Clouds

After flying around for a bit, I found this mountain. In retrospect, I probably should have flown a little higher and tried to match the altitude of the peak, but this vantage point still looks incredible. What makes the image for me is the very wispy clouds. In the lower half of the image, you have the beauty from the mountain, with the trees and their shadows, and the peaks ruggedness. In the upper half, you have the soft clouds. Everything flows so nicely together, and it is hard to look at this without feeling a sense of calmness. 

 

Curved

After leaving Trout Lake, we continued west, stopping and pulling off to the side of the road many times. This first stop was next to a large, mostly untouched area. Whenever I take off or land the drone, for some reason, everything looks better from twenty or thirty feet in the air. This image, for example, I'm sure would look good from the ground but looks a whole lot better from this vantage point. Maybe it's because we don't typically view things like this, or it's just this specific image, either way, I really like this picture. 

 

Aspens

On the side of the road were a group of Aspen trees. I took a little stroll through the muddy road and centered myself with the bunch. The picture itself is relatively simple, a picture of trees. I then adjusted the tilt of the image to make the middle tree vertical, turned the picture black and white, and added a whole lot of contrast. I don't think any of those adjustments were necessary, but they add another level of depth to the picture. 

 

Isolated

I found this house half a mile down Trout Lake Road. Trout Lake road is not a paved one, but a dir one, and the snow had been removed from it but was a little muddy. It was not the prettiest way to get to this spot, but the views were incredible. To edit this picture, I wanted to highlight the singular house. I did so by decreasing the saturation of the entire image, then increasing the saturation of just the reds, which is the color of the house. This made the picture seem dull while the house looks vibrant. 

 

Alpine Peaks

For this final drone picture from Trout Lake, I found a little gap between two peaks that allowed me to see for miles. In the foreground of the picture, you can see the road snaking through the image. But the further you look back, the more it disappears and the more the mountains appear. I would like to say that I intentionally kept the focus very crisp on the mountains in the background, but I am not advanced enough to know how to do so. 

 

Open

From 1,600 feet up, the valley floor turned into a vast emptiness. There are very few markings (besides the obvious road in the middle) and the only contrast in the picture between the black trees and white snow. The trees have no real structure as they just look like black points. Then you look back at the very crisp mountain and the wispy clouds. Once again, there was a slight blue hue to the image, but a quick edit in Photoshop cleared most of it up. 

 

Road to the Mountains

After turning the camera to face south, I found this road snaking through the valley floor. It is appropriately named Trout Lake Road, who would have thought. The lake was also where I saw some film being shot. As we were driving away, I noticed some 'crew' signs on the side of the road. Then, as we drove further west on CO-145, I saw a large gathering of people and some cameras. I am not sure what they were filming, but I guess this frozen lake in the middle of Colorado was the perfect spot. 

 

Trout Lake

For my next adventure, I turned to Google Maps. I found a lake nearby CO-145, dropped a pin so I would have directions even out of cellular coverage, and went. It was strange how a drive of only eleven miles revealed an entirely different landscape. It wasn't like a transition from winter to summer, but the views were all new. For this picture, I noticed this house positioned below the untouched landscape and mountain peaks. I wanted to capture this with an isolated feeling, and I did so by going high into the sky and photographing as much of the view as I could. 

 

Rays of Sun

As the sun continued to set, I turned around and faced the town. This picture ended up being the last one I took for the night. Not because the battery was running low or it was too cold, but because I took a video of the sun setting. Of the many picture and video options on the drone, one of them is hyperlapse. What this mode does is it takes many pictures (this specific one was 250) and compiles them together. Think of it like a timelapse feature, just from a drone. Hopefully, I will have posted the video by the time this post comes out, and you all can see the mountains turning from orange back to white. 

