Jumping to get that image.

I posted an image in Facebook groups that I belong to and enjoy seeing others work and sharing my own, the image was called the Hobbit Field and I had pointed out that I wasn’t giving details of location as I normally do, so not to bring a big discussion over the image and maybe people not going about it in the right way doing something similar. So I’ve decided to explain in a blog post that makes it easier to explain and show images to help explain things in more detail.

The Hobbit Field

Top of the hill

Living in Bristol has most things that any thriving city needs, including places of beauty close by with rolling hills and lakes, but also includes a busy airport. 

There is a great location overlooking the South of Somerset and the beauty it holds that can be seen for miles at the top of Dundrey hill as it’s known, but has restricted views from the road and lay-bys it has, specially for someone like me in a wheelchair.

Sunset on Hobbit Field

Research NATS 

The NATS app also known as Drone Assist by Flight Angels gives a great view of the area with restrictions that are in place like CRT and FRZ that are the important ones to follow and understand. 

Having a CRT zone in my area that I fly regularly, I have the Air Traffic Control phone number in my phone and always ring them with my details and duration of flight. Some will say you don’t have to contact them, but I prefer to so they know I’m in the area if there was a aircraft emergency like what happened a week ago when a Easy Jet was had a bird strike abs had to make an emergency return to the airport that might of meant it didn’t stick to the routine flight area. 

With the FRZ you have to contact the air traffic control or file for permission through NATS via their website to gain permission. 

You need the coordinates of your point of takeoff and land abs give details of flight, time, contact number and do a risk assessment. 

Gaining Permission 

I contacted the Bristol Air Traffic Control beforehand to find out if a flight was possible from the location I had chosen and gave my details of A2 CofC certified, operator ID, drone, duration of flight, type of aircraft and maximum height as well as setting out cone off area and helipad to land on. My location is just over 2,000m from the FRZ so not actually in the space that would have needed me to file for a permission with NATS and can be decided by ATC. 

Image shows Airport flight zones and my location.

You can see from the image the airport zone and my location on the map.

I had to take into account that being on a hill that is 160m above sea level, this means I’m going to be that close to an aircraft coming over me. 

In my research I waited for an aircraft to fly over to see how close it would be, and I can say I could see nearly everything on the craft and the wheels were down ready to land! At the location using FlightRadar24, I could see the actual height at my location the aircraft would be 1300ft above me; that’s 396.24m and thats close

So my maximum height was thought to be maybe 50m but I changed this to under 20m to be extra safe.  

I did a small video but took over 180 images of the sunset which was the main purpose of the flight. I could of waited for for an aircraft to come overhead to capture an image with the drone, but this would had started a bee’s nest of accusations and feed into hysteria on what I had done, but I was not going to risk my license of the drone community to be destructive in doing so and see it as irresponsible, which I'm not. 

I used up one battery and as I had landed I got a call from the ATC to say another aircraft was inbound but I had decided not to fly anymore and thanked them for their time and support and they said anytime. 

My point of view. 

It might seem a lot of hassle but it was a couple of two minute calls with support from the ATC and doing a simple and logical risk assessment. Showing being responsible puts the positive into what could be the negative. If the pilot had seen me with high vis jacket on and a visible helipad, he might of given ATC a call with concerns but I believe that ATC gives the pilots the heads up of my presence and that I should not be of any danger to them in my drone being to high and could cause a collision. Respect is given when earned. 

This blog isn’t to exonerate myself from anything but to highlight what I did and why that has given me the benefit of an image that would be hard for anyone to do unless they follow the rules.

A2 CofC Drone Certificate Used First Time Used…

Why do the course?

For me, it's about my photography first and then videography. The new CAA regulations are now more about flying away from uninvolved people than structures or buildings and the A2 certificate I’ve done allows me with my Mavic Pro 2 to fly upto 50m closer to people than before, which was 150m. With that said I don’t want people in my images so my landscape photography work based around sunrise using this certificate in a built-up area, allows me to fly around places like the docks of Bristol that is an amazing place to photograph just from the land, but has got to be even better from the air, surely?

Bristol Docks from above…

Council - Bylaws - Permissions

To be clear, the A1 flights can only be conducted with drones with a MTOM of less than 250g. Flight overhead people (but not open-air assemblies) are allowed. But there is a transitional period on this where new craft will come under C0 and C1.

A2 allows for flights with a horizontal distance of 50m from uninvolved people and when transitional period comes into effect C2 will be able to fly 30m closer.

This all meant to happen in 2022 and if no class drones are available, then they return to the 150m rule for A2 class.

If there are clear bylaws that do not allow the takeoff or landing, this affects all drones, and some cities have or are looking to ban all drone flights. This in my view is a mistake as TV production companies and media use drones a lot these days and these cities are cutting themselves out of the marketplace.

With councils you can get permission to fly, and this is where my story begins.

Bristol City

I’ve lived here for more than 30 years now and have seen the dock’s area change so much with the new generation of the docks with businesses and accommodations, plus more boats moored in the docks because of this. 

Many years ago the docks was used for speedboat racing and brought a lot of business to the city, but was fazed out due to a number of accidents and some deaths. But now it has the harbour festival and a lot more activities.

Bristol also has been used for a number of drama productions, and this includes the use of drones in filming, so Bristol film department is used to drone permits being given out.

I’ve photographed around the docks for many years with a normal camera and then taking up the drone, it’s added a new dimension to my photography. So the new regulations that have come in has made this an exciting thing to maybe be able to fly and photograph the docks from above. 

M Shed Museum…

Bristol Film Department

The film department oversees the permits of filming in the city and includes the use of drones, but only dealing with Commercial pilots or production companies, as mentioned above, which use drone pilots and for the most part ask for large amounts of public liability insurance at 5 million to start with.

So when the new regulations came out, I contacted them to ask about the A2 certificate and could I fly? At first they were unsure of the certificate and needed to have meetings to look at this and get back to me. We had emails back and forwards for a few months and phone conversations as well. After many meetings with different departments like the harbour master etc, they came back and gave me a flight to see how this would pan out and agreed to public liability insurance of 1 million as the risks are lower, and would of been unfair on me to ask for higher liability for what I’m doing,

I had to supply locations of takeoff and landing as well as a risk assessment for each flight, but for those that are commercial pilots would be doing the same in most cases. For me to do this outway the benefits and something you learn to do in the course.

As a mention, the company that I went with to do the A2 course was AV8 Flight School. All these courses are online and you do it at your own pace and the final exam is also online and you get your results automatically and can retake the test if needed for free as many times as it takes. 

What made this possible is that my flights would be to capture the sunrise, which can start from 5am mid year to 6am winter time. It's important to understand that at these times, most if not all people would still be tucked up in bed and this is the main reason for allowing me to fly. Any other time would not be appropriate or safe to fly and guarantee I could stay 50m away from people. 

The Old Cranes still in use…

Possibilities For Other’s

This is just a test run and more talks I need to have with the department, but hopefully this will open up opportunities to other photographers that use drones to be able to do the same thing as I have done.

Drones are here to stay, and councils and the public need to see and understand that we are not looking to spy on them or be a nuisance, we are doing this for a purpose, to capture the places we visit and share with the world that in effect helps promote places and so feeds into the tourist industry and help bring growth and money to places like Bristol.

Not For Everyone

Lots of photographers are trying out drones, like the DJI MINI 2 as an affordable way into drones, but like all things cameras we start off and then invest in better gear, same can be said for drone pilots that want more from their drones.

The idea of spending nearly £2,000 on the drones with extras, doing a course for the A2, getting insurance and being under regulations, might be not for everyone, but those that are now looking into it, now know there is more they can do. Bristol is one city that has listened to a photographer who flies drones and is starting to embrace it for now.

If and when the new C class drones come out and allow you to fly closer to uninvolved people, it might change what I can do. The words ‘uninvolved people’ is a bit open in my view. Is it a single person, group of people and if so what is the maximum number before it becomes that? There still might be more changes to the regulations, which are set out by the CAA that we have to follow, till then we do what we can within the regulations as they stand.

I hope my images and videos inspire others to look into this more, and I hope to fly more in the dock’s of Bristol as it has so much more to be covered from above. 

The Beauty of Sunrise…

Introduction video and my first flight.

A glimpse of setting up for safety and to fit in with all the needs of the Council and the first flight, enjoy.

Getting to get that shot of sunrise - sunset at the right time

How to find out where the sun will be.

Technology has taken out the guessing game of when it’s going to rise or set, but also the direction you need to be to get that shot, and all you need is a phone and an app.

There are a number of apps that do the same thing I.e TPE or PhotoPills to name two.

Google Maps

So you have a location in mind, which you can use Google Maps to get a view from above.Google Maps can give you so much more information I.e roads, tracks, directions and time it will take to get there, all this information without having to drive there, only to be disappointed.

Finding location.

So this is a screenshot below shows the ground view that you can click on. You ca look 360* around and as you can see the gate giving me a view of what the scene looks like from that angle, but then how do I know where the sun will set from this angle?

TPE or PhotoPills

This is where TPE or PhotoPills can give you that info as the direction of where the sun will fall, but not only that, it gives me the time of the “golden hour”, which is a great time to capture reflective light on the landscape, and the time of the actual sunset.

Overview of sunset with TPE

So the screenshot above gives me a full overview of where the sun will be from the location I will setup from.

Zooming in

So by zooming it I can see more detail, but also below it shows the time of the golden hour which is a great time for that golden reflection on things like trees and grass, as well as elevation as the sun comes down and precise time it will meet the horizon.

So with Google Maps and apps like TPE, it gives me the information of how long it will take me to travel to that location and I can factor that into what sort of time I need to arrive and gives me time to set up and. The view also helps me think about what lens I can use with my normal camera or what kind of height I need to go to for a good image. Also what kind of ND filter will be best for shots.

Sample Images from shoot.

So these were taken with my Sony A99II with my Tamron 70-200mm SP f2.8 on a tripod with a PolarPro QuartzLine CP Polarizer filter, which is great for reducing lens flare and giving great saturation to the images and using a wireless remote, so I don’t get any camera shake in the images if they are taken at a low shutter speed.

Panoramic image

Landscape tree partially under water.

Golden hour sunlight on trees

If I was using my Mavic Pro 2, I would have used either my PolarPro ND16 or ND32 with ISO 100.

Sunset almost touching the trees

I gave myself half hour to sit and look at the scene around me so that I knew what I was going to photograph, why, because the golden hour actually at this time of year is around three quarters of an hour, so time moves quickly as your shooting and moving the camera to each point of view and taking images that you hadn't thought of.

Never be scared to revisit a location.

I actually went the day before these images were taken as we have had a sand storm come across the southwest and I had got down there, but as the sun got to 20 minutes before setting, it disappeared! But I still took some shots and it gave me the chance to think about the next time, which turned out to be the next day. Also the sun is quite large at this time of year and adds for a different image than later in the year and also the sun will set in a different location.

This is one of the great things about an app like TPE or PhotoPills that lets you look into the future of the month or year to see where the sun will rise or set.

Exploring location doesn't mean you have to travel just for the sake of it, using technology that is at your fingertips by researching through apps can set you up from your armchair, so enjoy

Improve The Use of Your Smart Controller

Disclaimer: I’ve not been given any products to endorse them or any payment to do this review.

Monitor - Tablet Holder

So you’ve bought a DJI drone and spent over a thousand pounds and you decide the mobile phone screen is just not big enough to see what you're recording or photographing. There are a few ways to go, use a tablet, monitor or DJI Smart Controller by itself or attached to a monitor. 

The other thing is there a number of controls to use for flying and moving the gimbal, and you need to make everything smooth looking all at the same time. Some people are really good at this, while others have difficulty because of problems with their hands or disabled in one way or another that make the whole experience difficult.

In my situation, I'm wheelchair bound and have problems with one hand, but I still manage to do a half decent job as many in my position do. Maybe you have problems and have been put off getting a drone, but maybe this blog might help you change your mind.

Buying accessories is a learning situation. A Tutor once told me when I was doing a photography degree that I would buy one tripod, then put that in the cupboard and then buy another and do the same till I found the one that was perfect for my needs, it's very true and the same in this instance with flying drones.

I must have got through at least 4 brackets to hold my tablet. Some were cheap and other expensive, till now I have found the perfect company that has tried different materials to make brackets and found that aluminium is perfect as easy to construct and stand the test of use of time over and again, that’s Thor's Drone World based in Norway.

LifThor Sif XXL

I’ve had two of their products, one was for the original controller for the DJI Mavic Pro 2 and the other I recently got for the DJI Smart Controller I invested in. The first one I had was the LifThor Sif XXL, which is all plastic and seemed good at the time and then I invested in the PolarPro Flight Deck that is aluminum. Have to say this is a good piece of kit but the connection between the main controller part to the tablet holder was a bit weak to take the weight of my iPad Air, but it did the job. 

