I am always grateful when a client chooses to work with me again, and Waveform Electric has trusted me with several photography and drone video projects throughout the Monterey Peninsula, as well as making their team headshots and family business portraits! I was extra excited when they contacted me about a drone project in the Aurora Del Mar area of Carmel Highlands, as I had actually daydreamed about this specific area in the past, so to get to see it in person (it is a gated community so you cannot just go there) was a daydream come true, ha! Waveform wanted drone video of batteries they installed in a garage, and a shot going from in the garage up to the water view. This was a challenge on several fronts, starting with how to get the exposure to be bright enough for the garage, but not totally overexposed for the water and the sky. Then, it was a very tight space with trees in the way and getting any continuous shot smoothly takes a lot of concentration. After a couple of tries, I was glad with the continuous shot I was able to get for them and confident it was the best possible given the conditions and circumstances. Thank you to the team at Waveform for continuing to choose me as their drone pilot and photographer!
Blending drone video and gimbal video for a Nursing Home in ABQ
It is often a client’s request that pushing me to add new skills to my photography toolbox, so when the Odelia Nursing Home in Albuquerque, New Mexico wanted both drone and interior video, I had to quickly buy and learn how to use a handheld gimbal. The results came out well, combining aerial drone video with interior views of the nursing home. To that I added still photo interiors shots too. Since this shoot I already invested in a much better handheld gimbal and look forward to offering clients the option to add “from the ground” video to the drone videos I have been making already for years. Thank you to the team at Odelia for the opportunity!
Can I make a drone video of a dentist jumping over his staff in New Mexico? Yes, I can!
I was contacted by a dentist in Gallup, New Mexico with a very unusual drone video and photography idea. He told me that he wanted to both jump his dirt bike over his dental staff and then drive the dirt bike through his practice! Dr. Porter had me curious for sure! After some discussion about what was feasible that I could do both in terms of drone video, regular video, and still photography, we had the details set and I was off to Gallup where I spent the night to be ready for the early 7am start in the morning. Despite many “never done that before” shots, the morning went off nearly flawlessly and I was able to make all the content Dr. Porter wanted. Thank you to Dr. Porter and his entire team for being so great in front of the camera and the drone, and below the dirt bike!!
Before and After Drone Video for Sunland Asphalt in Belen New Mexico
Back flying for Sunland Asphalt, this time in Belen, New Mexico, I made two visits to Vista del Rio for a “before and after” drone video showing the crew at work putting in the new asphalt, and then the after of the fully repaved community. These types of drone flights are always dynamic and I enjoy the challenge of capturing live action with the drone. Thank you to Jeff of Sunland for continuing to choose me as your drone pilot!
Drone video and photography for asphalt marketing content in Rio Rancho
Sunland Asphalt has become a new, and already returning, drone video and photography client where I go out and get “before and after” drone content of huge parking lots they have resurfaced. This time I went to a school in Rio Rancho to get drone video and aerial photos of the crew in action doing the resurfacing. It is always a challenge flying over live action where I do not know what is going to happen next and there are trees and light poles all around. I have to admit, my instincts were uncanny, or I just got super lucky, to often have the drone in the right place at the right time to capture the action just as it happens! The “after” drone content was much easier to get of course, as I just went on an evening near sunset time to get glamour shots of the finished parking lot. I really cannot believe how much of a difference a resurfaced parking lot makes aesthetically! Thank you Sunland for choosing me as your drone pilot and I have a new appreciation for the beauty of the parking lot the crew created.
Day two of flying for B&D Industries Inc of Albuquerque New Mexico had me flying my drone at their headquarters. Day one was flying around a crane as it hoisted up AC units. Despite not having to worry about a moving subject in the form of a very tall crane, flying over still buildings and vehicles was still a big challenge this time due to extreme wind. Look at the trees blowing in the above drone video. Flying low and slow was almost impossible, so I looked to have more movement created by the gimbal and flying faster and shorter. Thanks to Nate for being a visual observer and having good ideas for clips.
This was my most dynamic drone flight yet, following a crane as it hoisted AC units on top of apartment buildings. Most of my drone flights have been of still subjects, like luxury homes or rural land or bridges. Having a moving, not exactly predictable, subject was a welcome challenge. This is also my most advanced editing of a drone video. Watching it you may think I had two or three drones in the air at once as I cut between seemingly different views of an AC unit being raised to the roof. Actually, since the action of lifting an AC unit on to the roof is very uniform in crane and person movement, the cuts are of different units going up, but it looks like it is all from a single piece of action shot from multiple angles. I did not realize this was happening while flying, so it was a cool discovery in the editing process that I could make it seem like a “multi-cam,” or multi-drone as it were, shoot.
