Drones: No Fly Zones
This past Friday I was held hostage by two federal employees while I awaited the police to arrive for legally flying a drone to photograph the property I was hired to capture. This was my first real issue while flying and making photographs for a client. In the past year I have never had a single negative interaction while flying. Often times people think its cool and are fascinated. I am usually flooded with questions. Cops, cops love seeing it fly and always have something comical to say about them or just want to observe it in action. Unfortunately there are people who make it increasingly harder to fly without negative reactions.
My client hired me to photograph the exterior of nearly a dozen properties they own spread out through parts of the Boston area. Part of the job required several properties in the Portrland area of Maine. While some of the properties could benefit from aerial photographs, not all of them would. On Friday I arrived at the 3rd property around 1:30 and discovered that the building was atop a small incline. Not quite a hill, a far cry from a mountain, but an incline of a couple feet from the road. Perfect. I could put the drone up for a few seconds and capture a few shots at the same level or a few feet from above.
I parked my car off the property next to a vacant building just blow the sloped driveway. I powered up, took flight and flew for no more than 5 minutes. I placed the drone back in the car. Moments later a white trucked pulled up and I was greeted with, "what are you doing?" Instead of walking down the man was driven down to speak with me. His tone was of annoyance and general attitude. I turned and responded with, "Photographing the exterior of the building on behalf of my client who owns it." He asked for a business card. "Right here I said," as I pointed down to the driver side passenger door. I have a set of black magnets that match my black car on the side. My business name and phone number as well as website are written in vinyl. After another half dozen questions of who, why, where are they from, they drove back up the bunny hill of a driveway and parked the truck. I followed and parked my car off to the side.
I grabbed my camera, exited, and walked the length of the building and made a few photographs. I turned and began walking back to my car. The same gent who initially questioned me was now with a portly, shorter gent who did not look happy. He turned and walked right up to me with an abrasive demand, "I want to see some business id or you are not leaving here." I said "no." I kept walking towards my car. By this point I became uncomfortable. An agitate federal employee and his underling were surrounding me with questions. I had explained more than once who the client was, who hired me, where they were from. Mr. Portly demanded to see the emails. Again I said, " no, those are confidential." He was not happy. Between his demands and his agitation he threatened to take my personal possessions. "We will confiscate your stuff." "No you will not, I replied firmly. Now I was pissed.
It was one thing to question me, it was another thing to threaten to steal my equipment. Throughly upset I was now in a position to be more defensive. Mr. Portly was not thinking clearly. I had explained by this point, and to his underling, who had hired me and where they were from. It took me a few minutes to find a phone number in the emails. I happily provided them with the number. Had Mr. Portly bothered to call the immediate property manager, the situation would not have gotten worse, and did it get worse. Mr. Portly grew more agitated that he couldn't into my emails, was told no to ceasing my equipment, and was upset that he was not informed that this was supposed to happen. I explained that I was hired to be there and everyone was to be notified. I tried to explain that it was out of my control if he was not notified and that was not something I was supposed to do. Mr. Portly then proceeded to boss his underling around, "take a picture of his car, take his license plate number, don't let him leave." Mr. Portly was getting nowhere with his demands and frustrations. "I WILL call the cops, you are trespassing." "Go ahead, call the cops, I already told you I was hired to be here." Mr. Portly's underling stood close by and watched as I stood against my car.
It must have been the 4th time he asked me, "well who hired you?" "I already told you, you can call them too." Within a few minutes my client called me back and asked, "are you being held hostage?" "Why yes I am," I said. They told me they were going to call Mr. Portly and get it taken care of. We hung up. Two minutes later a police officer arrived. I explained to him why I was there, willfully offered to show the emails and the list of properties I had in town as well as around the area. Satisfied with what I showed him he strode up to Mr. Portly and told him what he had seen. Sarcastically I overheard Mr. Portly say, "I asked him to see those."
After a few moments of speaking, the officer came back up to me and told me, "they do not own the property and are renters. Since they are renters and can control who comes on the property, they do not want you here." "That is fine. I was asked to be here and I understand they do not want me here and I will leave." "Alright, you are free to go." I turned around, swung open the door, got in, and backed out. The officer followed me out on to the main road and watched me disappear.