Lockdown

We have all struggled with lockdown and the impact of the Covid-19 through 2020 and now 2021. In my situation, I have had to shield like many but have been touched by the dreadful pandemic and lost extended family members and friends have had it, but thankfully recovered. I worked out that I had been out 8 times back in 2020 and so far this year as I write this blog, I’ve been out once.

During this time I have tried to keep myself busy with setting up a YouTube channel to interview people within the drone industry as pilots in commercial and hobby. Keeping my gear primed with recharging batteries each month, and looking at what is new and going on.

December last year, I did my A2 CofC certificate as the legislation came in that has made flying or will make flying easier to do, than what we had before. It seems so long ago now we were complaining about having to register as pilots and our drones over 250grams.

The shock of a second lockdown and the loss of over 140,000 with death certificates stating they died of Covid since the beginning is unbelievable and so sad. But also the detriment to mental health is far greater, but with the vaccine now getting to all, is a good send, because according to scientist if this had been 10 years ago, we wouldn't have had the science or technology and life as we know it would be far worse and thank god it has not affected children as we would see numbers double or more.

But there is light at the end of this dark tunnel and we just have to work together for the greater good of the world as it's in our hands now!

So looking around at new things coming out, LifThor has been working hard to design new controller brackets and more.

DJI Smart Controller

Since the release of the controller, I wasn’t convinced it would be a good investment at a price tag of £579, but with research and seeing one in person made sense to invest as it's an all in one controller with screen and quick to set up and use. If there was a downside it would be the following:

• 5” screen

• Price

• Map

• Android

D

You may ask why. The screen for me, even though it's good, is a bit small with my eyes, but got used to it and can manage if needed. It’s a lot of money for what it is and hope that when they eventually bring out the C class drone that we can still use this controller and not another new one, as there is not much that they can improve in my view. I wish they had used Google Maps instead of MapBox. I know through research that a lot of companies from car navigation to apps use this map, but I just prefer Google. Android is not my choice as many apps using Android crash at first and take many updates to get sorted, the last thing you want is to be flying and the app crashes and you're left hanging with your drone in the air while it reboots. The Apple version has always been stable right from the start, but I guess it's all about licenses and cost.

With all that said, that battery lasts forever, a great screen like the Crystal Sky, but I’m still fingers and thumbs, but the sticks feel slightly more controllable than the original controller and overall much better feel to it.

LifThor SC Pro for DJI Smart Controller

LifThor SC Pro for DJI Smart Controller

Since my first encounter with Lifthor, I've subscribed to their website and was pleased to see one day this aluminium all-in-one bracket for the Smart Controller. It’s solid machined wrap around makes it easy to fix to the controller and makes use of the screw holes on the front side of the controller. The ability to add a tablet holder, which they also do, and is sturdy and easy to fit any size tablet and you can also add a monitor and they add a HDMI - HDMI lead in with the bracket and all the tools you need.

LifThor SC Pro for DJI Smart Controller

Now regarding cost, you have to take into account what you paid for the controller. If you were in the market for a bracket to make life easier to have the controller on a camera strap or some other form, you would want something that was solid and going to look after you Smart controller and not fall apart within a few months. So what price would you spend to protect it? £20, £40, £80? Well this bracket will cost you just over £64 plus tax since we have left the EU! So it's mid priced and in my view worth every penny as it's going to last, can’t break and could be fitted to a tripod or some other piece of gear that I will talk about later. Lifthor also gives a 2 year warranty on all its products, something you don’t see much with gear like this!

I originally bought this to fit my iPad Air using their bracket, but hit a dilemma in that I needed the Smart Controller, which is Android to talk to iPad Air that is IOS. so with a bit of research I found an app that works via WiFi to mirror the controller screen onto the iPad called ApowerMirror.

You have to have the Android version on the Smart controller that you download from the Google app store and put onto a micro SD card and then install it on there, then download the Apple version of the app onto the tablet, then open both up on each device and it does the job. It’s just a work around and even if you have an Android tablet you can do the same thing.

LifThor SC Pro for DJI Smart Controller

Going another direction, you could invest in a dedicated monitor like the Lilliput 7” 4K monitor which cost around £140 through Amazon. It’s much lighter than the iPad and has a brighter screen. Soon as you connect with the HDMI lead supplied by LifThor, it mirrors the Smart Controller screen.

The reason I did this was because the Smart controller screen is just a tad too small for my eyes and this worked for me to compose my images and flight, if you don’t have this problem, then great, but we all don’t have 20/20 vision, especially when we get older.

LifThor SC Pro for DJI Smart Controller

Lifthor do brackets for all sorts of controllers and is worth taking a look at their website as I feel they have thought outside of the box and want to produce good quality accessories that will last and be effective in what they are designed for.

Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better!

I’ve mentioned my disability and the problems that I have making those smooth transitions in flight with my drone, and would be great is having something stable to hold the Smart controller while I concentrate on flying and panning. 

StrapThor Pro Body Tripod

So LifThor have come to my rescue once again with their new ‘StrapThor Pro Body Tripod’. I know it's a mouth full but bare with me on this one.

This is a chest strap that allows you to connect the LifThor brackets to a chest plate that is adjustable in all sorts of ways, but it does more. It means that you can’t drop your expensive controller maybe while you're changing batteries, or having to move from one position to another. For me it gives me that platform, which means I can control my drone with procision and makes my flying better and easier. It’s such a simple idea but one that maybe many have been waiting for. Even if you’re a commercial pilot and working long periods of time and have to change batteries often, your hands are free and you don’t have to put down the controller, and if you do you can get the quick release that connects the bracket to the chest strap! 

I’ve not seen anything like this on the market and LifThor has hit the nail on the head with this piece of kit and adds to the quality of their other products as they will all work with this chest strap.

StrapThor Pro Body Tripod

No more neck ache from wearing a camera strap, no more juggling between putting the controller down safely while you change batteries.

Again with LifThor, everything is made from high grade materials and supplied with the tools to make adjustments. As for the price you have to think about how much you spent on your drone equipment in the first place and how best to protect it firstly and secondly its usability. The cost is £93.21 plus tax and I know that might seem a lot but think of it this way, you wont need to buy it again and if DJI keep to the Smart Controller when they bring out the next generation drone, you won't have to buy another bracket, but if you do, yo know LifThor will have it covered! 

Having the right tools for the job, is always something we look to improve upon, so we can make the best images or video. There are two things to a drone, flying and capturing and in most cases you have to do both at the same time. This is why it takes practice to enhance our skills, and accessories just make that slightly more achievable to reach new goals, a better workspace to create more than we thought we could.

Watch The Videos For A Real View of The Gear

So I’ve explained the gear, now watch the videos to see the Smart Controller Bracket in detail and the other video is coming soon covering the StrapThor Pro Body Tripod.

Visit via link: Thor’s Drone World

Drone tools to help you get that Sunrise - Sunset perfect shot

Introduction

I've been a photographer for over 12 years now and landscape photography is a great love of mine. For many years I used a camera on a tripod, but then a couple of years ago I got into fly drones for the purpose of doing landscape photography from a totally different composition from the air, and like all my work, I let the images speak for themselves.

Elements to the sun

With the sunset you have what is commonly called the golden hour before the sun actually sets, the times each year can vary, but it is still called the golden hour. This is the point the sun is redder and larger in some months than it is during the midday. The colours can vary and give this glow effect and the landscape shadows can bring things like the trees with long shadows and colour not seen at midday.  As the sun touches the horizon the colours change yet again and can produce magenta colours. But then after the sun has disappeared from the horizon it can take on another form and reflect the bottom of the cloud formations.

The sunrise is similar to a golden hour but kind of in reverse of the sunset, but either when photographing can mean you need to adjust your shutter speed or aperture to let in more light as it begins to get darker or ends darker.

Timing

We all know that at different seasons of the year the sun rises and falls either later or earlier, and knowing when the golden hour is about to begin is so important to you as the photographer to be onsite before this all happens, and that's where some really handy apps which can be useful so that your not late and miss these great views of the sun but also let you know where the sun will set on the location you have chosen to visit, or to help you work out where best to set up.

Here are some the best apps to try out

Taking a shot of a sunset with a clear sky can only work once, so having some cloud cover or mist to make the image more appealing, means you need to know what the weather is going to be like that evening or tomorrow morning.

Dark Sky App

This app offers what they call hyperlocal information, with down to the minute forecast and notifications.

On the day it offers the following information plus a seven day forecast:

• Temperature

• Feel-Like

• Precip Prob

• Precip Rate

• Wind

• Wind Gust

• Humidity 

• Dew Point

• UV Index

• Cloud Cover

• Pressure

Now some of the information might not be relevant but a lot of it is to help you decide whether to go out or not.

The App is available in iOS and Android and a paid version without adverts can be got.

PhotoPills App

This is a real photographer app with a lot of useful tools that maybe some of you might find useful. But to make a point that this app can tell you what time the sun is to rise and set and from what direction. It also uses AR so you can hold your phone up to see the direction and change of position during the period so you can decide if you want to change location to get another image from a different point.

It's available on iOS and Android but costs £9.99, but you do get a lot of useful stuff that you will find useful.

TPE (The Photographer’s Ephemeris)

This app has been around for a long time and one I started out with. Like PhotoPills, it shows you the information on the sun rise and set and use AR and you can also save points of interest or add a date with a reminder.

It's available on iOS and Android but a little bit more pricey on iOS but only £2.69 on Android.

Having the tools to research sites of interest like Google Earth, can give you a birds eye view of a location, and then the app NAT’s to research if there are any flight restrictions, and record your flight with them. The other apps help you decide on a date to go with and allows you to work out your journey time to get to the location before the events begin.

This image wouldn't of been possible without the research and apps to give me the times of the event and the weather conditions to be able to capture this with bags of time to set up and be ready and relaxed at the same time, and theses are my choice of apps to use, there might be others like them, but only you can work out what works for you.

PIP - Personal Independence Payment by Works & Pensions

PIP is a new benefit rolled out by the government to replace disability benefit and this is my experience of having to go through the system to get the payment.

I’ve been disabled for nearly 30 years now and was awarded after 5 years life award of the disability benefit of the amount that allows me to use some of the money for motability so I can have a car equipped with hand controls, so I can be independent and be able to do things like shopping and getting myself out of the house. I also get the middle rate of care component to help with my personal needs, 

Before I got the motability payment, I was stuck in a flat on the top floor, not being able to get out for weeks on end. As I have no family, I was dependent on friends coming round to see me when they could. Being housebound, is depressing and can bring on depression and isolating to the extreme. It’s almost like being in solitary confinement or what I could imagine it being like.

ONE MRI SCAN OF ONE PROLAPSE

In 1995, I was in extreme pain from a prolapse disc that was bad, I had waited 18 months for an MRI scan to confirm the prolapse, and then had to wait for an operation. While all this was going on, I was trying to hold down my job with a good company that were extremely understanding, a home and a family. After the operation, my life changed overnight, I had lost sensation in my legs and as the months went on my health got worse, I lost my job, my home and my family.

Within a year I was wheelchair bound, in and out of hospital and had nothing but suitcase. I had to sit interviews to explain how my disability affects me on a day to day basis, the people that interviewed me were understanding, courteous and treated you like a person.

My health was what it was, and then 13 years ago roughly, my spine began to prolapse and the same disc, not once 7 or 8 times over the years, which meant I had to have an operation each time. After one operation the day after I had a heart attack and was moved to CCU and had to have an angiogram to fit a stent.

XRAY AFTER DOUBLE FUSION

My spine got worse and more operations till the point I had to have a fusion and it turned out to be a double fusion, which is a major operation. I then had problems with the wound healing and had a whole in my back for 3 months, and having to go to hospital each week to have a special pad on the wound to help the hole heal over.

WHOLE IN MY BACK THAT TOOK MONTHS TO HEAL

Since then I have had a second heart attack and two angiograms and another stent fitted, and another prolapse in my neck and had to have another major operation to fit an implant that's like a ball and socket. There was a risk with this operation that I could lose my speech due to the operation being done from the front and all my vocal cords and other organs having to be moved out of the way to get to the vertebrate. I had lost my voice for nearly 3 months till it regained use, but has left me with problems of my airway closing over while I sleep and have to use a CPAP machine to keep my airway open while I sleep, otherwise I’m at risk of choking.

IMPLANT INTO MY SPINE OF MY NECK

Then I December 2018 I had another disc prolapse in my mid-spine, and because of where it is, it can’t be operated on as its classed too dangerous.

For years I have had to take huge amounts of strong pain relief that is addictive if not managed properly, I’m in constant pain. Then in February I was involved in a vehicle accident where a van reverse into the back of my car that was stationary at the time, this left me with pain down my left arm that had already problems from the implant in my neck was put in.

During all these years, I have not asked for more money for my care, I have made do and just got on with my life as best as possible.

I knew that at some point I would be contacted about being moved over to the new benefit, but I didn’t know how it would work and more to the point how I would be treated. I had seen on the TV stories of how some people were dealt with and left without money for weeks, but I hoped by the time it got round to me, the government had made significant changes.

