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.