A Drone at the NM by Mike Brown

After my FSD kicked in some fifteen years ago I lost my job in the hospital, and concentrated on my work as a professional photographer.

Many years and many weddings and portraits later, the condition was also to relieve me of that job too as the camera became too heavy to carry, and my legs did not want the workout any more.  I turned to taking landscape images, as I had all the kit, and I could take my time setting up on a tripod, and perhaps do ten or twenty a day instead of a thousand. But I was also limited to where my stick or wheels could take me until along came drones. There can be hardly anyone who has not heard of them, if not seen them. But a camera drone would allow me to go where I could not with my legs, and still take the images I wanted to. It would also allow me to take my image taking to greater heights, literally.

The choosing of a drone and the legalities of it all could complete an article all on its own, so I will not go in to it here, but a chance conversation whilst at the NMC led me to photograph the building and its surrounds from the air. A “mission” as they are now popularly called, requires planning and luck. Planning what images you want to take, planning how you will take them, and of course planning around the weather. That is also where the luck comes in. The drone I have, a DJI Phantom 3Pro, will fly in winds up to around 15 knots. The lower the wind the better the pictures though. Lighting is important too. As you will see later. On top of that other things need to be checked and planned for. Is there any aerial activity nearby? Are there any power cables or trees? Are there any prohibited zones like schools or nuclear power stations?

On the day of the “mission”, the weather was very kind with patchy sun and little wind. Early fog had dissipated. However, there were a couple of problems before I could fly. The school next door firstly. They were most kind and co operative when informed about the flight , and requested an image from me. Secondly, there was a restriction on flying because of a nearby airfield, and I do not mean Speke or Manchester. I had permission to fly no higher than 120m, and always within sight.
So I trundled the drone in its converted suitcase on wheels down to the summer house, pulled up a chair and assembled it all. Yes it can all be done sitting down. Taking off from the wooden walkway
and then off to take the pictures. First the still images and then the movies. Some of the images are here, and others can be seen at https://mikeeaa6.myportfolio.com/disabledphotographer