The first thing I got was a letter saying I had to ring a phone number to go through a phone interview.

When I rang the number it gave some information about what would happen in the interview, but I was in for a shock.

The man I spoke to was abrupt, and was clearly reading from a script and had no communication skills whatsoever. He said to me that the questions were YES or NO and did I understand this? I said ok.

As he began some of the questions were straight forward, but then some were very open and I would ask what did he mean, the reply back each time was ‘please give a yes or no answer to the question as you were told at the beginning of the interview.

This man was clearly not going to help me by explaining what the question was in a more understandable way.

I got through the interview and was told that forms would be sent out to me to be completed, these forms are no different to the ones I had to complete all those years ago, so why do an interview in the manor it was done?

My thoughts are that for people that find it difficult to communicate or understand technical medical questions, might not give the right answer that they need to give, and would be scored insufficiently within the phone interview, and would fall through the net of the system and not get the help they are entitled to. The phone interview is brasc, uncomfortable and makes you feel undeserving because you have a disability.

I understand that there are those that have milked the system and don’t actually qualify for the payment, but there has to be a better way to see people and to understand that for people that have recently been made disabled, it's a huge shock to them, their family and have to adapt to their situation. We don’t ask to be disabled and should be treated with more humanity and understanding that we are going through physically and mentally.

When you complete the forms, you are asked to supply details of your GP, surgeon and health professional so that they can give evidence on your health and disability.

It’s been two months and I saw my GP and I asked him if the W&P had been in contact with him for my medical records or his views on my circumstances? I was shocked to be told that he had not, and that in his experience with other patients, they also had not been contacted for their info. He went on to say that in his experience that most had to go through the appeal process to get the payment.

I then contacted my surgeon that has known me for years and knows my body better than I do, and he had also not been contacted.

What is the point of asking for references if they are not going to follow up on them and for people like me that have been disabled and have been on disability benefit for over a decade and the knowledge that my circumstances are not in any form going to get better but worse as time goes on, being looked at in a different way as someone that has been awarded life award of disability benefit and can be verified by their own records and pass interviews, and new contact with GP and surgeons, so to save time in having to go through the whole process as a new claim?

The final stage that I’m still waiting for, is to have a face to face interview. I have found out that this is carried out by an outside company, that employ paramedics or nurse practitioners. How does there qualification cover all forms of health disorders, doesn’t have the paperwork from GP’s or surgeons to look over and are there to make a report that then goes back to the department W&P for them to decide who gets what and if it's the right amount of financial support they need?

They don’t understand what it’s like to have to put you personal life on a table to viewed by someone that doesn’t know you, doesn’t know you medical history, the upset it causes and the feeling of having to feel like you're begging for something that you are entitled to. It’s inhuman and degrading!

Since this outside company will not have my medical records, I have asked my GP to print off every communication from my surgeon and heart specialist dating back to 2013. When I go for the interview I will take all my medication and the file of documentation to show who ever it is I’m to be interviewed by and make sure they understand what all my medications are used for and for them to look through all the letters that I put in front of them. If I had it my way I would record the interview, but this has been tried in the past and people have been penalised for trying to do this, which to me is wrong and seems like they are scared of been shown not to do their job right. It’s an interview and it should be recorded, just like when you wring them they tell you that the call is being recorded and you have to accept that, but not the other way, where is the justice in that?

I’m one of thousands that are legitimate people that need to have this benefit that are dually entitled to. I worked all my life until I became ill, I didn’t ask for this life. I wish I was able to work but my health is poor and knowone is going to employ someone that can’t guarantee they will turn up to work, or can’t work to a schedule. In the early years, I did charity work as a mediator to help my local community, but because of being in a wheelchair, it meant I could only do certain cases, but my health got the best of me and I had to give that up. Having a car allows me to get out and I have a hobby of doing photography, which I’ve had work exhibited, but I do it for myself and keeps me active as much as I can, when pain is manageable, but if I go out for a day, it takes me three days to recover in bed. I have a bungalow that purpose built for disabled people like me, that I had to fight to get, which I look as my place of where I will end my days.

This year has been terrible as I’m lucky if I manage to get out of the house for a day in one month, as my health has deteriorated more than what it was last year. I have physio every two weeks that is something new to help deal with the new prolapse in my spine to help me manage the pain. Im at risk of more prolapses, I’m also at risk of another heart attack or worse a stroke. My life is day by day right now, yet I have to prove all of this to a stranger, someone that I’m just a number to, that probably doesn't care one way or another. People with real disabilities should be treated with respect, understanding, compassion, and not made to feel worthless and a blight on society. 

There overhauling a system to supposedly make it easier, but for who? How many have to go through the appeal system and if the number is more than 50%, then the system is not working, its causing heartache, misery, depression, anxiety. We are not the only ones suffering as social care of our elderly is failing, and they have the same suffering. Children are having to look after their mother or father, instead of having a childhood, a life without worry of getting right looking after their parents. 

In recent weeks the government has fallen apart on all sides of the bench in the house of commons, we are living a nightmare and the suffering can only get worse. I’m only highlighting my problems, but change has to be for the good, done with respect, humanity and compassion, that would go a long way.

New Project

It’s been a bit of a rough year this year, and I’ve not got out with the camera as much as I would have liked to. When I have been out, many of the places were more suited to using the drone for the shot, but I get some that I was really happy with.

So I’m looking at the time of the year it is now and with the nights closing in quicker, it seems right to think more about night time photography.

I have a few places in mind like Chew Valley Lake and down at Severn Beach and capturing the new Severn bridge.

Night Photography

There is so much more complexity to night photography, working with high ISO, longer shutter speeds, manual mode, sharpen live image, type of lens, trypod, camera remote, stacking images, composition, light painting, photo stacking, editing and of course long nights, cold nights and most importantly searching for that location.

Many of the things I know about, but a few im having to research YouTube for answers on, which today was the 500 rule. This is finding what shutter speed you get before light trail. So you take the lens size (so I have a Sigma ART 18-35mm) and divide the number by 500 to get the maximum shutter speed before light trail.

Example.

18mm divided by 500 = 27secs

25mm divided by 500 = 20secs

35mm divided by 500 =14secs

Thank god for the calculator on the phone!

The ISO seems even more complicated and is a bit trial and area, but it's trying to get the ISO down to 100 that takes some calculations that to long to explain.

The other thing is the light from the moon, that I thought that you would need a full moon for most things, but it turns out if you want to capture the stars then it needs to be really dark and if you want the milky way, there are only certain times in the year that you can capture it well. This is where a good app like PhotoPills can help you look at the calendar and see when new moon is and maybe the best light for just normal stars and then the best time for the milky way. You even have AR so you can use your phone camera to see where things are in the night sky and not look blindly at the sky trying to find it.

So I’m only just breaking ground with night time photography and looking to maybe start next month, being October. So if anyone is interested in maybe joining me one evening or has any advise, then would love to hear from you, so PM me on Facebook and we can work something out.

One Location - Groundhog Day or Not?

The Repeat Location

Within landscape photography, you can find a spot which you first visit and make that great image, then think you’ve used up that spot. The seasons can change a location, as well as the weather conditions.

Many photographers like the idea of sunsets and sunrises, but each morning or evening have different variables, depending on the time of year and where the sun falls, temperature that might cause fog or mist, and if there is cloud cover or not.

All theses things will make for a different scenario for each day that will make a unique image that can be better than the one before, this is a reason to revisit a location.

The Elements

Knowing when the sun is going to rise or fall, is so much easier with apps like the The Photographer's Ephemeris, or better known as TPE, or another app called PhotoPills, which gives you information on what time the sun will rise or fall. This information allows you to arrive before the events happen and be prepared well in advance. A good weather app is also useful to give you information that can determine if the conditions might make a scenario that might work in your favour. But the elements are what they are and you can have good days and bad, that’s all part of landscape photography, the unknown till you arrive.

Lakes and Reservoirs 

The great thing with lakes or reservoirs, is that the temperature can change the effect on the water surface. When the sun rises, the air and ground warm up. This leads to the air temperature being warmer than the dew point temperature, which causes the fog droplets to evaporate. ... As the air cools during the longer night the relative humidity increases, which can result in to fog formation.

Sunrise with the mist lifting at Chew Valley Lake

Again some weather apps can give you information of humidity and dew point temperatures, and if you can read this information, that’s good, if not then each time you return to the location, check the data and look at the landscape, which then helps you to understand the data for future reference. 

If the app says cloud cover and then at a certain time then it will be clear later, this might make for a good broken cloud sunrise.

Sun Reflections

Sunrise with reflections on Chew Valley Lake

Many will know of the ‘Golden Hour’, but there is something that happen before the sun rises as the sun reflects onto the clouds before it even breaks the horizon, which can make for a great image. Same can be said after the sun has gone down, so it's worth hanging around that bit longer or arriving that bit earlier. The golden hour is from the time the sun rises or falls and at certain times of the year, it won’t last the hour as intended, so check your app for details.

Panoramic or Not

The photographer's kit bag is all down to what they can afford and the lenses are part of that. I have my regular 24-70mm lens and a 18-35mm wide angle lens. With either if the composition is right, you can make a great panoramic image that gives more detail to the image. Todays software can blend two or three images together to make the panoramic image with ease. In your camera settings it's good to have grid visible and then with the use of a tripod you can make sure that each frame has the element that will be the far left, centre and far right to make up the pano image in editing.

Horizontal panoramic sunrise of Chew Valley Lake.

Panoramic doesn’t have to be horizontal, if you are using a drone, you can create portrait panoramic images that look just as stunning and gives a different dimension to an image.

Vertical panoramic of Chew Valley Lake

The drone is the new tool in the kitbag and being able to be above the ground gives a new perspective to landscape images. Having both normal camera and drone, is the new way to produce landscape work.

Don’t Give Up On A Location

Landscape photography is partly defined by weather, and each day can bring something new to a site. Even if you only visit once a month or twice a month, you will find a unique image each time. Lakes can be great inspirations and even night time photography with a full moon that falls onto the lake surface can make for a great image.

Cloud formations are one off in looks every morning or evening, combine that with the sun, mist and fog, you have a new recipe every time you visit. 



Do Hobby Pilots Need To Change Their Mindset?

It’s not long now before the new regulations come into effect, and registration will be set in stone and all drone pilots and RC model flyers will have to register and pay their £16.50, which has not gone down well in some circles.

The BMFA for instants, think that they should run the registration system as they already have public liability insurance builtin to their membership and feel they could run the system. But there has to be more than just registration. There has to be a better flight registration system that some feel should run in realtime and show not just drone pilots, but helicopters and small aircraft as just part of the system.

There are three types of drone pilots, hobby pilots, FPV pilots and commercial pilots.

Commercial pilots have PFCO and do paid work in the form of inspection, film production, etc. FPV use goggles and race drones in competition and amongst some of the things they do. Then there is the hobby pilots that are out doing filming and photography for themselves. Out of the three, it’s the hobby pilot that seems to gain the most press with them being responsible for closure of airports, filming people in their back gardens and just being reckless flying near aircraft at heights of over a thousand feet, and this is why new regulations have been imposed and the implement of registration. But it's the actions of the few that has brought some of this on hobby pilots as there is still no proof of a drone being responsible for closing an airport in the UK, but a RC model flyer was caught flying next to Heathrow airport and received a hefty fine and is model place smashed up.

The true hobby pilot will have spent over £1,000 on their drone plus the extras, and they stick to the regulations set out and are responsible in the way they fly. But many places in recent months are sticking up signs saying no drones allowed on this site, which is limiting where they can fly.

The problem is that many institutes like English Heritage think that the drone is going to damage their property of historical monuments, what they haven’t looked at is that the hobby pilot cannot fly closer than 50m from a building or structure. 50m is the minimum and is quite a distance that if the drone pilot sticks to the ruling then there would be know problem for the site. 

Hobby pilots, just want to film or photograph theses places to produce excellent images or film that really helps to promote the sites to not just other pilots but the general public and tourism industry. 

But the problem is that the more hobby pilots get told they can’t fly at theses places, turn to the ruling that the sites don’t own the airspace above them and they can legally takeoff and land from outside their site, but this doesn’t really help the situation and just adds more fuel to the fire. If hobby pilots keep playing this card, then they could join forces with each other to push for new regulations to stop hobby pilots from using the ruling of being able to fly from outside their land, so hobby pilots will be the ones to lose out and then the use of drones will just die off, and manufacturers won’t be able to do anything about it.

As a hobby pilot, I’ve adopted a way that I stand out by wearing a high vis jacket, using a helipad and foldable cones to cordon off the area I’m taking off and landing. This is very much how commercial pilots work and FPV pilot competitions are run. I’ve been flying for over a year now, and never had any problem with public as they have shown interest but been made aware of what I’m doing without having to ask me.