 

Bald Mountain

As we continue to plow through the series (day 20 of 45), I was reminded of a recent picture. The sky above Bald Mountain reminds me of the sky above Seaside from the Florida series. The baby blues, greens, and oranges all forming this gradual transition from color to color. Then you look down at the mountain and notice the ski runs twisting and turning all over the mountain. And to top everything off, there is the hint of orange on a singular western-facing slope. I don't think I have seen a better image of Bald Mountain. 

 

Shadows

This next picture is a simple camera rotation from yesterday's one. There was something about these mountains that was calling me to post them. Maybe it was the orange sun that hit only the western-facing slopes or the completely untouched snow and exposed rocks, but whatever it is, it is magnificent. Also, at the bottom of the picture is Mill Creek Road. This is just one of many hiking and offroading trails that are around Telluride. Right now, they are just lines in the mountain, but once summer hits, they are frequently visited and is definitely something I want to do in the future.

 

Mountain Top Sunset

After picking up some food from Telluride, I noticed the sky turning into some wonderful colors. Out of all of my skiing trips, this is the very first one where I was able to capture a colorful sunrise or sunset. For some reason, the sun has never cooperated while I have been in Colorado in the winter. But for this night, it did. The lower sky turned a bright orange, the upper sky a dark blue, and the clouds a vibrant yellow. I am not sure what more I could have asked for. 

Telluride

As I began the long flight to the parking lot, I stopped for a second to appreciate the view looking west. The tiny town of Telluride is situated in the valley of multiple 14,000-foot behemoths. Luckily, it had just snowed, and these mountains were a wonderful shade of white. For some reason, there was a slight issue with the white balance of the camera, as all the pictures (especially this one) turned out slightly blue. I am not sure whether that is just a side effect of shooting a white object or if it happens to all drones, but some minor corrections in Photoshop fixed most of the mistakes. 

Bridal Veil Falls

This is Bridal Veil Falls, if the title didn't give it away. It is a 365-foot tall waterfall accompanied by the Bridal Veil Falls hydroelectric powerplant at the top of it. The distance to the falls was much further than I originally planned. I simply put in a fresh battery (thankfully) and started flying towards the falls. And 5,460 feet later, I reached this point. I was a little nervous sending it all this way but was very satisfied with the performance; a perfect 5/5 signal from a mile away, very long battery life (30+ minutes), and zero close calls. I'd call it a successful day!

 

San Juan Mountains

Next on the adventure was a trip to Pandora, Colorado. You may recall my description of Pandora from an earlier explanation, but I have since learned that it was an abandoned mining town. On its east side is Trico Peak, the peak in the middle of this picture. The parking lot for this view is a decent way back from the actual mountain and falls, far enough to get a view of the whole scene but too far to see any details. But that sounds like the perfect job for the drone! This first picture comes from very far away, but tomorrow I venture closer to the falls.

 

Home

The next day the clouds broke and left behind snow-covered everything. This meant drone flying weather! While looking around from about 400 feet, I noticed this house. It was further down the road from some other ones, making it the perfect subject for this picture. I positioned myself so that the house would be centered and that you can see just enough of the road to get the essence that it was there without it being too intrusive. When editing, a simple contrast increase and a hint of saturation were all that was needed to create this masterpiece. 

 

Hanging On

As I kept walking around, I found this icicle hanging onto a pine tree. It is nothing special, but I thought it looked interesting, so I took a picture of it. More specifically, I took many pictures of it. I was trying to capture the snow falling around it. I was able to catch a few snowflakes, but nothing like what I was imagining. But the sharp focus and bright colors make up for the loss of snowflakes, so it turned out to be a pretty good picture. 

 

The Lift

As I mentioned a few posts ago, Wednesday brought snow clouds. Snow clouds mean no droning (a new verb I created for myself!). Instead, I walked around with my camera, the old-fashioned way. What interested me about this lift was its straightness. The further you look back, the more faded the picture becomes. It almost disappears, leaving me to wonder what's back there, but it's just more snow and the lift. 

