Another scenic local park...

On a perfect day for flying the Phantom, I drove six miles past Red Rock Canyon to the Sheep Mountain Ranch State Park.  The Ranch backs against the same Sheep Range we see behind Red Rock Canyon and Calico Basin. It is a sprawling range, which strongly influences our weather. The mountains seem to direct storm cells to certain parts of the valley, sparing others (like my house).

 

 

With no wind and a cloudless sky, I put the Phantom up and let it scan the range from Red Rock Canyon (visible when the camera pans all the way to the right) to the Ranch grounds on the left:

 

 

It will be another three weeks before I can get over to the East Slope to take stills and video of lakes, streams and real mountains with the Fall foliage changing. I'm eagerly anticipating that--though there are a lot of those hated trees over there. Trees eat drones for breakfast. And dinner.

 

This has been a valuable month of familiarization, though. It is so easy to be too aggressive with these phantoms because of their amazing technology. I'm being purposely timid, knowing that I can try new maneuvers later, when I'm a more skilled pilot.

 

I just viewed this, and Blogger does dreadful things to videos. We'll have it on my web site soon  http://www.divexprt.com/HDRphotography/Drones.html , so you can see the quality of the Phantom's camera. It is superb.

Great to be aloft! (vicariously)...

Finally building good habits with the Phantom, to the point where it is reliably producing good material.

 

This morning at Dawn, the rosy light bathed Red Rock Canyon for some good effects:

 

 

The drone really is the perfect elevated camera! It is 6:15 A.M. and a couple of hundred hardbodies are running and bicycling all over the canyon. As far as he Phantom is concerned, it is all alone, above it all.

 

 

Yesterday, I used the morning light to try a slightly different angle on Calico Basin:

 

 

I captioned that one, 'What a great place to own a home!'

 

 

Next month I get to see some completely different places in California, and an entirely new palette of colors.

 

Barring any crashes or mechanical problems, I'm looking forward to lakes and mountains as a change of pace!!

 

 

 

 

A new adventure-- Logandale Trails...

When I mentioned the new drone to a friend, Paul Worthen, he suggested a place an hour North of Las Vegas where the ATV community go to roar all over the desert on miles of trails. From his description, it was small but had everything I would want in colorful scenery.

 

I drove up to the North end of No-Water-In-It Lake Mead (if you don't want to sleep nights, look at the dry bottom of a lake that provides the water for southern California, Nevada and Arizona).

 

Trying not to think about that, I put the drone in the air to gain a high view:

 

 

Pretty nice! The Phantom has an Android with fingertip controls, so I adjusted the aim and looked around.

 

 

There are ATV trails everywhere! The desert here has rounded hills without big rocks or gullies to tip over the vehicles. A pleasant small park site acts as the gathering place when large numbers of enthusiasts show up. I'm standing down there, steering the drone:

 

 

While the desert area is expansive, the red rock canyon here is fairly small: I maneuvered the drone to just soak it all in from up where the birds soar:

 

 

 

The Phantom is very stable, and it has a motorized gimbel system; There isn't any jitter in the video.

 

 

This is a great place to fly and a tough place to walk. The rocks are sharp, and they break easily to send you tumbling. Better to ride in the drone and soar up to a higher vantage point, where the distant mountains come into view.

 

 

The road goes ever onward...

 

 

 

As I was leaving after enjoying the warm colors of the early-morning Sun, the first of the ATV riders came roaring up the road, throwing up huge clouds of dust.

 

I was happy to be done with my photographing,because I suspected the vehicles would reduce the visibility as they roared around.

 

 

 

 

 

After another five days of awful weather...

Sigh. I've been wanting to get in a lot of practice with the drone to build skills, but wind, rain and clouds are not conducive to getting good material. After the past five days, I feel like a prisoner!

 

Finally, today is a sunny day with just a bit of wind, so I jumped on it . I drove out to the community of Calico Basin, which lies in the shadow of the Calico Hills.. Since I hadn't shown the little community in earlier videos, I include it here. Nice scenic place for a home, isn't it? 

 

 

This is a beautiful place to fly. No trees, lakes or other hazards, and beautiful colors:

 

I'm getting far enough along learning the drone that I need new subject matter. I have a trip to the East Slope of the Sierra Nevada for the Fall foliage coming  I did a scouting visit in June, and this could be a great place for aerial views!  http://www.divexprt.com/HDRphotography/CaliforniaEastSlope.html

 

Of course, one has to keep one's drone out of the trees and the lakes...

 

Gathering experience with the drone...

The weather has finally turned beautiful after several days of monsoon conditions. So, I'm racing around to colorful places to gather material.

 

Yesterday, it was the Calico Hills in the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, where a path leads people to the hills from Overlook 1. Every time I take the Phantom out of the car, tourists crowd around with questions. I have to be careful to keep small children at a distance.

 

 

Over the next few days, my terrific webmaster Patty will put a number of stills and videos from these flights up on my web site on our "Drones for Aerial Photography: page: http://www.divexprt.com/HDRphotography/Drones.html

 

This morning, the early Sun flooded the back side of that formation, in an area known as Calico Canyon. The road to get closer to the mountains was closed, but the flight produced some beautiful imagery.

 

 

The Phantom2 is a dream to fly for this kind of scenery. It is remarkably stable when aloft, and the camera on its gyro-stabilized gimbels provides a rock-solid platform.

 

Of course, mine looks ever more bizarre. The Phantom has landing gear to keep it from tipping on landing. My proprietary sighting system didn't keep enough light off the Android phone screen--so it now has a burqa.

 

 

Doesn't matter how it looks. It works. The Phantom people can pay me later.

 

 

 

 

With more experience I may become more adventurous, but for the time being I'm protecting the Phantom by being careful. As with full-sized aircraft: There are old pilots and bold pilots, but no old, bold pilots. Words to live by.

 

My friends at Drones Plus here in Vegas have provided admirable, swift support. Hope they appreciate my efforts!