If your standing in a park with a controller in your hand looking up at the air, people may think you have lost it, or concerned about your doing and why. We are pilots of a flying aircraft, so shouldn’t we look the part or are we that vain that its a step too far? RC clubs will have people in high vis jackets monitoring flights, it’s part of what is expected.

When it comes to places that I photograph or film, and they are places of interest, I do my homework to see if there is any mention of no drones, and if there is then I don’t let it put me off as I contact them by email or phone and explain what I would like to do and how I work, and by doing this I get a better response from them by allowing me to fly over their property or on it. It doesn’t always work out but if all hobby pilots took a different look at how they approach a flight, then we can win not just the public over but sites that are owned by the Forestry Commission, English, Welsh and Scotish Heritage sites. I do have public liability insurance and I don’t think that’s a bad thing, but then I have public and indemnity insurance for my main photography, to me this is no different than taking out home or car insurance, you might not use it, but it's there just in case.

This is just a point of view from myself. Hobby pilots need to look at their future in what they do and where it is and where it can go if not done right. Attitude has to change with the times if they want to get on with what they enjoy, but don’t think you just have the right to fly where you want and how you want, those days have passed and now we have to look at the future in a more realistic way that’s positive for all. Getting on with people and organisations will bring the rewards that we want in the freedom to fly, but with the blessing and more to the point the respect of them, for what we do and how well we do it.

There will of course be those that will want to go underground with flying drones, but how long will they last and are they really wanting to be on the wrong side of the law after they have spent so much money? Yes it’s a shame our hobby has come down to this, but either you give up and sell your gear for next to nothing or make change work for you so you can still enjoy your hobby with the spotlight firmly on what you produce in outstanding images and film.

DJI Mavic Pro 2 Drone Accessories

Disclaimer

I’ve not been given these products free or have any connection to the companies, and this is a personal view on the products mentioned.

Do we need accessories?

Well that’s a big question, as there’s times when you’ve bought something amazing and been a big investment and as you use it, you find little things that you think could have been made slightly better than what came with the product.

Gimbal Guard

Many people have mentioned how difficult the original one can be to get on and off, also leaving scratches on the top of the camera, which many people who post images seem to have the scratches in the same place. Some have been in contact with DJI to sort this out, but I don’t think it’s been resolved.

So other company’s that supply accessories for the MP2 spend time looking at what’s been said, and looked to come up with an alternative that works well and secures the gimbal camera, which is a very sensitive part of the drone that does need to be secure when stored away and in transport.

PolarPro Gimbal Lock

PolarPro is known for its ND filters and few bits for the DJI MP2, and has come up with a gimbal guard that is solid and clicks into place, holding the gimbal securely. It’s made of a strong but soft feel around the gimbal area, and feels really well designed. Ok you can’t see the camera, but I don’t think that matters as long as it’s doing the job and you can have a ND filter attached.

What many people forget is that company’s like PolarPro give lifetime guarantee’s with most if not all their products, and that goes for this guard. Regarding cost, well its £24.99 on Amazon, but what price do you put on your drone and especially the camera gimbal if it gets damaged? There’s been the odd time I thought the original guard was on safely, but wasn’t, so investing in this guard gives me a piece of mind that I’m saving the chance of having to spend money fixing the drone because it got knock while in transport.

Propeller Guards.

With the DJI MP2, you have a choice to leave or take off the propellers when packing away. I think many prefer to leave them on, but the problem is that they do flap about. The blades are one the main things to look after and you may need to be replacing them with new ones so that your drone fly’s as it should. 

I was out the other day and giving some flight training to someone that got in contact with me, they had a case for the drone, but you had to take off the propellers to get the drone in the case. As they knew how to fit the blades, I left it to them to check they’d put them on properly. But as we went to take off, one flew off! The great thing with the DJI drones is they know when there is a problem and turn off soon as a propeller fly’s off in take-off, so no real damage was done and we were using a helipad and landed back on there, and the propeller was fine.

This shows you should always do your pre-flight checks on your drone not just the day before, but before each take off. Check the propellers for any signs of cracks or clipping that could affect the flight. 

There are a few accessories to hold the propellers together when being packed away, but some just don’t work or fall off in my experience, till know.

Hensych PGYTECH Propeller Clips

If you’re like me, and watch plenty of YouTube reviews on products, sometimes there is something that stands out from the rest.

This product is one of them, and I have to say that they don’t just work well, but easy to put on and even with shaking the drone vigorously, theses didn’t come off and do a really good job. The silicon clip that fits over the top of the drone is moulded in hard plastic to fit on legs of the drone.

Then the simple yet effective one that fits on the underside on the drone allows you to slide the blades inside and then clips into two raised parts of the drone (which I’m not sure what they are meant to do).

The cost on Amazon is £11.59 and I think that’s a reasonable price, but again it’s all about looking after your pride and joy.

So that’s £36.59 in total, which seems a lot, but then think about how much you’ve invested in your DJI Pro/ Pro 2. A set of propellers is around £11 a pair, insurance is over £100 for the DJI Refresh if you got it, or more if you’ve taken out other insurance and then you have the access you have to pay. So when you add that up, maybe it makes sense to get accessories that reduce the risk to damage and waiting time for repairs.

It is a shame that DJI haven’t looked at theses areas of protecting the drone while in storage or in transport, but thankfully other companies have and that’s good news for owners.

Like all things fiddly, take your time to put them on and make sure they are secure. If you buy from Amazon or a company you know will take the products back if your not happy, means you can always send them back and you’ve lost nothing to try something to protect the amazing drones like the DJI’s.

Landscape Photography - Is There A Right Time or Wrong Time?

The Season’s

Think of where you live and how the change of seasons effect your view out of your window. If you could time lapse the seasons throughout the year, you would be amazed by the light, clouds and the sun as it comes through that one window. If you then take that thought to one your favourite spots that you love and visit so often, then your imagination is starting to run into overdrive with thoughts.

The seasons bring life and death of the vegetation like trees, flowers, and shrubs. The wildlife also changes as some go into hibernation during the winter while others thrive all year round. Our world is unique for some as the change in seasons are clear to see, while some places are not so clear.

Living in the UK, we are kind of lucky in that the four seasons are much clearer to see and feel. Some of us like the sun, while others like the cold, being in the middle is kind of a bit of both, and can hold strong backdrops.

What Looks Best.

It easy to fix on one look, one style or one colour, but if you open your mind to it all, then each day holds an image that can be captured and express in a number of ways. We all love a sunrise or sunset, but through the year the sun can be seen larger or brighter. That clear sky sunrise or sunset, is, well clear, but if you add cloud cover, then you have something unique as it ever changes through whats called the golden hour and beyond.

Example.

The weather forecaster says the day will start dry but cloudy most part with some clear sky’s at times, sound familiar? So a couple of hours before, your looking out the window and its still grey and no brakes in the cloud, and you put feet up in front of the telly, then you get up to make a cup of tea just as the sun starts to go down and the clouds part and let those beautiful red and orange colours of the sun break through. You think, why didn’t I go out when I thought about it earlier. Well if we could read the weather that well, we would all be taking amazing images.

End of day and the sun broke through.

Taking A Risk.

You see with all the best technology and weather apps, you still can’t beat just going out and waiting. Maybe most times you wont be rewarded, but when you are, you have an amazing opportunity to capture something not just beautiful, but a one off that gets everyone to admire your determination and resistance to the weather and love the image you’ve captured.

It doesn’t have to be a sunrise or sunset, but a mood created by the season and the weather, but more on the mood.

Example.

You have a single tree in a field, say a big old oak tree, would it look better with leaves or without? You could say to look pass the tree and think of the weather conditions. Maybe mist or fog, sunlight breaking through behind it, snow on the ground, dark clouds set behind the tree, do you know see the tree with or without the leaves? Maybe a single object next the tree, a cow, a horse, a sheep or even a deer if you lucky. 

You could start to think that the weather is a mood, that can be dark, grey, light, broken by the objects in the landscape that can be brought into the mood and can be singular as well a collective. 

Through the mist ones a sheep.

Colour or Black and White?

Have you ever looked at one of your images, which is colour and tried to edit it as black and white? Sometimes I see a image that is just shouting out to me to try it in B&W, but I think you have to explore images when you edit to see if you can make it more engaging, moody, bring the image to another level.

B&W isn’t for everyone, but when you explore some of the great photographers of the pass, they only had B&W to work in, so they made works that had something that made the image come alive.

Photographer Ansel Adams called ‘The Tetons and the Snake River’

This image by Ansel Adams called The Tetons and the Snake River, taken in 1942 shows the depth of light breaking through the dark clouds from the left to right of the mountains and grading light shimmering along the river, but then think what would it of looked like in colour? Well sadly only Ansel Adams knows that, but he saw an image and figured it out to become a B&W that would stand out, that others, like me admire what he captured and the effort he went to and the many disappointment days he must of had till he came across this moment, a flicker of a second and then it was gone.

See if you think about landscape photography in a way that there is no right or wrong time to photograph, and mood and elements can make an image, if you just take the chance to explore, there is always an image to be captured, maybe you have to wait anything from a season, a change, something to trigger you to get out and see what will happen, wait just that bit longer, to get that image that makes it feel worth all the torment, it might of cause you, but makes you feel the image.

The camera is just a tool that breaks down what you can see from edge to edge, how you fill that space and how you interpret what is within that frame. It’s kind of thinking outside the box, but actually within the box, which has no right or wrong time to its outcome.

One view from a drone user…

There is so much that’s been said about drones and there use, some might read this and think what a load of rubbish, but this is just one view on the use of drones, the media input, what is being put forward by the CAA and the “2019 Drone Registration Scheme: Charge Proposal Consultation Document”, which is being put forward.

Owning a drone.

Being a photographer doing portrait work, street and landscape are just some of the things I cover, I got a drone back in mid 2018 after doing a whole load of research of what was out there, how much they cost, what regulations are involved, the kind of insurance I needed and what could I do with the images. Just some of the many things I considered for my use.

The market place is full of sorts of drones from small toy type drones, to top end drones used in film and commercial work and ones in between. Even the cheap drones on online sites like eBay can look the business, but then you read the reviews and they’re nothing but rubbish with many not being able to be controlled and fly off into the sunset. In the last few years’ drones have been able to carry or fitted with a camera. The advances in camera technology has seen new cameras that are small and light and able to film in 4K video and produce images up to 20mb at 10-bit colour, and have the same kind of manual control as a full-frame camera. Other advancements have been longer battery time and being smaller, easier to carry and quick to launch.

So after much time researching, I got the DJI Air, but then the DJI Mavic Pro 2 came out and I got that one, purely for the sturdy build and better camera. Theses drones are over £800 to £1,500 and then you buy accessories, extra batteries, ND filters and other bits and bobs that can add up to near £2,000 depending on what you buy. 

If you’ve never flown a RC plane or drone, the DJI series has been design to be able to learn how to fly within a number of flights, but has built-in features like obstacle avoidance, maximum height and distance, GPS and a controller that is full of information that shows you where you are and controls the camera all in one, but it does take a lot of effort to learn so your £2,000 investment doesn’t end up smashed. Many take out special insurance to cover the drone for damage or being lost (as it can happen), but more importantly public liability insurance encase it damages property or person/persons.

The current regulations for hobby and commercial drone pilots are quite clear to a degree, but there are grey areas. I wanted to take landscape images so I could add them to my other landscape work on my website done with a normal camera. I don’t sell direct from my website, but I do get some that visit that ask to buy a print. The commercial side of having a drone, is being involved in work to survey, film work as just some of things that you do as a business and get contracted to carry out that work, even the idea of using a drone to film a wedding is commercial work as its contracted. To undertake this work you need to sit a course and be issued with what’s called a PFCO, this stands for Permission For Commercial Operations. It’s not a license as some think it is but it’s a permission granted when you’ve done the course by the CAA (Civil Aviation Authority), which cost each year. I took to social media where other like-minded drone pilots from both sides of hobby and commercial to ask if I needed a PCFO to sell prints? It seems that when you ask grey questions, grey answers or ones saying one thing and the others coming up with a different answer. 

Taken with DJI Mavic Pro 2

So I turned to the CAA directly to get their answer, and they say that if you have taken the image for yourself at the time and then at a later date you can sell a copy of that image without having a PFCO. So this for me is good news, some might feel I’m taking work from them, but why, I’m only taking landscape images within the regulations and meeting all the criteria required, and I’m not interest commercial work in what they do or have the kind of drone needed for the work they carry out.

The Media.