 

Black Bear Pass

We have moved! Continuing our adventure, we traveled through the town of Telluride and into the town of Pandora. I'm not sure if it is entirely a town or if it's just a location on Google Maps, but I'll call it a town. Either way, in Pandora, on the east side of Telluride, there is a pass, Black Bear Pass. It connects the towns of Ouray and Telluride. It's a little hard to see from this image, but the cut bits on the mountainside are the lower parts of the pass. It cuts the mileage from 49.5 miles and an hour to 8.5 miles and about four hours. It requires a high clearance four-wheel-drive vehicle and is only one way and a car length wide in some parts, but with the right driver, it is passable and very, very beautiful. 

 

Sunkist

The sun was very much not cooperating with me. Not at all. Granted, I should have probably expected this to happen. Shooting towards the west while the sun is setting is not the best idea, but come on, if those clouds could have shifted up just a little. Maybe next time. I ended up embracing the challenge by taking many different images with varying exposures trying to find the perfect one. I chose the one that made the sun not too overexposed and the mountainside darker but not too dark so that it wasn't uneditable. And with the magic of editing, it all comes together like this. 

 

Divided

The way these trees look from a bird's eye view is magical. They aren't perfectly straight like I imagined. They look slanted and diagonal from up above, which is because they aren't in the exact center of the picture. With the road, it was hard to find a completely straight portion of it. It kept winding left and right, and around and over the mountains. I decided that the road didn't have to slice the image perfectly. If anything, that would make it look less interesting. So, I centered the road as best I could, then took the picture. 

 

Open

At the same scenic overlook, I flew over about 1,200 feet to the north. I was met with this hill that blocked the view of the town. At first, I was upset. I wanted to capture the town and all its city life from a faraway distance. But then I realized that having only nature in the image also works. Besides the highway, much of the land is entirely untouched. It's nice to see this land left to survive how it was meant to be. 

 

Freedom

After changing the camera angle, I found this view looking directly down. Throughout this series, there will be many of these 90-degree camera angles (looking straight down). But, each one appears a little different and tells a different story. This story is one of a hidden view that many don't notice. A lot of the time on the road, especially when we need to get to a destination fast, we don't stop at all the scenic overlooks. We just focus on the road ahead. For this picture, I wanted to capture the overlook and all the excellence that is around it. Maybe we should pay more attention to those signs like we do speed limit signs, or should I say, some of us pay attention to speed limit signs. 

 

Backcountry Road

One day I decided to go on an adventure. Where? I'm not sure. We went down to Highway 145 and took a left. I think that's south? Or maybe west? Either way, we took the highway for a few miles and found this scenic overlook. And scenic it was. Deep into no-service country, I did my new favorite action and sent the drone up. This picture came from directly above me, about 1000 feet up. High enough that it captures the movement of the road, with the beauty of the mountains all around it. 

 

Mountains

After flying around for a little while, I was fascinated by the surrounding mountains. Luckily, the early morning clouds were replaced with lighter, more sporadic ones. Each day the clouds had something different to offer. Sunday was snow clouds, Monday was broken ones, Wednesday was more snow, and Thursday and Friday, well you'll see those later. But, they were similar to these, just more wispy and silky (very technical terms), and a whole lot more appealing. 

 

Resort Town

After snowboarding for the first half of the day, the snow clouds were replaced by the sun and clear skies. So, I sent the drone up yet again. Different cities have varying laws about where you can and cannot fly drones. In Dallas, the only rule is to stay out of airport airspace and stay below 394 feet. In Telluride, you cannot fly above private property (which is hard to determine when 400 feet in the air), and some private properties have very restrictive drone policies. But, staying above public property and out of the resort's boundaries (yes, I checked the flight path afterward), I was able to capture this picture of the lift lines on Chair 4 and the surrounding buildings. 

 

Pine Forest

After waiting as long as I could, I sent up the drone. The temperature was around 15F, but I wasn't too concerned about the battery or the drone's performance since it was warmed before take-off. While in the air, I looked around, then looked down, and saw these snow-covered pine trees. I wanted to position the drone such that the entire frame was full of trees, which wasn't very hard to do. Then, when editing, I debated putting the picture into black and white. I eventually settled with color because I like the hints of brown and blue that add another layer to the image. 