My client called me back and asked if I was still being held hostage. I had been let go by the police and explained how the rest of the situation had gone down. On their end they received a bit of backlash. While Mr. Portly was operating within his rights to inquire why someone was on the premise and their motives, he took a simple thing and erupted it into a much unneeded situation. My client was very apologetic. Mr. Portly and his underling are federal employees and did a great job of upsetting people over a very small and well explained matter. As I keep saying and keep thinking, if he had called the immediate property manager, they would have clearly explained why I was there. Had that happened, two federal employees would not have held me hostage and threatened to steal my property.
When you are out in the field, keep phone the contact information of the people who hired you on hand. If you have some form of contract, keep they available as well. It is very crucial that you know where to fly and where not to fly. Always exercise common sense when flying and do so safely. I regard myself as a professional and hold myself to a very high standard. I am a people person and can navigate my way through a myriad of social situations with ease, however there are times when people's behavior can throw you off. Mr. Portly is an example of hostility that did that was unneeded and was better diffused with the assistance of an authority figure. I will not name the location or the federal agency that Mr. Portly works for, but what I will say is this, do your job to the best of your abilities without reservations, exercising the right amount of caution, and treat people with respect, you will be rewarded for your honesty.
Aerial Video: Drone does snow
An aerial video shot with a Dji Phantom 2 and a Gopro Hero 3+
About a month ago I went and picked up a second battery for my DJI Phantom 2. Since October most of my shoots were short enough that I was able to capture what I needed with the life span of a single battery. I made the trek through Boston on the day we were getting pounded with a snow storm. I needed to get the battery as I was contacted and asked if I could capture aerial video for the marketing department of a Massachusetts based ski resort. We were to get a 24-48 hr snow storm and I was requested to be up on the mountain the day it stopped snowing. With some mismanagement on the part of the "would be client," I never shot anything for them. One word, "burned." Enough about that matter...
Aerial Still from the short.
We had an incredibly beautiful day following the snow storm. I was eager to get to a location that I knew would be just incredible with the right sunlight. I put my ski pants on one foot at a time, suited up in multiple layers, from a shell to an under jacket, to stay warm. I grabbed my Phantom 2, both batteries, my Gopro and drove to a location that I had been thinking about since the first snow flakes of the 2015 winter season fell. I chose two spots to focus on. Following about 14 minutes of filming I began a trek to the second spot within the location. I found a nice spot, cleared a take off spot, replaced the battery and powered up.
I noticed something a little "off." After setting the gps, connecting to the satellites and getting the green light to go I set the throttles into position to take flight. Nothing happened. I let go of the sticks and tried again. Nothing. I took my hat off, exposing my head to the cold, and scratched my scalp saying WTF? I was in the right spot at the right time. Literally. I could not have planned a better trip. I could not have asked for better conditions. I could not have desired anything more perfect for what I wanted to capture. The only problem, the only unforeseeable component that I could not calculate, technical difficulty. Welp, cant fly. Can't get it in the sky. There was not little blue pill to get this thing up. I was let down, very let down. I began the walk through the 2 feet of snow, head down, quadcopter in one hand and half a project in the other.
Over the next couple of weeks I spoke with tech support on the DJI side of things and the store that I bought the battery from. No one had any clue. No one had any idea why this was happening. With my schedule I was unable to get myself to the store until a week ago. The guy behind the counter tried 3 batteries. Nothing. Still the same thing. Would turn on but not fly. Replacing the battery didnt seem like it was going to be an option. The old battery worked just fine. Odd issue to have, ehh? The man behind the counter was eager to do the latest firmware update. After a few minutes the update was installed and we were ready to try again. I was able to get off the ground. It seems that the little blue pill came in the form of a firmware update. There was no trouble with lift off. Success!
Please take note:
In order to operate my Dji Phantom 2 with a brand new battery I needed to do the firmware update. The battery came ready to fly with the update or for the latest V2 Dji Phantom 2. The guy at the store had never seen this issue before. It was a guess that the firmware update would correct the issue, and it did.
Even though I was unable to complete the intended project I was still able to capture some stellar footage and have some stock video for a future project I am working on. I have compiled a short of the footage, which you can watch below.