There is no doubt that some, who have had a drone over the course of a few years, have use drones illegally at places like airports. As many things, drones became a thing that hit the YouTube channels in the USA, but I’m not blaming our American friends but there FAA regulations are a bit different than the CAA. But people have posted video of flying around airports and this has raise concerns that has been met with regulations with flying near airports to be no-fly zones. But people still post images of drones being flown at extreme heights to see if they can, as well as the drone crashes that make for thousands of views. But in the UK, things came to ahead when at Christmas, a drone sighting closed Gatwick airport for a number of days. The media, went with it like bears to honey, with so say images of the said drone, and then a couple were named and shamed as they were arrested only to be released without charge and found not to even own a drone! Since the incident, there have been programs and interviews that have asked questions as to why there are no images or video of the drone, not even with all the tech equipment that was rushed to the airport did they have any data to show there was a drone. People have been stupid with drones, that’s for sure as one was found and arrested after climbing the old Severn Bridge near Bristol with a drone to do a selfie. And then there was a RC model aircraft near the perimeter fence at Heathrow. Drones have been used to bring drugs into prisons, but all of this is by as small minority that will go out of their way to break the law, just like any other law breaking way. There are people buying drones and then joining social media to ask where can they fly or showing video of flying right on top of animals and of course scaring them, and the media joins these groups to ease drop on what’s being said and then writing stories without asking the person they quote what they meant by their comment. 

All of this is putting pressure on the drone pilots with new regulations have been put into place or coming into effect later this year.

Consultation by the government and CAA

The drone industry and use has grown with more looking to spend real investment money into a drone for the use as hobby pilot, and the government and CAA have been good to bring in a consultation to ask drone pilots for their thoughts on what they think is needed and should be part of the drone code. But the latest proposal by the CAA doesn’t meet hardly anything that we have put forward; instead they have come up with just a registration fee of £16.50 per a year based on 170,000 users. To put this into context a firearms license that last for 5 years works out at £18, a replacement-driving license cost £71.60 and covers for 10 years. The amount of deaths from the use of vehicles in 2017 was 1,793, yet to date not one fatality has been caused by the use of a drone in the UK, yet it cost more to register a drone than to hold a driving license!

Making sense of their idea for registration is confusing as there are two ways to register. The first one is as drone owner or in their words responsible for the drone, you register and pay your fee and then you get a registration code for your drone, but it doesn’t state if this is just for one drone or £16.50 per a drone. The second way is you fly drones or RC aircraft, you read the rules, do the online test, tell them who you are and then you get a flyer number, but it states you only need to a single registration if you own and fly a drone, but it doesn’t state which one to do.

Its taken them nearly two years to come this far, yet its unclear, over priced and no guidelines for manufactures to point buyers on what they need to do if they buy their product, or a flight registration system that many have asked to be in a real-time app.

We are only a few months away when all of this going live, and many associations and hobby pilots and commercial are not happy with the proposal. What is needed is an open forum meeting with the CAA to invite members from all areas to meet with the CAA and figure out what is going on and to deal with the fundamental issues that effect all. Many completed the government consultation and feel their words have not been listen to and this is just another hopeless attempted to show they asked drone pilots for their views, but will still go ahead with their proposal whatever we say. 

Many that have been flying model aircraft might feel that drone pilots have brought this fee onto them, but like all things, it’s a minority that don’t give a dam about regulations or will even take part in the registration. This is understandable when the media has jumped on false news of drones flying near aircraft, yet not one single image has been captured to prove otherwise. Drone pilots and model aircraft flyers do make mistakes, it happens, but not intentionally. All flight safety is taken before any flight takes place, why, because they don’t want to loose their investment.

Some would say this is being run as badly as Brexit, which says a lot about the good old British way of doing things, its got out of control when it doesn’t need to.

These are just my views on a problem that doesn’t seem to be getting solved properly and taking into account the vast industry this effects and needs a system that’s priced in a form like other things we need to pay for the use of. This comes across as another moneymaking system for the government to exploit which is unfair and unjust, which I’m not the only one that feels this way.

That Special Moment

I’ve been a photographer for nearly 10 years, and in that time I’ve learnt a lot about myself, and my photography. Being wheelchair bound doesn’t hold me back, there are times when I see something and just wish I could do more with the picture I see in front of me, it can be frustrating at times, and I’ve just learnt to just make the best of it, till now.

Badminton Estate.

The estate is set in the beautiful countryside of Gloucestershire, and is known for the Badminton Horse Trials held every year, but there’s more to it than meets the eye. The estate is huge and has many forest areas, but a little known place off the road to Tetbury, is the Badminton Gatehouse. It’s set on a bend and if your driving, it’s so easy to miss, but the building is set 150m off the road, with its arched wall, leading to the main gate in the centre with a room either side and above, a large arched window, which must hold one of the most wonderful views down to the main house, which I would say is a good two miles down a centre green, with thick rows of trees either side.

I know the area well, as I was brought up in the Cotswold’s, which the main house and gate is built from Cotswold stone and weathers well. When I took up photography, I stopped at the Badminton Gatehouse to photograph, but its hard to photograph something that is solid, doesn’t move and only has one path leading up to it, only the seasons and weather can change the look of a image looking straight on at the building, this is the only way to photograph it from the track leading to the building.

The Drone

Back near the end of 2018, after much research I got myself a DJI Mavic Pro 2 drone. This drone is small, easy to setup and fly, the camera and its ability to capture 20MB RAW images on its 1” sensor, which can also capture 4K video, makes for a great piece of kit to have in your bag.

The drone has open up new ways of me doing my landscape photography from above, just like others are able to do. But for me, it helps me reach places I can’t get to in my chair. The drone has also introduced me to videography, this isn’t something I would consider with my normal camera, as it’s hard work and difficult from my chair.

Getting use to using a drone, takes time in learning the skill just flying, its easy going forward and sideways, but a skill to fly in a arch and film at the same time. I’m use to using ND filters with my normal camera to get long exposures, but with a drone camera and filming, you use the ND filters in a different way, and I’m getting the hang of this.

Badminton Gatehouse

Going back to Badminton Gatehouse

So my idea was to photograph about 30m off the ground so I could show the estate in the background, and anything else would be a bonus.

There’ just enough ground to park as the track leading to the gatehouse, which is chained off. My thoughts was to go up to the gatehouse and introduce myself and ask if I could photograph the building, but with a drone. 

We know of late, us drone pilots don’t get a good press with the media, and asking if you can use a drone, comes with a straight answer no! But I think its all depends how you approach people.

As I pushed myself under the chain and wheeled towards the gatehouse, there was a car parked outside, so I knew there was someone home, but not sure if there would be a doorbell, as its turns out there wasn’t and so I had to call out “good morning”. I did this a few times and I thought I could hear a radio coming from one of the rooms as I looked the iron gate, but there was no answer and I thought maybe I was a bit early and thought I would pop back later.

As I started to wheel myself back the car, I turned round and saw this lady walk from one room across to the other room. So I wheeled myself back to the gate, and called “hello, good morning”. Finally a voice came from inside “hello”. 

This lovely lady by the name of Hillary in her late years came to the gate, and I introduced myself and said, “I’m a landscape photographer and wondered if I could photograph the gatehouse?” she said “yes of course no problem at all”, then I said the dreaded words, “but I would like to photograph it with a drone, and I would be happy to share some photos with you, if you would like to email me”, as I pulled out a business card. Then there what seemed a long silence and expecting the outcome to be a straight no, but to my surprise she said “yes that’s fine, would you like me to move my car so you can get a good shot of the gatehouse”? I said “that would be wonderful, are you sure your ok to do that?” she said “let me get dressed and I will move it for you”. Then she asked me if I could walk, as she invited me to see the room above and the view from it. I said with a grin on my face, sadly know, but allowing me to photograph the building is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. As we talked, she told me she had lived there for 14 years and just loves the place. It is an odd building, with what seems from the front two small rooms, one either side, I have no idea where the bedroom is, but it’s a very special building.

Looking down towards the main house.

This dear lady was lovely to meet and chat to. I think that we are so engrossed in the idea that everyone hates drone pilots, we just don’t look at places that we could potentially photograph and show that we do care, not just about the environment we are entering, but the people that are part of it. 

I did everything by the book, by informing her that I had public liability insurance, staying 50m away from the building and above as I flew over. I registered the flight with NAT’s and I think initially a red hazard came up for high risk at Highgrove House, which of course is where Prince Charles resides, which is 5 miles away as the crow fly’s, but then I set it as permission from resident gained and the high risk disappeared, and it was landscape photography, and a non commercial shoot.

When I finished, I went back to the gatehouse and spent more time with Hillary thanking her for her kindness and helped close the big iron gates and went back to me car and put the chain back across, so I left it as it as it was when I arrived.

I think its the important point, in not just engaging with the people but to leave it how it was before you arrived.

I have confidence I could go back and Hillary would welcome me back, and that’s a great feeling, as I would like to go back when the season changes and maybe the trees will be in bloom.

If I had gone to the main house, or contacted by mail or phone, I would have been turned down with out a doubt. I don’t want to get Hillary into trouble, but I don’t know if she lives there as part of the estate and what they would think about it all, but if they saw my images, spoke to Hillary and saw the video, I’ve yet to put together, they would see that I did it to show the beauty of the building, the landscape that flows onwards down to the main house. I didn’t get paid to do this, and wouldn’t want to, I did it out of love of photography. The images I take are one of a kind and each one means something to me.

A view from the otherwise of the Gatehouse

By reading this, I hope some drone pilots get a sense of what can be, you just have to put yourself in the shoes of the person you are asking to share their place with you, by offering them a copy of any images you take, as a gift to say thank you, would probably be welcomed. We all want to capture the beauty of this country, and we have to show what we can create to those that would take it all away from us. Social groups should invite the CAA to join them, so they can see on the inside of what is actually going on out there, with us capturing landscapes, coastal scenes, sunsets and sunrises, the mist that covers the dew soaked ground, this is what hobby drone pilots are mostly about.

As for me, this is one item I can tick off my bucket list of places I want to photograph. I’ve shared this story on social media and have had a great response, which I thank every single person for their like. It means a lot even if just one person likes my work, but when you have many, it’s a good feeling that I’ve done something good and worthwhile.

Trek to Hay Bluff

Sometimes landscape photography, for me is a journey into the unknown. I do my research by looking at Google Earth and other apps, but its not till you arrive that it all comes together and maybe not as you expected.

Wales is an amazing place and reasonably reachable from the Bristol area, but over the years the road infrastructure has got better with dual carriageways making it faster to get into the mountain regions of Wales. 

The Hay Bluff region sits on the border between Wales and England and stretches for over 8 miles of mountains and is used by many for the long walks and parts are used by the military. But the weather is very changeable and quickly, especially during the wintertime, so you need to be prepared for the worse conditions. Some parts you still can’t get a phone signal, so it’s worth letting people were your be and for how long.

Being prepared.

Because of my health issues, I have to be more careful in that I build myself up for the trip and what it will involve. I love driving and making sure the car is fully pumped up and has enough gas, is important. Checking the weather forecast theses days is so much easier with apps that can give you real time information (that’s if you have a phone signal). I made sure I was prepared for wintery conditions, with winter clothing, plenty of hot coffee, a couple of sandwiches.

All packed ready to go in the morning.

I wanted to make the most of this trip and so packed my camera bag with lenses that I know I might use, light meter, tripod, the usual stuff but also lens cleaners and a t-towel to keep my lens and camera body dry as best a possible. I also took both of my drones, which is my Mavic Air and Mavic Pro 2, which gives me a total of 3 ½ hours of battery time and a couple of micro SD cards. 

Being in a mountain area, most of my images can only be taken from the roadside and I have to make the best out of that situation, but having a drone extends my view and where I can capture those images that can only be got if you climb some way up the mountain.

So the day before everything was checked to see if it was clean or needed to charged and then packed in their rucksacks.

The drive.

The weather outlook was possibly some sun, otherwise mist or rain, not the best combination, but then that’s what makes landscape photography what it is, unpredictable, just how I like it.

Sunrise was going to be about 8am and the journey was about 2 ½ hours long to my first location I had researched. I had about 8 locations set for the day and had co-ordinates to enter into my phone. A good idea is to download the map area, which you can do in Google maps, so if you lose a signal you have the downloaded map as a backup to work from.

I enjoy driving, its freedom from the shackles of my wheelchair or maybe its an extension of my chair. When going to a mountain range in the dark, you’re not able to see anything around you apart from what’s in the headlights. After about an hour of driving on the main roads, I turned onto a lane that took another hour to cover. As it twist and turns, it get narrower within places, I meet any other drivers at that time in the morning. Its an eerie feeling of not knowing what might be round the next bend or how sharp the bend is. A satnav is great tool, which can give you an idea of how long or short the bend can be ahead. You loose sense that you might be climbing as your driving along and then the road dips and then gains height again and again. As you near the end, the satnav shows the winner’s flag and say’s “you’ve arrived at your destination”. I find a place to pull over and turn the engine off and open the window, and then it hits you. 

The silence of the countryside with just a whisper of trees moving in the light wind and all you can see is pitch black. I’ve become intrigued as to what is around me, so I carry a bright torch to shine around the area. I can see trees and the verge drops down a steep bank, then I hear an owl in the distance, which I must of disturbed as I arrived and now flashing the torch in the air. Apart from the owl, there is nothing but the breeze and rustle of the trees that I can see are fern trees. 

So as I’ve taken in my surrounds, I open the flask of coffee and poor myself a cup and push the car seat back and relax. 