 

Snow Flakes

As the snow continued to fall, I knew that I couldn't fly the drone, but trust me some incredible drone shots are coming soon. On the ground, I took out my camera and found the closest pine tree. My goal was to capture the snow falling onto the already accumulated snow. To do this, I needed to have a high shutter speed so that the snowflakes would be frozen in the air. This was the best of many pictures, but I like the way it turned out. 

Also, if it is even possible, I have taken too many good pictures. 45, to be exact. And if I continued with my recent three pictures per week strategy, that would take fifteen weeks. Lucky you, I will be trying to post for forty-five consecutive days. So, sit back while this remarkable Colorado series floats on by. 

 

Blurred

After waking up a little too early the next day, I decided to take a stroll in the shin-deep powder. Even after sixteen inches fell, it was still snowing. After walking for a little while, I found this lamppost and street sign. I set up my camera and tripod and took a long-exposure picture of the snow falling. Even in the short two-ish minutes that it took to take this picture, I still managed to accumulate a large amount of snow on the lens. You can see this with the circles of light and fuzziness of the lights. But I think it adds to the picture. Nothing says snowstorm more than not being able to see fully.

Spring Storms

Welcome to Colorado! Starting with the fifteen-hour drive, I could tell the weather would be crazy. Tornadoes and incredibly dense fog in Amarillo, hail in Santa Rosa, winds that blew over an 18-wheeler in Tucumcari, and snow during the final two hours. I'm not sure how much more crazy the drive could have been. Then, to top everything off, when I woke up on our first day, there were sixteen inches of snow, and another five fell during the day. Now, I would never complain about too much snow, but there was a lot of it. 

 

From Above

For my last picture of this series, I ventured down to Teddy Bear Park. I sent the drone up the usual 394 feet (oddly specific, but that is the maximum flight altitude in Dallas and most cities) and as close to downtown as I could. Flying poses new risks, such as commercial planes in your area and takeoff and landing zones, but the rewards far outweigh them. For instance, I took this picture a few hundred feet from the border of Love Field's landing zone. Luckily, the camera quality on the drone is good enough that it didn't become too grainy when I cropped in. 

From the first sentence, you can tell that this is the last picture of the series. No, the next series does not feature a warm-up. If anything, it is only getting colder. Starting Monday, I will be posting from colorful Colorado! I am excited to take pictures in a new area and especially excited to send the drone up in the mountains. 

 

Road to Nowhere

Continuing on my bike ride, I came upon a long and straight street. The dark skies, few tire tracks, and dull colors made for a mystical-looking picture. Besides the tire tracks, it is as if humans had left the area. When editing the picture, I tried to capture this emotion by lowering the saturation and vibrance. Saturation and vibrance are how much color shows up. A high saturation means a lot of added color, while low saturation will make the picture look black and white. For many of my pictures, I add the slightest bit of saturation and vibrance to give them the extra pop, but not for this one. 

 

New Town

Being the smart young man that I am, I went on a bike ride! While on this bike ride, I sent the drone up from multiple locations. For this first one, I angled it straight down. There is something about the snow that makes an old landscape new. I have biked this route countless times, but this time was different. Never were the lawns and roofs and streets white. While editing, I wanted to mute the colors and give it an older feel. I lowered both the vibrance and saturation, added some red and blue, and lowered the green. Everything added together turned out almost brown, something that I think works with this picture. 

 

Untouched

One battery later, I sent the drone up again to examine the white substance. About 700 feet about a major road, I looked straight down onto a mostly landscape. I recently was introduced to Todd Hido. His work focuses on capturing man-made objects free of humans. For instance, many of his pictures feature nighttime shots of light pouring out a house's windows or a road leading through a desolate landscape. This picture reminded me of some of his as the scene is free of human existence (except for that one car). And, this was only the beginning of the snowpocalypse. It is only going to get so much better. 

