Overcoming challenges as an Albuquerque drone pilot
This luxury real estate property in Sandia Crest, New Mexico, which is in the east mountains of the greater Albuquerque metro area, was a particular challenge to make both drone video and drone aerial photos of because of the tall trees surrounding the house on all sides. Add to that the very high winds (see trees bending in the video), the cold temperature, and the sun facing the property casting a drone shadow on any low shots, this all made for a drone flight that needed an experienced (and certified) drone pilot like myself to produce a video that was still cinematic and representative of what the property looks like. I wanted to highlight the mountains in multiple directions as the setting for the property, while getting what views of the actual house I could. Especially given the conditions, I am very glad with how the drone video came out!
Atlas Obscura is a great resource for finding odd places to stop when traveling between places. In this case, we were driving from Sedona, Arizona to Tucson and made a 40 minute detour to see the Domes of Casa Grande. Atlas Obscura describes these domes as being built around the late 1970s for computer manufacturing, but were never actually completed as you can see in the aerial drone photos below. What are the rumors for what happens in the domes and its tunnels now? Nothing less than maybe satanic worship. The area is totally fenced off with no trespassing signs as they have been slated for demolition, but still stood as of January 2020.
Sedona, Arizona is famous for its red rock mesas. I wanted to see one that could not easily be seen just by driving down a paved roadway. Such are the conditions that were the catalyst for seeking out Submarine Rock. Only serious off road vehicles can make it out to this mesa, or you could go on a long hike on foot to reach it as well. The trusty Jeep Renegade Trailhawk made it, and allowed me to fly my drone and take out my camera to share this video and these photos with you of this majestic and mysterious landscape in Sedona.
This was my third drone aerial photography project in the past two months for WSP, this time taking me way up to Rio Rancho along Paseo Del Norte Blvd and Unser Blvd. This was more of a utilitarian assignment getting aerial photos of the road itself and the intersection, but while I had the drone up I did point to toward the Sandia Mountains to get the above photo mostly because I thought it was a unique view I could share. Then the top down view of the intersection I found personally interesting as I managed to somehow capture a moment with zero vehicles passing through it!
I debuted some drone aerial car photography of an Aston Martin recently, and am following it up with these photos and video, of a Porsche 911 Targa GTS. The drone photo below looking straight down on the sports car with its targa top down is one of my favorite shots of 2019. I also used my Sony a7R IV from the ground to photograph the stunning interior of this custom ordered Porsche. It was very easy spending time photographing this car, as Porsche is one of my top three favorite car makers, and the 911 Targa GTS of all the many, many 911 variants, would be my first choice to own myself.
Albuquerque does not get much snow, and especially not nearly 6 inches in November! Thanksgiving morning revealed a city covered in snow so I sent up my drone before cooking to get a couple of quick shots of a rare view of the city.