Drones: Know the NOs
Recently I was interviewed by the local news about my drone, usage, legality, and a few other topics related to the use of drones and the FAA. I begin this post with one idea in mind. One simple thought, which is, I never would have thought technology like this would be so easy to access and that I would be able to fly a camera around. With that being said, here is another thought that came to mind almost instantaneously, never would I thought that making images/video could be so criminal.
The reality is that it is not a crime to operate a drone so long common sense is applied. At least, not at the moment. Here are some no fly examples. Flying a drone around a major airport, that's a big NO NO! Flying a drone around an air force base, an even bigger NO NO! More like a HELL NO NO! Spying on your neighbors wife in the backyard, unless she is a super model and you're a Hollywood Director, yea nope, still a no fly zone. Flying at certain altitudes over municipal buildings without clearance is a no no. Flying over a residential neighborhood under 400' is considered trespassing, a no fly zone.
It really is a common sense practice amongst being a huge responsibility. When interviewed by the news, I was told time and time again that their idea of a story was based on the record number of sales of them over the holidays. Fearing that little Timmy down the street has ones, parents should understand that these are not toys. The technology that is in them is powerful, as powerful as the device itself. Depending on which drone you have, you can have any where from 4-8 spinning blades. That is 4-8 times the ability to hurt someone or something.
When I say it is a common sense practice, it is really more than that. There are things you have to pay close attention to, such as, where and when to fly, how close to properties you should be, observing privacy, observing a safe line of sight, and safe flying practices. The Dji Phantom that I have has a very high range of altitude. The higher something gets, the further it gets away, harder it becomes to see. If you need a really high up, shot, something from above 1000' charter an airplane, helicopter, hot air ballon. I watched a Youtube back in 2014 in which the guy sent his Phantom up beyond its limits. When the controller and the drone stopped speaking, he effectively lost the drone. It wasn't until days later after a neighborhood canvas did he get it back by someone who found it.
I am not going to give you the mathematical or physics breakdown of what would happen with having something fall from 900' up. It should be obvious what would happen, damage. The youtuber went on to say that he wouldn't do that again, yadda yadda yadda. I've never reached my max range with my drone. Unless requested to for a project, I won't be sending mine out to max range. If need be, I would do so with safe guidelines and measures to ensure liability. The truth of the matter is, if you are flying a device in that altitude and it comes back down to earth with a crashing thud, chances are someone or something is going to be damaged. I for one know that I do not want to be held liable for damage to any property. While I do have a good insurance policy in place, that doesn't mean I want to use.
As you might start to read articles and other similar topics related to the use a drones there is another point being hammered, the commercial use of drones. We have all heard that Amazon wants to use them. We are still a few years away from that happening. The sad reality is that the FAA is dragging their feet in clearing film makers and photographers the right to freely prosper economically from this technology. As I said to someone I know who keeps me in the loop on things from time to time, I feel this is a bureaucratic move. Someone in some office, in some state or federal building is telling someone to tell the FAA to not handle this or handle according to how they want it. Another staggering reality is that people are in fear of this technology. The likelihood that someone operating a drone is going to spy on you is ridiculous. The average person operating one, be it a photographer or videographer doesn't care about trivial matters. They are flying with an agenda.
I read an article back about two years ago, about the time drones were becoming popular for people, before it became a debated topic. The article went on to discuss a photographer had used his drone, observed a crime being committed and acted upon that and alerted the authorities. Once convicted the criminal then sued the photographer for a violation of privacy. Only in America....
The rumors are that the FAA wants people to become a fully licensed pilot. Crazy right? Yes. I would happily take on a permit or some other form of certificate that would allow me to legal right to operate my drone commercially. Even more crazy is that the FAA has "awarded" a select few the right to do so commercially. This to me is a red flag with a question. "How were the awarded?" Was a fee paid that allowed them this "award?" Did the apply and receive the right? I can not say. It may not be clear as to how a few companies were given special permission. But again, this goes back to an assumption, someone is calling the shots. If that were not true, the FAA would come out with guidelines, regulations, rules, permitting, laws, etc. They have not. The FAA tells people that they are not allowed to use them commercially, fines will be handed out, and that the policies will not be set for a few years to come. WHY?