 

Lights

I woke up the next morning bright and early at 6 am. I didn't set an alarm, but my mental clock told me it was time to explore. When I first looked out the window, I thought that the colors were inverted. The grass that was usually lighter in color than the concrete street was darker. For some reason, the snow didn't accumulate on the grass, only on the road. About thirty minutes before the sunrise, I sent the drone up. I flew it over to a nearby intersection and took the picture. A little grainy, but I really like the street lights on the white snow. 

 

Before the Storm

By changing the camera angle, I exposed all of the surroundings from yesterday's picture, the tall skyscrapers, green river, and cloudy skies. While the picture doesn't show it, the temperature was a crisp 27 degrees. You can't exactly see it, but the whiteness in front of the buildings is actually light snow falling. The snow that day was lake-effect snow, when hot water rises into the cold air, producing snow. Currently, this snow is light, but over the next few days, upwards of six inches fell around the city. 

Path to the Past

While high above Dallas, I noticed this railroad bridge and the Trinity River below. The picture looks like something from the backroads of Colorado or somewhere outside of a city. But, this picture is only a five-minute drive from downtown Dallas. While this railroad might appear from the distant past, during the hour while I was taking pictures, a train traveled past. And this wasn't the first time I was taking pictures here, and a train came by. It is something I rarely think of, but I am sure that this track, and others, supply the city with many of its items. 

 

Skyline

Welcome back to Dallas! I hope you brought your parka from Florida because it's about to get bitterly cold. I originally had some other pictures that I took in January ready to post but figured this series would be more timely. This first image comes from before the storms and 400 feet above Trinity Groves. The weather at the time of this picture was about 27 degrees, with light snow flurries and moderate wind. While using my car as a windbreaker, I moved my frozen fingers to angle the drone for this capture. Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating a little, but it was cold and snowy and windy. Regardless, I ended up with this wonderful picture of the Dallas skyline. 

 

Motion

Wow! Did I post on a Saturday again? Yes, I did! When I originally scheduled the posts in mid-January, I was still working on this image. After a little while of editing, I wanted to post it before the next series, but I also wanted to start that series on a Monday. So, I posted on a Saturday, lucky you! This picture is a combination of two images; one of the people walking on the beach at night and the other of stars. I took both pictures within thirty minutes of each other, but the settings were wildly different. For the people portion of the image, I used a shutter speed of ten seconds and an ISO of 640. For the star portion of the image, I used a shutter speed of twenty seconds and an ISO of 100. Both parts had an aperture of 2.8. Basically, these two portions would not form this picture on their own, and some editing needed to be done. After multiple attempts to merge the images, I ended up using the sky replacement tool in Photoshop and created this. 

 

Sunset Watching

For the last image of the adventure, I chose this one of a family watching the sunset. I felt there was something about a picture of people watching a sunset that made for the perfect last image. The adventure started with the sun rising just above the skyscrapers and ending with this sunset. The sun creating streaks in the sky and the silhouettes of the people, perfectly ending our Florida adventure.

Starting next week, I continue another adventure back in Texas as I have been testing and perfecting my drone skills and am excited to show them. 

 

Crashing Waves

This scene is one that I made, with no expectations of it turning out like this. I saw the seashell and thought about how interesting an image would be if the focus is sharp on the shell with a long shutter speed and blurred waves. I waited for a few rounds of water to flow over the sand and make it less manmade, then snapped the shutter. There is something so elegant about the simplicity of this. The crisp focus, soft colors, and smooth water, all work so well. 

 

Under the Sunset

As we enter the final week of Florida pictures, we close the adventure with three sunset pictures. This picture is of two swimming heads as they swam under the sunset. When you first looked at the image, you probably had no idea that those two black spots were heads. But, now that I mention it, the picture probably looks a lot better. Either way, the colors of the sunset are spectacular, ranging from blue to red, top to bottom, with clouds dotting the sky.

