The psychology of aerial photography

[Hands Down]

Because my pass said "media" a lot of visitors thought I was a news photographer, and would even stop other visitors walking in front of my tripod. Listening to an old lady tell off a rather loutish family for poor manners (stopping right in front a photographer's camera) was amusing — she had perfect manners, a calm voice, and was sooo scathing.

That’s a great story. I do think there’s really something to having the confidence that having a feeling of professional purpose brings. I’m going to try to change my thinking away from “recreational” here (even if it still is) and see if it helps.

No Karens or Kens but who's going to bother a fat, 84 yr old guy with a cane.

Nice video by the way! I hope that when I’m 84 - if I even make it there -that I’m still healthy and mentally with it enough to have a hobby like this, rather than being stuck in a room watching reruns of Judge Judy or something.

 

[JoelP]

Yes, we are living in a stressful age all over the world. Gradually, we have come to learn to adapt to it. In my home area (South Florida and the beautiful city of Miami), I have never seemed to run out of new projects where I can easily create a 3 minute drone video with a combination of other media (gimbal, timelapse, Osmo action, Osmo Pocket, etc).

Today, in the US, we are all remembering the terrorist 9/11/2001 attacks, where two New York Skyscrapers were brought down and 3000 innocents lost their lives. That has changed everything. Historically, if you are 21 years old or less, it is only history to you.

I also feel fortunate in being able to travel a lot, and it is becoming my favorite flying venue, e.g.: various places around the world. I recently spent 6 weeks in the beautiful state of Montana which is so big and vast that I think you could literally place the entire UK or at least a large part of it. I have upcoming plans to travel to the Middle East where drones will get you into jail for a year and permits are nearly impossible to obtain. (Next March,2023, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Jordan). So I am making peace with myself and leaving the drone at home. Other planned trips include the Canadian Rockies next August, which is extremely photogenic but extremely restrictive to drone flying. Again, I am making that decision to leave the drone at home. I have learned to fly as legally as possible, adapt where I need to, and deny myself the drone when I would put myself in risk and jeopardy.

We all yearn for a plainer and simpler life than existed years ago but we cannot roll back the clock!

I keep trying to fly where permitted, but always STEALTH. No sense tempting the Karens out there.

Dale

I expect that with all of the gear that you own you must have the latest DJI Pocket gimbal. With that you will capture lots of video for new projects. Have a great trip!

 

[maggior]

That said, I struggle a bit with which is better: being stealthy vs. just being obvious and projecting confidence while still not doing anything to grab unnecessary attention.

This is the approach I've chosen to take and it works for me. I go off to the side to be courteous so I don't get in anybody's way or bother anybody, but at the same time I'm not trying to hide.

Last night I did some night flying in the park while my son had soccer practice. I went to an empty part of the parking lot but I gotta believe folks noticed the bright flashing green, red, and white lights as I turned them on. Plus when landing it looks like I'm being abducted by aliens as I hand catch and the landing light comes on But maybe nobody noticed because most folks are just wrapped up in their world.

I think it's like anything else; if you just show some basic common courtesy and take other people into consideration, it goes a long way. Sadly this seems to be in short supply these days.

 

[vindibona1]

Yes, we are living in a stressful age all over the world....

We all yearn for a plainer and simpler life than existed years ago but we cannot roll back the clock!

Dale

No, we cannot roll back the clock. But we don't need more any more intrusiveness by others, often hiding behind "official" credentials, trying to control every aspect of our individual lives, particularly while ignoring the REAL problems that exist in the country and the world. For you and me, the game is more toward the end than at the beginning. But it's not too late for our children and grandchildren to check the growing "Borg" that we are witnessing right now. You and I remember a different time when we lived by "Respect. [Individual] Responsibiility. Resourcefullness". Again, while we cannot roll back the CLOCK, we can try our hardest to make folks understand what made that time less stressful.

 

[Deleted member 77603]

Lots of forest road trips, walks along beaches, researching areas on airmap, etc