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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
