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There was a beautiful sky tonight and while finishing up dinner I happened to look outside.
Once I did, I knew I had to get a drone up and capture this spectacular sky.
Hope you enjoy it.
Enjoy your day and be careful.
Areial Photography
All posts tagged Areial Photography
Awesome Saturday to All.
Went outside and sat down on the patio. Saw this awesome sky, so I grabbed a drone and set it up to get a better look.
The mastery of God’s brush is amazing. I flew the drone straight up to about 200 feet and just did a slow turn.
Hope you enjoy the scene. Be careful out there.
I hope everyone is having a great day. Welcome to the blog.
I was in Maquoketa on Tuesday last week and knowing how much rain we have had of late I thought I would run down to the dam and see what was going on.
The image above is below the dam and you can see there is a lot of water coming down from the dam.
This image show how the wind and water have felled a large tree on the bank of the river.
This is what I love about drones. You cannot get a image like this from the ground.
There is a short video of the dam (only 3:25 minutes.)
THE HISTORIC DUBUQUE SHOT TOWER
A brief summary of 150 years of Dubuque’s #1 icon, the Shot Tower, a Civil War landmark….
Constructed in 1856 to manufacture lead shot ammunition, the Shot Tower is one of only a few
remaining shot towers in the United States, and the only one west of the Mississippi River. The
120-foot Shot Tower produced lead shot from 1856-58, and then was closed. It was briefly
refurbished for use during the first year of the Civil War. It was used by the Standard Lumber
Company as a fire watchtower from the late 1880s until the company was destroyed in the 1911
lumberyard fire. The tower stood deserted in its post-fire ruin from 1911 to 1959. The 1911 fire
destroyed the original wooden stairs, leaving no ready means to access the tower interior for
maintenance and repairs. In 1960-1961, the tower was repaired using methods that are now
known to promote deterioration. Mayor Roy Buol declared 2006 as the Year of the Shot Tower
in recognition of the structure’s sesquicentennial.
The train that you see in this video was the longest train I have ever seen. It had two engines in the middle of the train to help supply additional power.
Enjoy your day and be careful.
Happy Tuesday!
I have photographed this bridge (I call it the bridge to no where) many times in different weather conditions. So I was at the Hurstville Lime Kilns and decided to fly up the river a bit to get a bird’s eye view of the bridge.
I don’t know what this bridge was for but it’s been there for the 24 years I’ve been photographing at and around the Hurstville area.
The Hurstville Lime Kilns are a testament to a different time. I’m afraid I do not know the history of the Kilns but I’m sure you could Google it and find out some interesting stuff. I’m sure I did at one time but have since forgotten.
I went past this need weeping willow tree on the way to Hurstville so I had to turn around and photograph it.
I made a shot video (4:30 sec) if you’re interested.
Thanks for stopping by. Enjoy your day and be careful.
Happy Thursday!
I had the opportunity to spend some time this afternoon at the river. I was reminded of the fish on a board and when you pushed the red button it would sing, “Take me to the River, throw me in the water.”
It was an unusually warm day in Dubuque and the sun was shining so it was the perfect day to go down to the river. I was surprised, (although I shouldn’t have been) to see so much open water. There was very little ice on the river.
Found a bunch of Mallard Ducks along the shore line and I had fun trying to photograph them. At first they all swim away from you but after they determine you’re not a threat to them they be come more relaxed.
I did a far amount of walking to day, which is good I need the exercise but it was tiring and so I was a little bit sore when I got home.
Remember as always you can click on the image to reveal a larger more detailed rendition of the image.
I couldn’t pass up a chance to photograph a tree that was so perfectly surround by the river.
Once the ducks got use to me they started getting back on the ice and settling down for a nice afternoon nap.
It was a fun afternoon. Thanks for stopping by the blog. Enjoy your weekend and be careful.
Thank God It’s Monday!
A quick side note. The organization I retired from had a consultant who had written a book entitled “Thank God It’s Monday.” It was a theme we carried for several years, TGIM. To be perfectly honest I never really bought into the concept that I was so happy it was Monday! That is until I retired. Now I can honestly say TGIM!
It was a motivational concept, and I understood the meaning of it and espoused it continuously. Any way this has nothing to do with today’s post. Just struck me as funny.
Below is an aerial of St. Lukes Methodist Church. It is the oldest church in Iowa and was the first organized religion in Iowa. The church has magnificent Tiffany windows and is a regular on the tourist agenda. My wife along with other women of the church give tours of the church and tell of its vast history. It is a must see for all the different cruise ships that dock at Dubuque.
Anyway, I have, for the last couple of years wanted to do an aerial shot of the church. Either I had a drone with me and wasn’t anywhere near the church or if I was near the church no drone.
Today I was lucky enough to have lunch with my wonderful daughter and when we finished, I decided since I was already downtown that today was the day for the church shot. It was -4 degrees and there was some wind, but the sun was shining, and I reasoned it would be an easy thing to do. I was wrong. I about froze my fingers off and trying to fly a drone with gloves on is nearly impossible. But I got it done and now I hope to do a series of seasonal images of the church in 2024.
If you click on the image you can see a much larger more detailed version of the image.
By the time I got the drone up and in place my poor fingers were hurting so much. So I took the picture and then put the gloves on.
I usually don’t get myself in the image but wanted to demonstrate trying to fly with gloves. It is hard to make precise movements with the drone. The good news was that I was able to land the drone without hitting my truck and didn’t have frost byte either.
Enjoy your day and be careful.
Happy Monday!
I did some pro bono work for Jackson County Historical Society and made a “nice” video to promote the Fair grounds. It’s 5 minutes if you’re interested.
Enjoy your day and be careful.
Happy Tuesday!
Okay, by now I’m sure you’re getting tired of Fall colors shot from a drone. Sorry, I just have to add another round.
So 7 or 8 years ago I was in an officer waiting to see my client and in their lobby they had a image similar to the one above. I was really intrigued by it and made a mental note to do something similar when I had the opportunity.
Last Sunday I decided to take some drone shots of the water tower with the beautiful Fall foliage and see if I could get close to replicating the image I saw back then.
The technique used to capture all sides of the subject (the water tower) is called point of view circle. It’s not all that complicated but it does take some practice. I used the DJI Mini 3 Pro drone for this project. It weighs under 249 grams and on a calm day is the perfect drone for this type of flight, with one exception.
The drone has sensors facing front, back, and down but not sideways. So it makes this maneuver a bit risky if anything gets in the way of the drone moving sideways. I published a video a month ago called “water tower madness” which clearly demonstrated this weakness.
Anyway a short 3 minute video below will show the maneuver so I hope you’ll watch and enjoy it.
Enjoy your day and be careful.
Happy Wednesday!
As of September 20th I have been posting on the blog for 13 years. Jeanne often times will pick a year and month just to look back. I don’t do that because in the beginning I was pretty bad. 🙂
Okay, I know I just posted some fall colors a couple of days ago but that was in and around Dubuque. Tuesday I went to Maquoketa to have lunch with a couple of good friends and I decided to do some flying around the Hurstville, Iowa (close to Maquoketa.)
My original idea was to get some aerial images of the bridge to no where. It has been the subject of several of my posts over the years. It was a good idea in my mind.
The problem was, there were some very tall and thinks trees around the bridge. If you could hike back there or wade in the river you could get a nice shot of it. But because I had to fly high and was worried about the trees you just catch a glimpse of the bridge.
Take a look for it when you view the video below. It’s only 5 minutes long.
Enjoy your day and be careful.
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