From darkness into the light.

When you sit in the dark, your eyes become accustom to the light, and you begin to see contours between the land and the sky, shapes that move, the world is waking up.

The thing is, sat in the middle of what seems to be know where and a car headlights begin to light up the view in front of you, your mind turns to what the other driver is thinking as he passes what seems to be an abandoned car, is he going to stop or carry on, if he stops what are you going to say to them. It’s a sudden moment that you think what would I make of seeing a car parked at the side of the road in the middle of know where? As it passes and carry’s on going back into the dark, you have a wave of relief that you don’t have to explain yourself.

As the sun rises, it seems to get light very quickly, and your mind turns to why you are there and the anticipation grows of what view will the sunlight will uncover. 

It becomes apparent that I’m not at the top of the hill and have to drive a few hundred yards before reaching the horizon, and then I see the fog and the sun beginning to break through to show the first view of the mountains.

The fog hides the top, but snow has fallen and partially covers the mountainsides.

As this is the first location of my day, I scour the view to see if there is an image to capture. Landscape photography is like drawing a box around an area and looking to see what’s in it that can make a photo that has something about it, that mixture of land, sky and everything in between.

Drone flight.

As its dry and very little wind, I decided to setup the drone to search the area around me. But after a few minutes, the rain began and so I had to bring down the drone. Not to be outwitted, I got my camera and waited for the cloud to break so that the sun might break through. It does for just a moment and I get one or two images before being force to get back into the car out of the cold freezing rain. 

Break in the weather.

As I’ve said, weather conditions can change in a moment, which can decide on what you do or not.

From location to location.

There is around 8 miles of mountains, but today is not a day to see them in their glory, as fog, sleet and rain puts and end to being able to capture clear images of the area. But the fog can make a subject interesting, and as I drive through, images of livestock and trees become the focus of some of my work. Wherever you are if you look closely enough you can find an image. Each time I got out of the car and grabbed the camera, I would have to use the lens wipe to remove the droplets of water that formed from the fog, I would point the camera downwards so not to be in direct line until I was ready to photograph and then each time whip the lens again and again.

Out of the fog.

By mid afternoon I was tired, and it seemed that the weather was not to change for me and was against me. I had enough and was ready to call it a day, with be being muddy and wet, I found a puddle to try and clean the wheels if my chair so not to cake the inside of my car with it all.

The moment.

I had put home into the satnav and began to make my way back along the road at the bottom of the mountains, feeling slightly grumpy that the day had not turn out how I’d had hoped. But then as I got back to the second location along the road, the sky lit up with sunlight, the fog had cleared somewhat, and I could see the mountains in a line!

I pulled over and looked behind me and could see the fog rolling down the side of the mountains. The wind was light so I got one the drones up in the air and mange to get a number of images and about 15 minutes of film before the sleet began to fall.

Rolling for on the mountains.

Just when all had seemed to be a loss of the day out, it all came together for a brief moment. When I got back into the car, I sat back and thought this was actually worth all the mud and rain to get to this point. 

I was actually in a lot of pain with my body, but this moment made it all go away for a while and helped me make sense of what I do and why.

Landscape photography.

Images don’t come to you, you have to get out there and push through the weather to find amazing places and with the help of the ever-changing weather, make images that can’t be replicated. They are moments that creep up on you, and it takes time and patients to get that image. 

I missed one shot of a rainbow that looked amazing in the place it was, but by the time I had got my chair out, it had gone. If only I had waited a few minutes longer, I might have been able to of got it, but it is what it is, and that’s landscape photography for you.

You can see the video I capture by clicking on the link

Calibration - what you see, is it what you recorded?

So you have a drone like the DJI Mavic Air or DJI Mavic Pro/2, which shoots 4K video and takes up to 20MB images, you use a PC or Mac to then edit and hit problems with the images you’ve decided to send to the printers come back looking different to what you had on your PC or Mac, now your going to wonder what did you do wrong for all of this to not work out how you wanted it to.

About me.

I’ve been a professional photographer of nearly 10 years and did a degree in professional photography and I’m looking to share my knowledge with those to over come some of the problems that you might be suffering with you images and video. To be clear this is how I work and understand the problems that we all face and have learnt how to overcome them once I was given the right information and got the right tools. Some might not agree and maybe this will start a conversation on others ways to overcome some of the issues.

What you see.

Monitors, tablets, phones, tv’s are an array of screens that we use everyday to view work we’ve captured with our beloved drone, camera and watch them back on different devices. But have you noticed how bright or dark the video or image looks on different devices? This is because in the manufacturing, the brightness and colour is set by them and can be different. 

If you have a 4K TV, you might of found in the settings that you can change how the image looks, they may read as standard, cinema, sport and even HDR. So you set the one of theses outputs to your liking that suits your eyes, but the rest of the family might have different ideas on what looks right!

Different colour formats.

There are industry standards, which is sRGB, and there is AdobeRGB, and CMYK (CMYK printing format)

A photography camera will offer you sRGB or RGB, while a video at 4K will offer you D-log DLG and D-Cinelike.

All of these industry standards have a different look and with some you are able to edit in more detail than with others.

So going back to your devices and the different level of looks in screen colour and light, in most cases your editing and final output will be done with a PC or MAC monitor, and this is the starting point.

We spend on average about £1,200 on equipment to capture images or 4K video in todays market as we want the best that we can afford and with similar outcomes. But when it comes to PC’s or Laptops, the starting price can be under £400 and upwards. With a Mac it slightly different in that Apple has always been designed and sold as for users that work in film or photography and so the price is more of a starting price of a thousand pound and upwards. But they all use a monitor and there is a way to get the industry standard of sRGB the way that everyone see’s it or if you prefer AdobeRGB, which many do.

What is the difference from sRGB and AdobeRGB.

The image above explains it pretty well. Both images contain only three colors, however, the colors shown in the AdobeRGB scale have more differential between them. This means photos taken in the AdobeRGB color space will have more vibrancy in their colours, whereas sRGB will traditionally have more subtle tones. In situations where you're photographing strong colour tones, sRGB may need to dull them out to accommodate, whereas AdobeRGB is able to display those colours with more accuracy. It’s all down to preference, but how do you get your monitor to be spot on with one of these formats?

Monitor Calibration.

Photographers and Videographers will invest in a piece of equipment that will calibrate there screen to match the right output that one would want so their work looks its very best, and if it goes to print, then you will get the image back the way you see it on your screen as the printers also calibrate their screens in the same way when working on your print.

One of the main calibration manufactures is DataColor, and the one I use. This bit of kit will cost between £90 - £180 and like all things you pay for what you get. The more expensive one will monitor your room throughout the day, as the light coming changes. If you have a room with no windows, and just your room light, this will be constant and a good place to work in.

The device sits on the screen as it runs the program, it measures the different colours and the brightness, then you can the adjust in the settings of the monitor to meet the right threshold and then safe that as your monitor profile. At the end of the program it will show you the difference from what you had to what you should have and you will find it does make a lot of difference. 

Into days world you can even use this device to calibrate TV monitors via connection to the TV from a laptop, so when you watch back your images or video, it will look as you edited it.

Editing

We all see light and colour differently and we edited in our own way, which through time changes as our style changes. We view others work and something strikes accord on what we see and look to edit in a similar style. Over the years, my style has changed maybe 20 times, but also as we work, we learn new skills in the software use and elaborate as we edit. Coming up with ones own style isn’t easy and you will find maybe its not to others taste, but as a guide, if its what you like and maybe someone will also likes it. If so, then go with it until you move forward in your work to something different. 

Today there are so many different softwares to choose from. Some are apps with presets that can be applied, this is whats known as baking and coming up with a recipe. There is nothing wrong with this, but it’s limiting.

Adobe for many years now has been known as the industry standard for editing in images and film, they are extremely powerful softwares, that allow you to work in layers to make changes to parts of images and save as a layer and then build upon that. Today’s Adobe Photoshop now works in a non-destructive way so the original never loses data. Lightroom came about just around the time I started photography and is a great software and has grown in popularity in way of cataloging images and being able to work in a non destructive way with just using sliders to edit your work.

These softwares were extremely expensive and into the hundreds for the Photoshop and even more for its video editing software. But they had a change of direction a few years ago in making all its software a monthly license by subscribing, this open the doors to people who couldn’t afford the initial outlay to affordable monthly payments with the guarantee of free updates. Some softwares when they do major updates charge a lot of money and can be off putting. 

As images and video becomes more extreme in the file size because of what the equipment is able to produce, the software needs to keep up. Right now 8K is the new super video format, twice what we are currently use, but the processing power means bigger faster computers to handle the amount of data it has to consume.

My original Sony A99 was a 20MB camera, now I have the Sony A99II which is 42MB RAW images, thats more pixels to be able to work with and also allows me to produce larger prints if I wished. In photoshop I can work in 16BIT mode or 8BIT but the final file size can be over 1.2GB large and if I want to save to JPEG and a small file size, I have to convert it 8BIT to be able to do that.

Once my images are complete, I can send them to my printers via there online service and they can be sent in AdobeRGB, which is what format I prefer to work in, or I can send them in the colour format of CYMK, but that means re-editing as the colour look will change on my screen unless I put Adobe into CYMK profile before I work on the image.

Video Editing.

I have to say at this point, it was only a couple of years ago I upgraded my PC, which was a custom build to a iMac, for me it was an investment, but I do a lot of photography and now video work. But its more about understanding of how the software works and this begins on how you setup your workspace to bring your raw video into the software.

There seems to be three makes of softwares that people are using for video editing, PremierPro, DaVinci Resolve and Final Cut Pro X, which is what I use

The thing is to make it easy to work in editing you movie is using proxy mode. This takes your raw video and makes a copy and makes it easier to work with, then once you’ve edited, it adds all those effects and to the original that it outputs as 4K. You have to make sure you are setting up in the frame rate that shot your raw footage in, this can be 25, 30 or 60fps. Unless you’re looking to slow your footage down there is no reason why you cant work at 25fps as standard, if you want to speed the film up, it wont effect the outcome, but the more frames you working in, the bigger the file size it will be.

Uploading 4K video.

So you’ve worked on you video and 4K mode output so everyone can see your work in 4K, wrong!

So you’ve worked on you video and 4K mode output so everyone can see your work in 4K, wrong! Did you know that it you upload your 4K video to Facebook, the standard output is set at 720, but they did set up Live 360 to play back in 4K. YouTube output is set at 1080p, but if you watch the video on a 4K TV then you can watch it back in 4K mode. This is all very disappointing in that you’ve have gear producing 4K video, but very little in the way of social media can you show it in its full glory. But even with television stations, there is very little content that can be watch in 4K, which is mostly sport on Sky. 4K has been out a few years now and you would think that most content would be in 4K. Even if you have a 4K DVD player, there is very little content being produced in 4K format and will cost you around £25 for a 4K DVD, while a BlueRay film maybe only £15. Recently Samsung launched a 8K TV with only one film made in 8K mode, what is the point?

You could say we are being ripped off, but by who? Well its not the manufactures that make 4K cameras, it’s the sites and television companies that are letting us down as well as the providers of broadband as still lots of areas still don’t have fibre optic in their homes, like mine!

Really its a bit of a waiting game, so till then it still worth producing your 4K output video so you don’t have to go back and re-edit. Technology moves fast in some areas and less in others, why I don’t know. We have 4K, OLED, Retina, all selling us how wonderful and realistic the colours are, but without the social media and TV production companies catching up, we’re groomed into the idea of buying this gear with not a chance of getting out moneys worth. But as they say we can live in hope.

I hope this blog has been helpful to some, and if you have questions, then please ask and if I don’t know someone will.

Circle - Great Withy Drove Nr Glastonbury

Research.

For a lot of my landscape work, I use Google Earth to find interesting places to visit. I had gone there a few days back to photograph the Glastonbury Tor, with my camera and drone at sunrise. But when I'm driving home, I'm always on the lookout for places that look interesting. 

So that evening I was checking out the possible sites and I found this circle in a field. It looked like a historical site with what look like mounds rising from the ground. But this site is out in the sticks of Glastonbury.

On the day.

The weather at present is cold and chance of a sunrise and plenty of frost to contend with. I went to the other locations I had in mind to photograph and then headed to Great Withy Drove where I had seen this circle.

Circle from above.

My idea was to photograph from above to show the circle from directly above, but as I'm limited by law to only go 400ft high, it was difficult to get the whole landscape in the frame. So I went away from the site and but high enough to show the circle in full and where is lays within its surrounds.

Confused.

So today I loaded the images on the PC and started looking through and it seems that there are couple of t-pees on the site, but looking at the film there was know one moving around, so I don’t know they are abandoned.

But I’ve Google the site to find any information on the landmark and or any images, and to my surprise, there’s nothing. So I'm left wondering why the circle isn’t recorded or there are any images of the site. Is it manmade or historical?