The future of the use of drones is a largely debated topic with an invisible question mark that is hovering over the heads of anyone who would like to operate them economically. There are real world applications and uses for them that are beyond the purposes of creating cool images. Recently I became aware of these applications when I used mine to film the exterior of an 8 story building that had a partial collapse that forced residents to evacuate the neighboring building and the closure of a major artery for traffic in the city I live in. The moment the fire dept saw me flying over the roof of the building they requested to see my footage. Following that, the city, structural engineers, contractors, and other city departments were able to see the footage and make their assessments. At the very least, the fire dept did not have to risk the lives of their fire fighters by lifting a ladder to the top of the building.
Aside from the commercial application, there are a number of companies that could be affected by the pending restrictions the FAA is stalling on. Anyone that manufactures drones, drone accessories, parts, or the technology that is used in them could suffer. With a record number of sales in recent months, it is obvious that they are desired and that more people are accepting of them. I read an article yesterday that discussed briefly that pilots of real planes, the ones human beings occupy and are transported in, are reporting the sightings of drones more frequently. The article, brief as it was, mentioned 25 reports a month by pilots. The article did not specify the manner in which every report was logged, meaning just how close each drone was, where the pilot was seeing them, how low the plane was when they were spotted. It was geared towards a more objective response to their rise in popularity. I wonder, think with me for a second, are pilots reporting every time they see a bird? Don't think so. So why is it that a drone is worth so much scrutiny? Again, this goes back to people fearing them.
According to another article that I read, the FAA has won a law suit that effectively re-designated drones as "aircraft." Shenanigans I say. More bureaucratic politics at work. Having them renamed as aircraft now allows the FAA and anyone else for that matter the right to impose further restrictions. The bottom line is that we do not need such stiff restrictions on drones. As I said, I would be all for the legal right to operate commercially. I am by no means arguing against the FAA or saying F the FAA, I am merely trying to defend anyone that wants to use them economically. I wait in wonder as to the future of the economic use of my drone. It is irritating to be reading nonsense on the daily.
In closing, drones are a lot of responsibility. They are not toys and should be regarded as a machine that requires a proper understanding of how they operate. If anyone tells you they are easy to fly, the are mistaken. It takes quite a bit of practice and even more thought and precise control and care to fly. Each flight should be well considered and all spots should be well scouted before flying. As I said earlier, common sense is a must. If you are common sense deficient or prone to accidents, please avoid operating a drone.
The above pictured images were made under safe conditions. Flown in an open area, away from a high traffic airport, and a safe distance away of objects, I observed my surroundings carefully and with caution for what could come into the airspace of my drone. I knew the locations well and did a precise scouting prior to taking off. When I purchased mine, I was not given a handbook of procedures to follow, there was no guidebook for common sense in the box. I applied a set of professional skills and relied on my intuition and smarts to make these photographs. I would encourage anyone who is using or planning to, do so with a smart, clear, objective mindset. Don't fly where you shouldn't, don't push the limits unless you can do so safely, and lastly, just don't do anything stupid...
Aerial Photography and Videography
Last year I had a thrill. I flew in a helicopter. I am sure that I discussed that at least once on my blog before converting it over to my new platform. I did an aerial shoot last year via helicopter. Due to a project change, I needed to do so again later in the year. I was addicted and only wanted to fly in a helicopter to get from place to place. While some people have that luxury, I currently do not.
I do however now have a drone, a DJI Phantom 2 for my Gopro Cameras. and cane place a camera very high in the sky or make it do things while it is moving. I have been able to make some awesome photographs and videos since I first purchased it back at the very end of August. This past weekend I put together a little piece that I shot in my town while an event happened. You can watch below.
I am hoping sooner than later I can allocate some funds and replace one of my Hero 3+ for the new Gopro Hero 4. From what I have seen it is an upgrade and worth the purchase. I am quite happy with my 3+, but you know how it is, a new piece of technology comes out and that is enough to change the quality of your work.
I will be coming out with a few new videos/films soon. I have been doing quite a bit of video work recently. I am having fun and exploring film making.