When 34 year old photographer, Ryan Chatfield, took his drone out for a spin over Floreat Beach in Australia, his experience running the New York Marathon came in use. As the drone passed over the shoreline in a rocky area, it began falling from the sky. Chatfield, who was 100m away from the drone when it began it’s untimely decent, began a mad dash to the water in a last ditch attempt to save his precious camera equipment.[Read More…]
Gorgeous Aerial Drone Photos That Would Be Totally Illegal Today
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Drones are more popular than ever and have become rather mainstream as a photography tool, hobby or gadget.
Their popularity however led to restrictive laws and regulations due to privacy concerns, commercial rights and plain and simple dumb operating practices (a drunk pilot flying over the White House comes to mind…).
“Between the introduction of drone technology, and today’s laws limiting or banning their use, there was a glorious period when you could fly a camera almost anywhere”, says Amos Chapple, a Kiwi travel photographer who took these photos.
Below are some of Amos’ stunning photos that could land you a hefty fine or even jail time, should you attempt to take them today.
What’s Up Hong Kong? Russian Photographers Climb The China Online Center; Hack Electronic Billboard
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Russian photographers and rooftoppers, Vitaliy Raskalov and Vadim Makhorov became internet sensations when they began releasing dizzying video footage of them free climbing to insane heights. Like clear to the top of the Shanghai Tower, for example. Even in their early rooftopping days, the teams fearlessness garnered attention, helping to spread worldwide interest in the death defying trend.
DJI’s Newest UAV Adresses Function Over Form, and Manages to Keep its Form As Well
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As UAV photography continues to become more prevalent in today’s technology, DJI is undoubtedly the leader in the field. With how many times its products have popped up in news stories and controversies in the past few months alone, it’s clear that photographers have spoken on who they choose to shoot their aerial footage. So when DJI makes announcements for a new model, you can bet on a lack of gimmicks. This isn’t a trend, and DJI knows it; they’re ready to bring improvements to UAV photography, and they’re ready to become its household name.
This isn’t the DJI Phantom that many of you may have come to know. With the Phantom lineup categorized for “Everyone” on the company’s website, this one is placed under the “Experts” tab, and rightfully so. Meet the new Spreading Wings S900 Hexacopter.
Walter White Goes To Space With a GoPro (Hello Kitty, Roby and Legoman join)
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Up until not long ago getting a camera to space was a pretty big deal. With time we got cheaper cameras capable of taking decent footage, we developed lots of resources on getting a weather balloon up in space. So now taking aerial footage of earth from space is not such big of a deal. Unless of course, you are taking Walter White with you.
The team at tvtag wanted to make a viral video (which they did) so they loaded a bobble-head Walter White doll to go along with their gopro to space.
At the peak of Walter’s 6 hours journey Walt braved speeds of 95 mph, temperatures as low as -65F, and a maximum altitude of 85,000 feet (that is almost 26km for the metric folks).
Recording Shows, NYC Drone Incident Was Not Risky To The Helicopter
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Yesterday we shared a story about a couple of drones flying at an NYPD helicopter and putting it at severe risk. Well guess what, A recording from LaGuardia airport Air Traffic Control tells a different story all together.
Yesterday’s story was about two individuals, Remy Castro and Wilkins Mendoza, who were flying their quadcopters over George Washington Bridge in New York while a police helicopter was patrolling the area. Yesterday, the story was about how the helicopter had to take evasive action to avoid a hit. Remy and Wilkins were arrested.
Today, Motherboard shares that a recording of the air traffic control from LaGuardia airport was posted by the website liveatc.net. Hear below.[Read More…]
Two Drones Nearly Hit a Helicopter, and the Men Responsible React in the Most Immature Manner Possible
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At about 12:15 midnight, Remy Castro and Wilkins Mendoza were flying their two quadcopters over George Washington Bridge in New York; at the same time, an New York Police Department chopper was present and patrolling the area – the two remote controlled quadcopters were headed straight for it. Luckily, the NYPD officers present noticed the two of them, and had to divert the chopper’s direction to avoid hitting the two of them.
Had one of the quadcopters hit the propeller of the chopper, things could have gotten ugly. There were a number of ways things could have gone wrong in this situation, and it shouldn’t be happening in the first place if we expect to be able to keep our right to freely use quadcopters in the US. If you follow this website at all, you know our stance on photography and how it relates to the law; but as supportive as we are of the right to use these devices, we can’t be surprised when regulations get put up because of things like this.
The two men that manned the quadcopters were immediately arrested after the NYPD traced the flying devices back to them. And even after they were taken in, they spewed out dialogue that was nothing short of immature and inexcusable. One of them told the Criminal Court that it was “just a toy” and that they “were just playing with it“.[Read More…]
The Amazing Photography Of Aerial Archeologist Klaus Leidorf
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German photographer Klaus Leidorf (Flickr) has a unique point of view on the world. It may be connected to the fact that he looks at it from above, riding a Cessna 172.
What started as a primarily archeological photography business, i.e. conducts archaeological surveys, turned into a passion when Leidorf joined Corbis as a contributing photographers and started selling photograph to academic publishers, newspapers, and a major insurance companies.
UK Takes A Proactive Stand On UAVs – Here Is How You Can And Cannot Fly A Quadcopter In London
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UAVs or Drones or Quadcopters or any other name you would like to give cameras mounted on radio controled helicopters are getting increasing attention from both citizens (as opposed to photographers ;) ) and regulating authorities. We’ve had a UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) abandoned in St Luise after breaking the height limit allowed for aerial activity, and Yosemite National Park banning drones altogether.
The UK is taking a proactive approach making it absolutely clear what is and is not allowed when flying a UAV. British CAA (similar to the US FAA) released a Small Unmanned Aircraft Operations Within London and Other Towns and Cities last month, which makes it crystal clear that while some activities using UAVs are OK, some require license or are simply forbidden.[Read More…]
Can We Stop Calling Them Drones? They’re Just RC Helicopters With A Camera
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I don’t know when remote control helicopters became drones, but I think its way past time we stop implying that a fancy RC helicopter with a camera strapped to it is some sort of autonomous Terminator robot.
OK sure, in the beginning I know that somebody though that “drone” sounded a lot cooler than “model airplane”.
Its exactly the kind of thing the model airplane geeks I know would adapt instantly. Not to mention, I’m sure selling “drones” is a lot easier than selling “remote control model helicopters”.
(In the interest of search engine optimization and my penchant for hypocrisy, I am however going to refer to RC model helicopters as drones for the remainder of this article.)
Bart: Milhouse, this is boring. Make it crash or something.
Milhouse: Perfectly level flying is the supreme challenge of the scale model pilot.
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