If anyone lives in Glastonbury and knows of this site and can shed any information or direct me to some historical group in Glastonbury, I would be grateful.  

Photographing a Sunset - DJI Mavic Pro 2

About Me.

I’ve been a Photographer for nearly 10 years and done a degree in professional photography. Like any hobby or business, it takes years to build up your equipment and can cost thousands of pounds. I started off with the basics, and as I my interest increase so does the spec of you equipment. As I’m wheelchair bound, landscape photography at times can be challenging, and I bought the DJI Mavic Air, the DJI Mavic Pro 2 came out. I understand having a better sensor and larger image size, gives me better quality in the images I can take and then edit, and is the reason I got the MP2.

Landscape photography, for me, is about passion, the excitement of the unknown. The UK has some beautiful landscapes and coastal regions, and if you look around you might find it on your own doorstep.

As a photographer, the main things one I would carry with me is a camera, tripod, and remote control, light meter, phone app.

I work in manual mode and have the lens focus in manual mode; this gives me the ability to work within the conditions that I want to control. A camera like my Sony A99II has some great built in feature, like being able to increase magnification so in can focus manually on the a horizon so everything is in focus and sharp. Using a tripod and remote, means I can reduce the risk of any vibration.

Using a light meter allows me to set the iso and f-stop to give the right shutter speed, this can be reverse and set the iso and shutter speed to give the right f-stop. I use the Sekonic NP Finder 5 Degree on L-478DR, which allows me to focus on the brightest spot in the composition so I can get the right information. I can also set the shutter to bulb mode, this means I can control how long the shutter is left open to let the as much light in as possible to make the image stand out and give that creamy look to water and sky.

Having this much flexibility to photograph a sunset is great, but with a drone, you do at present have limitations, but there are ways round it to get the best out of the drone.

Using the DJI Mavic Pro 2

Drone photography and filming.

You can’t get away from the fact that using a drone comes with a lot of responsibility and regulations that you have to adhere to. So some of what you're about to read might seem like overkill but sadly we have to justify using a drone in places that might be deemed as a place of caution, which just about covers everywhere.

Sunrise - Golden Hour.

It doesn't matter if you photographing or filming sunsets or sunrises, there is a thing called the golden hour where the light produces some amazing colors, which can produce great images. This changes at different points during the year as to what kind of effect you will get within the color range.

Research Proof

It’s worth mentioning at this point, having screenshots, Nat’s flight plan log and copy of your public liability insurance for your planned shoot with you is a good idea, so if someone questions you, then you have the all the relevant info to put their mind at rest.

This might seem like over kill, but is it? Many who have a PCFO at times have to produce a flight plan that will look at flight risk, etc. Sadly it might become a requirement in time for hobby pilots, so getting use to building your flight plan to photograph something like Glastonbury Tor or some other place of interest, is worth getting use to.

Your Location.

Finding places of interest is so much easier in today’s world of technology. If I've come across an image, I Google to see where it was taken and then use Google Earth to see how I might make an image differently to what I've seen.

Sample Shoot

So I’ve looked at Glastonbury Tor to photograph at sunrise.

I’ve used the NAT’s app to check if I can fly in this area. So looking at the image, I can see there is caution of people may congregate, but as this will be at sunrise, there shouldn’t be very many people around, but I still need to cautious.

NAT’s app location takeoff point.

Hazard and Caution information.

Using Google maps, I’ve found a place where I can park my car (I have a disabled badge) and access the field to take off from. Looking at the two images I can see a good place to access a field with a path that leads up to the Tor.

Google Maps Search for access to Glastonbury Tor.

Google Maps View of road to park.

Using Google Earth, I can measure from my takeoff point to the point of top of the Tor, which are 226m. But I also need to know the positions, which at least 50m from the Tor from North, East, South and West, so I can use the measure tool to see where I need to be on the land as a sort of marker. I’ve also Goggled to see what the height of the Tor is which is 521m high. 

Using Google Earth to measure from takeoff point to Tor

Measuring distance from Tor.

Measurement from behind the Tor.

Measurement from in front of the Tor.

The regulations are that you have to be a maximum of 120m high, but as this is a Tor is 521m, I need to add the 120m to the 521m, which is a total of 641m. This is because the regulation does take into account how the land can rise which is in article 94A - 400ft height limitation interpretation. So in my App settings I need to adjust my maximum height, which is currently set at 120m to 640m to be safe.

CAA description on how the land can undulate and can be taken into account.

With all this information, I can also use a 3D image of the Tor to be able to see where I can be and take all this in and have to hand, when I actually go and do the flight.

3D image taken from Google Earth as a reference.

PhotoPills App

By entering your location for your shoot, it will show you when and where the sun will rise, as well as time of the golden our. But it does a lot more, if you want to be creative with your shots, you can see where the sun will just sit just on top of a ridge or at some other point of interest, it opens up your creativity as the drone allows you to move 360 degree around a scene.

Since the Tor is on a hill, I can angle the drone to have the tor in the image with the sun behind it. If the conditions are good, it might give other images to create from this point.

Here's a link to their website where you can download the Android or iso version.

Link to PhotoPills

PhotoPills tell’s me the sun rises at 05:47, so I can work out my journey time to arrive in plenty of time to setup.

PhotoPills can also show me how long the golden hour will last for and direction the sun will travel from my point of interest.

The DJI Mavic Pro 2 has some amazing features like f-stop from 2.8/11 and a shutter speed of 1-8th/ 8000sec as well as manual mode of the lens, and tripod mode. It would be great if DJI could build into the software bulb mode, as this could really make the drone a real camera experience. The software does have bracketing mode of 3/5 shots, allowing you to take different exposures that then can me blended together in editing. This will give you a normal exposure, over exposure and under exposure. It allows you to pick up elements you bring together to make a powerful image and give it the pop effect. You can create HDR images, which is known as baking, but can look over saturate and you can see lines on top of edges that can make for a bad image, but third-party software’s has got better and makes the images look more natural, but editing is another story. 

ND Filters.

The use of ND filters is great, but they will darken the whole image, which at times you need. But using ND/PL (polarizing) can really useful, as the glass is a gradient from dark to clear. So you can darken the lighter area that would normally be over expose like the sunlight and clouds and keep the ground looking as normal exposure. 

PolarPro ND filters, have designed an app, for video and photography. It’ very simple to use with setting your frames per second, then putting in the current shutter speed which will then tell you the best ND/PL to use for those settings.

The app is available in Android and IOS

Camera ISO

One thing that you need to keep as low as possible or maintained always is the iso at 100 if you can. You may have wondered what does iso actually stand for; well it's the International Organization of Standardization, which is the main governing body that standardizes sensitivity ratings for camera sensors. But the higher the iso the grainier the image will become. Some professional cameras are good at handling higher iso; my Sony A99II is good up to 1600 before the graining becomes more apparent. But in post editing this can be correct to a degree.

Ever Changing Light

The thing with sunrises or sunsets, the light changes and it’s been mindful of this and you will have to adjust your camera settings every 10/15 minutes.

As the golden time is 60 minutes, you can bring your drone back, change the ND/PL from 4ND/PL to 8ND/PL or 16ND/PL and launch the drone again and again.

Final words.

This is just one way of researching and working to do a sunrise image, and may seem a lot of planning, but photographers work in a very similar way, but are not governed by regulations like drone pilots. It’s all a preparation and planning that can save you time and effort. Check all your gear is prepped like batteries and controller is charged, latest firmware update, all the leads you might need, phone tablet updated and charged and then double check and the last thing you want is to drive for hours and then find you’ve left the most simple of things like your SD card!

Gatwick Incident - December 2018

Firstly a mention for all those’s that have been affected by this incident, I hope that you all get to where ever it is your looking to get to, if its going home for Christmas, being with family, having a holiday with a difference, celebrating something special, my thoughts are with you.

We live in an age of technology that is forever, being reinvented, becoming widely available, fun to use, allowing people to become creative in a way they never knew they could. We can see our planet in detail, decide where we want to go thats of interest, keep in contact with family and friends and makes new ones, just some of the amazing things we can do in life that 30 years ago was just a dream.

But even though technology can be great to use and fun, it can be used for the wrong reasons, used against us, be disruptive, make it harder to use, and may endanger others.

What is a drone?

A drone is called many things, quadcopter, drone, UAV, remote controlled device. It can be small and use 4 propellers and fit in a rucksack, they can be big and have 6 or more propellers. It uses a battery, can have a small or large camera attached to it that can be used to photograph, film, heat seeking, do 3D mapping. It can be used to carry medical equipment to remotes areas not possible to reach by land and cheaper than a helicopter or airplane, help in search and rescue, do surveying, map an area for research. New experimental technology with the use of drones is ever evolving and getting better and safer.

caa.co.uk

Commercial Use.

Many for the past couple of years have been using drones for commercial purposes like survey buildings and landscape and large engineering works to name some. For them to be able to do this, they need to sit a course and apply to the CAA (Cival Aviation Authority) for whats called a PFCO (Permission For Commercial Operations) and have to make request for some of work they do. It can be cheaper to employ someone to do a survey with a drone than to put up scaffolding or harness them by ropes that can be dangerous to do surveys or inspections.

Basically it can be any job that requires the drone pilot to be commissioned to do the job, and because of their PCFO, they get permission to get closer and enter heavier populated areas, but still meet CAA guidelines.

Recreation Use

Generally there are two types, RC hobby enthusiasts or buy off the shelf ready made.

wetalkuav

RC hobby enthusiasts, can spend hundreds of pounds on buying parts and putting it all together and making something unique, yet safe and using incredible engineering skills. They can be small and really fast and use for drone racing. This involves flying at speed through obstacles laid out on a track. Because the speed and the need for a realtime view of the track, they will use special googles that are connect to a small camera on the drone, these can be very expensive but gives a real good view of wha the drone is seeing as it fly’s round at speed. This type of hobby is actually starting to see national and international championships setup and sponsored, for the audience watching can be a bit like watching a Grand Prix race with its spills and thrills.

Large drones can be just as interesting, with meets at remote control flying clubs, sharing expertise and information on how they put it together etc, you could say it’s a bit like a car enthusiasts meet. For the RC Drone hobbies, it’s a meeting of fellow enthusiasts and showing of their engineering and creative skills and a more social type of use of drones.

Buy of the shelf can be as little as £30 to well over a £1,000 plus.

The cheaper end can be more like a toy and can fit in the palm of your hand. They don’t have any camera’s or very long flight time with maybe about 6 minutes before you need to charge the battery up again. As a toy you can fly it around a room and not really do any real damage unless you’ve got a very expensive heirloom on the mantelpiece.

cobratoys

As you spend more they can have a camera fitted and fly up to  25meters in distance, but can have the risk of flying out of your control. The thing to remember is that you can’t go out in the garden, street, park with lots of people around as they are still govern by the CAA regulations.

When you start looking at spending £500 mark, you might get a better camera and maybe GPS that will help it remember were it took off and return home feature, but they don’t have obstacle avoidance and can be easily flown into a tree or wall.

drone-world com

Finally as you look at the top end over £900 plus, people will go out and purchase something like a DJI drone. DJI are one of the biggest companies in the world and make drones for commercial and recreational pilots. They don’t skimp on safety as their drones come with cameras with ability of 4K video and images up to 20MB, obstacle avoidance, GPS, intelligent batteries with flight time up to 30 minutes, geo-fencing and features like Hyperlapse, track mode, tripod mode and recording of flight distance, height, speed and flight path, which is all recorded at uploaded to DJI server systems.

the verge com

As DJI drones have in the pass been used for illegal activity, they have come up with technology which is mobile and can be used to track DJI drones and if needs be, bring them down and record the drone pilots position. This is about a company that takes responsibility for their drones they sell for commercial or recreational use. They incorporated whats called geo-fencing that if a drone enters restricted airspace they will go no further and land or return home.

Why do people spend so much money on a drone?

For some, they just like drone flying, but it’s also brought people who are interested in film and photography to be able to create amazing images or film. This is probably the main reason for recreational use of drones, and has allowed people to enhance their love of videography and photography. Videography is about telling a story through film of places of interest to the drone pilot, some are so talented that their work is well recognised and has lead them to investing in becoming a commercial pilot. 

Andy Dubreuil photography

For photographers like me, it gives a new composition to a landscape which can only be captured from the air, and is a great tool to have in your camera bag. The quality of camera has got better and better over the years for the small compact drone, before you would have to spend thousands of pounds on a drone that can carry an SLR camera. At around £1,500 a small compact drone with an amazing camera can do just as good a job as a SLR.

The Drone Code

The drone code is the official regulations set by the CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) on how a creational drone pilot of any type of drone that is a UAV (Unmanned Air Vehicle) must fly by, if they don’t, they can be prosecuted, fined, have their equipment taken from them and face a jail sentence. The regulations are very clear and easy to understand. Details can be found at Drone Safe

As of December 2018 the regulations are the following:

• Don’t fly near airports or airfields.

• Stay below 400ft.