 

Beachside and Lakeside

As the sun began to set and I biked on over to the beach, I sent the drone up, as I now typically do. This first image comes from the Grayton Beach State Park, which does cost $5 per car and is not all that different than the public beach, but it's the experience that matters! Anyways, near the state park was the deposit of the lake water into the sea. I saw this on Google Maps as I was researching where the best beach might be, but didn't expect this much of a contrast. I am still not entirely sure why the lake is as dark as it is but creates an interesting scene with the light green seawater and brown lake water. 

Afternoon Float

Continuing the adventure on Western Lake, after I received the critically low battery warning and while the drone was forcing me to land, I took this one last picture of the lake. Some paddleboarders happened to go by, which resulted in this wonderful image. From this vantage point, you can imagine my position in the past few images. Monday's image came from the bridge in the background, Friday's image was from far to the left of this but of the same general area, and Wednesday's was from right above that dock. While the ocean was interesting, I think I took most of my pictures at the lake. 

Blue Skies and Calm Waters

Down on the lake, I found this fisherman enjoying the calm water and moderate temperatures. When taking the picture, I didn't think it was good. I looked at it on the little camera screen and was like, eh. But, when I was reviewing the pictures (almost a month later, oops), this stood out. I feel like I have seen a picture like this in a fishing magazine. I don't follow fishing, so I don't know fishing magazines or big brands but feel I have seen a similar picture back when I would read a magazine while waiting for a haircut. Who knows, maybe this will star on the next cover???

 

Nothing but Blue

As I flew the drone further and further away, it revealed the entire Western Lake. What makes me like the image so much is all of the white roofs and blue waters. On its own, the blue waters would be enough. They are bright and contrast well with the surrounding brush. Then you add the white rooftops, and each looks a little different and special. They pop against the blue waters and match the white sand beaches. Then, and my favorite part, there is a single red roof (from one of the gazebos I mentioned a few days ago). You don't really notice it at first, but once you do, you can't not look at it. 

 

Lakeside

Continuing in our hypothetical day, around midday, I flew the drone over Western Lake. On the lake, there are many wooden docks. There were about two more like this one and two others with a little gazebo at the end. Right as I took off and was looking for interesting objects to view from above, I looked down and saw the fascinating contrast between the green shrubbery and bright colored wood. I positioned the dock such that it was vertically centered, and both the coast and tip of the dock were in the frame, then took the picture. 

 Main Street

About thirty minutes later, I decided to fly the drone over the main street of Seaside, Highway 30a. I am glad I took the picture when I did, as the shadows of the palm trees and faint hues of the sunrise complement each other well. The centerpiece of the image is the bright sun but around it is the rich colors in the shadows. The two leading lines, one from the street and the other from the shoreline, both lead to the back of the image where the sun is. It all just flows so smoothly. For the one who carefully looks at the image, can you find the 4Runner? Just another reason to like the image so much more :)

 

Morning Adventures

As the day continues and the sun rises a little higher into the sky, I wanted to end the sunrise portion of this adventure with this. Even almost two months after taking it, I still remember my reaction when I first looked through the camera and saw the scene. I was so excited to have been able to take the picture. The seagulls were flocking around this person and their two children as they took a morning stroll. The focus was sharp, the exposure was proper, and the action of the seagulls with the people and sunrise created a wonderful picture. If I were to name a favorite of any of my sunrise pictures, this would be the one. 

 

Color

For this next picture, I wanted to capture the sand and the remnants left behind when someone walks in it. As I was waiting for the sun to rise, this person walked by. I waited for them to walk a little ways away, adjusted the focus to barely in front of the lens, then took the picture. I like how it ended up, the sand in crisp focus, the person with some resemblance of a human but not entirely, and the vibrant colors of the sun. The one thing that I dislike about the picture is all of the other marks in the sand. I wish that there was only one line leading to the person, but I can't complain as this still turned out exactly how I wanted.