredibly high speed video cameras that  shoot the crash from multiple angles.  

The Palouse in Color

In my last Blog I focused on the use of an Infrared Converted Camera and how the Palouse is perfect for Infrared photography.   In this blog I want to share a few of my color images from this trip.  As I mentioned in the last blog we love the Palouse!  The diversity of the landscape and almost every day has beautiful clouds.  This trip we were treated to some incredible storm clouds as well.

P.S.   If would like to see a few more color images from the Palouse, head on over to the Road Runner Blog.

The Ever Changing, The Ever Constant Palouse

We just finished up what has become our bi-annual tour of the Palouse.  For those who don’t know the Palouse it is the largest wheat growing region in the country.  But we love the Palouse for its large rolling hills that resemble the shape of sand dunes. The farmers in the Palouse also grow a variety of legumes and canola but wheat is the primary crop.  The fields are often partially planted which presents a ribbon of color and textures.  Throw in some iconic barns and we think you end up with a photographers paradise.

The ever constant part of the Palouse is its iconic small towns, dirt roads and farms.  With each visit so much remains the same.  The people are very friendly and welcoming, very little seems to change.
The ever changing part of the Palouse can partially be attributed to its current popularity.   During the pre-tour scouting tour we happened upon a favorite old farm site to find the smoldering remains of a beautiful red barn.  We asked a nearby farmer if he knew what happened, but he did not.  In talking with some of our friends who also lead workshops we heard of a second barn that burned to the ground and we heard rumors of another photographer who was doing woolies in the area.  We have no way to know for sure that this beautiful old barn succumbed to a such a fate,  but it would not be the first time in recent memory that an iconic location was damaged from this technique.   (Full disclosure, we occasionally shoot woolies, but we always do it in a safe and responsible manner.)

We rolled up on another favorite location during our pre-workshop scouting that had signs posted “No Photos”.  This owner has a restored Texaco station on his property with a nice collection of old trucks.   We have visited this location several times over the last few years.  But it seems a large workshop group invaded the property at 6:00 AM recently, not considering this this is also this gentleman’s home.    As I mentioned above, the people of the Palouse are very friendly and will welcome strangers onto their land, but the key is to seek permission.   This past trip I had several people thank me for asking.  I assume that is because there are others who don’t ask for permission.

I think most landscape photographers subscribe to the “Leave No Trace” Philosophy that is asked of us when we visit a national park.   We need to remember to keep that same philosophy in mind whenever we shoot.   If you sign up for a trip with us, please know in advance that we do not trespass on private property and we treat and expect our clients to treat the landscape like the treasure that it is!

In spite of the bad behavior of just a few,  the Palouse is still a wonderful place to visit.   The area is so vast and the photographic opportunities so numerous we look forward to returning in 2019.

P.S.  The image above was shot with my Nikon D200 converted to standard Infrared by Lifepixel.  We highly recommend Lifepixel for IR Conversions!   Click here for info;

Iceland Part II

We just returned from our second tour to Iceland this winter.  Our first tour was in December and our second was about a month later in January.   In this case what a difference a month makes. During our first trip temperatures were almost summer like and we had a lot more rain than we would have liked.  A month later the temperatures were in the teens for the early part of our tour and instead of rain we had snow.

The good news was we were finally able to get into the ice caves.  Denise has posted images from the Ice Caves on our Facebook Page.

The shot above was from our first afternoon with the group.  It was very windy and as a result the seas were quite stormy.

We will return to Iceland this August and we still have one spot available!

Iceland Bound

The blog has been a little quieter than we would like,  so an update is overdue.   We finished another fantastic year making images and leading photography tours with a week in Iceland being our last tour of the year.  The image above was shot at Oxararfoss in Thingvellir National Park in Iceland.  

December was a bit on the warm side for Iceland and as a result there had been no snow.  The only disappointment was the Ice Caves were flooded due to warm temperatures and rain.  But as a result of the warmer temperatures the glacier lagoon was not frozen and we had lots of ice chunks on the black sand beach.   So Mother Nature took one thing from us but gave us another.

We leave again in a couple of days for another week in Iceland.  What a great way to end one year and start another!