• Observe your drone at all times and must be in line of sight.

• Stay 150ft away from people and property.

• Stay 500ft away from crowds and built up areas.

• Maximum distance from pilot is 500meters.

• You are responsible for every flight.

As a drone pilot is responsible for each flight, most will go that one step further and take out public liability insurance incase of an accident and hurts a person or damages a building.

To make sure drone pilots know if the area they are looking to fly in is allowed, they will use an app like NAT’s which is design by the National Air Traffic. It allows you to check the area your looking to fly in and make sure its not a no fly zone, it also allows you to record your flight and notify National Air Traffic when and how long you intend to fly in that area. 

Also check websites for areas of interest that might have no fly zones for drones, but this is a bit of a grey area as you can legally take off from outside the area and fly above, as some would say that places  that say you can’t fly, don’t have the authority to control the air above them. There is also a section that you cannot film people with a drone, but if you are of a height were an individual cannot be recognised, you’er within your rights to fly.

Also for photographers that take landscape images and post them on their website, can legally sell prints as they were not at the time commissioned to take the image.

As a drone pilot is responsible for each flight, most will go that one step further and take out public liability insurance incase of an accident and hurts a person or damages a building.

To make sure drone pilots know if the area they are looking to fly in is allowed, they will use an app like NAT’s which is design by the National Air Traffic. It allows you to check the area your looking to fly in and make sure its not a no fly zone, it also allows you to record your flight and notify National Air Traffic when and how long you intend to fly in that area. 

Also check websites for areas of interest that might have no fly zones for drones, but this is a bit of a grey area as you can legally take off from outside the area and fly above, as some would say that places  that say you can’t fly, don’t have the authority to control the air above them. There is also a section that you cannot film people with a drone, but if you are of a height were an individual cannot be recognised, you’er within your rights to fly.

Also for photographers that take landscape images and post them on their website, can legally sell prints as they were not at the time commissioned to take the image.

What next for drones?

Well during this year, there has been a public consultation and drone pilots have had a chance to have their say as others. New regulations are due to come in effect in November 2019, yet to be set out.

There is a call for registration of drones, some sort of course for recreational drone pilots, the taking out of public liability insurance being mandatory. These are all good things and most who are recreational pilots agree with this, but would like to see more. Like when flights are recorded, they are run in real-time so that other drone pilots and aircraft can see the drone on some mapping system, real-time information of police or emergency helicopters coming into a drone pilots airspace so they can take action and land their drone if needed.

These things will make flying a drone safer and with mandatory obligations will sort our the ‘weeds from the flowers’ as they say, and anyone that doesn’t follow the regulations will have the full force of the law on them. But like with all things you can make legislation and regulations, but if someone is intent on breaking the law they will, but it doesn’t mean you should come down heavy or have a blanket ban on all drones. They can do good, make businesses and be used as a recreational pursuit as a hobby. The images and videos made by them end up in social media or places like YouTube and can be a great asset in a way to the tourist industry, which they don’t have to pay for, as images and film of beauty spots, does make people want to go and visit themselves. 

If you see a drone pilots, they are more than happy to talk to you and explain what their doing and why (as long as it’s safe to). 

We are not monsters and thugs looking to ruin anyone else’s fun of the landscape or look to endanger people or animals, they have invested a lot of money to get where they are. What has happen at Gatwick Airport is dreadful and appalled by many commercial and recreational drone pilot communities, and they want to see these people face the full force of the law, but don’t want this to be seen as this is how all drone pilots act, as this as far from the truth as it can be, we are responsible people that recognise that we are in charge of something that if not use correctly can harm, but we have learned how to control a drone and to take invasive action if needed.

If you have any questions on this blog post, I would gladly answer them, as well if you’re interested in getting a drone and not sure what to get, then I would gladly give you some advice.

Update 24/12/2018

The media has reported that the head of the police investigation, are questioning the idea of there was ever a drone in the area or not, because of the lack of evidence in images or video that can actually confirm they were taken at the airport. With the amount of people who work for the airport and the news media covering the story, only two videos have been show, but can’t confirm they are either a drone or filmed at Gatwick Airport. There are a lot of unanswered questions and evidence, yet two people were arrested and had their identity plastered all over national media and have been found not to have anything to do with the incident. I hope they take action against the media for giving away their identity before found guilty.

It seem’s this incident maybe something or nothing, yet the drone community fears that action will be taken against them, when the fact is there is no proof as of yet that a commercial or recreational drone was responsible for the closure of Gatwick Airport.

Thank you for reading, Andy Dubreuil

Update - Drone Photography

Into today’s world, technology moves so fast that by the time you’ve got use to your new piece of tech kit, something else has come along to replace it as soon as.

When I got my first DJI drone, the Mavic Air, which has a F2.8 aperture giving 12MP RAW and JPWG images, and 4K video with 30-120 FPS. I thought it was great. 

DJI Mavic Pro2

But within two months DJI brought out the DJI Mavic Pro 2, with its 1” Hasselblad gimbal camera giving 20MB RAW and JPEG images with an f-stop from F2.8/F11 and 4K video with 30-120 FPS.

The drone is larger and does make a difference in being able to see in the sky, but apart from the battery use time, which is around 30 minutes and longer than the Mavic Air, its the camera for me that makes all the difference and why I invested in the Mavic Pro 2.

The Gimbal Camera

When you look at the image of the Mavic Pro 2, the camera looks small and uninspiring, but it actually has all the features of an SLR camera.

• White Balance

• ISO100-12800

• Shutter speed 8-1/8000s

• Single shot

• Burst shot 3/5 frames

• Auto exposure bracketing (AEB) 3/5 bracketed frames t 0.7EV Bias

Screenshot live feed and camera controls

It’s unbelievable that such a small camera is packed with all these features, yet the control is done by the app on a phone or tablet connected to the drone controller and works wirelessly. You can do some clever shots like stitching images together, HDR, long exposure, bracketing, just to name a few. It’s like having a real camera in your hands, but being able to photograph from up to 400ft high off the ground and choosing your composition from 360 degree angle, the camera sits on 3-axis gimbal and allows you to move up and down, but now also left to right. DJI believe the drone can work in a stable position in winds up to 22mph.

As a photographer, the drone gives you new possibilities on how you photograph the landscape, but also structures by being able to be above and pointing the camera directly down on the subject. Also it allows you to access places which you can’t reach be foot or by chair. The camera comes with a 10-BIT Dlog-M Colour Profile that gives amazing colour to your images right out of the drone, the images are sharp and crisp, giving 20MB RAW or JPEG and gives you a whole lot of image to work with when it comes to post editing, but the image quality is really good out of the camera. It even comes with histogram and over exposure warnings.

4K Video

The DJI Mavic Pro 2 comes with a number of features like ‘tripod mode’ that makes your drone move more slowly, giving that smooth and more accurate movement, great if you flooring a person. Also Hyperlaps video, something that in the passed you needed special equipment and a large camera being able to process so many images taken within a space of time. Now you can be above your subject and have incredible steady footage. The 4K video is smooth and with the use ND filters, you can make professional looking footage that only the most expensive of equipment has been able to do in the past.

This small but powerful drone, gives new life to photography and videography and is a great addition to your kit, which is compact easy to setup within minutes.

Test Flight

I’ve always worked in manual mode, so I set the f-stop to f5.6, ISO 100 and 24fps. The first thing I noticed was how much faster this drone flies, you can get up to a speed of 20mph, which is quicker than the Mavic Air and allows you to get to your point of interest in a shorter time and saves of the battery, so you have more time to film or photograph your subject.

When you take your thumb off the joystick, it comes to a halt really quickly. Being able to see your drone at all times, is part of the regulations and in this test I went out about 800ft, and I have to say I had no problem looking at the drone, then looking at my screen, then back to the drone. This was half the maximum distance, and I'm sure if I gone the max, I would still be able to see the drone clearly.

With the Mavic Pro 2, you have the ability to move the camera up and down, but also left and right by touching the screen on the device app with your finger. You can move the position at max but you can see the front leg of the drone, which is a shame it doesn’t stop before that, but you can edit this out or just be more responsive to correct the camera away from the leg.

The controller comes with buttons which you can customise, but one allows the camera to look directly 90 degrees downwards, clicking again returns it back to its original position, this is really useful and a time saver as the camera moves slowly so not to seem jittery in footage.

Things like I’ve mentioned, saves a lot of time in trying to do it yourself, this means more time in the air and not wasting valuable battery time.

Final Thoughts

Yes the drone is over £1,000, but DJI is at the forefront of hobby and professional drones. They pack so many great features that it literally can fly itself if programmed to. Its safety features means you're not going to crash very easily. It’s been widely reported that it doesn’t use the full 1” sensor but it still is an amazing camera and great quality of images and video. 

You can always if you want to find fault with things, but for the most part, I love this drone and I know its going to add to my workflow and allow me to create interesting images and video that I couldn’t do with my DSLR without having special equipment, but I'm not going to get the great views from ground as I can from the sky with some of my photography. I don't see myself making movies that involve people, as I got this purely for landscape photography. There are limitations as you I can’t use it within a city and unless it's an open area. Rules and regulations are tight and may get tighter, but I'm sure that they wont effect the kind of use that I have in mind for the drone. 

I’ve posted a number of videos on my website already, which was done with the Mavic Air, and to me they look amazing and this new drone is just going to add more time in the air, a real camera control and a bunch of advance features that I'm sure in time will get to use at some point.

Group Working Together - The Dream Team

Being a photographer at times, can be a lonely path if you're trying to do everything yourself. In the early and middle stages of trying to become established, can be a make or brake situation. Being able to work on a shoestring, can be hard to get the right look for clients, its like using a mobile phone to shoot a wedding, at the moment, you can’t get the quality into images of light and shadows in my opinion, some would say it is possible with the new phones, which can produce RAW images, but the file size is what allows you to get the very best from an image in post editing, which is maybe why most semi or professional cameras now offer 42MB’s per an image, have large ISO that doesn’t show pixelated images so badly, which means if your working indoors, you can use the natural light coming in through widows. Lighting is an important factor in the studio and not so much outside, but gives great effect to images.

All of this can be expensive initial outlay, not including lenses, triggers and reflectors, to mention a few things. But you need to build that portfolio and get it out there to be seen by potential clients and most importantly, learn your trade and fine tune your USP style. if you have all the kit, you need a subject, a location, and unless your looking to pay for both of these, you need to look at alternatives that can work for you and others, via collaboration with models, MUA’s, hairstylist and photographers.

The Dream Team

I think the story goes, that a few photographers got together and looked at how best to get people together and work on a project, that everyone benefits from. Today the group has nearly 90 members, made up of photographers at all levels, models new and some just been doing it for shot time, MUA’s that maybe just qualified, hairstyles building on their talents, all looking to get better and build that all important portfolio. 

As a group, your sharing ideas, knowledge, learning, building friendships, and as a group you support each other and always act professionally in every situation. Everyone is giving their time with the ultimate goal to make stunning images and as a group share them with each other.

I joined the group earlier this year, I’ve been to two events, which one was a stately mansion house, and recently the Wells Cathedral Bishops Palace. There's been a lot more events, but for health reasons I’ve not been able to attend.

It takes a lot of planning, and most of the group get together for a face to face meeting once a month to look at ideas, work out what the theme is going to be, sort out the schedule, all the kind of things that a big shoot needs to have covered.

Model: Erika Milankavo MUA: Leilani-Chyna Thomas

When it comes to the photographing in a place thats new, we all scout out the place to make our own decisions on where we want to photograph the models when they arrive. Everyone looks after each other, so we make sure that all the photographers get to work with all the models and mindful not to take all the time up with just one model, everything works in sync and calmly.

Model: Meggy Stiby MUA: Bonita Osborne

The group gets new people all the time and for some models, this could be their first real shoot, and the same can be said of photographers and MUA’s, and it can be overwhelming, but everyone makes each other feel comfortable and makes the new ones feel like they’ve done it before as theres never any awkward moments, this is because we all work to the code of being professional at all times.

When the day comes to and end, we go out separate ways, an then wait for the photographers to post their images. When everyone has had a chance to look at the images, its nice to get feedback and if someone feels you could do something to improve upon what you’ve posted, then its taken onboard. Critique is something a photographer needs to be able to take and process, but you're not forced to make changes, but it's good to see anothers perspective on an image.

Model: Jessica Stiby MUA: Bonita Osborne

Having a group like this, is great, because it brings all sides of photography together who have the best qualities of being able to work together in a professional way. There are times when views or opinions are not shared by all, but as a group it's not about pushing things to one side without listening and seeing if there is a compromise that can be got.

Model: Keith Bristow

The Dream Team is like a real production company, the difference is that non of us get paid, but the group is getting recognise for its work. I believe an online magazine has shown interest in doing a page per a month with the teams work, plus doing a bio once a month on a member of the team, also to be added to the magazine. It’s only by the hard work thats done by all that the group has got to this stage, and it speaks volumes on the work thats created by them for them.