Before drones became an everyday item in the news, I bought a quad copter and started photographing my job sites. About 5 years ago a vendor at the AIA (American Institute of Architects), convention showed me a simple four- propeller amateur drone.  I ordered one from Hong Kong and attached an early Go Pro camera to it.  To be honest, I am a technology geek and had a lot of fun learning to fly it.  I took photos of job sites, ball fields, and many other venues.  The best photos were of my in-laws farm where I lost control of the copter and it flew over farms, roads and people’s homes with my kids and I trailing behind.  It ran out of power and landed on the lawn of someone’s house….of course it broke apart.
The drone breaking in to many pieces was what happened about every other flight.  As hard as I would try, either the wind would take the copter into the trees, or a stray signal would cause a crash, or most often, pilot error would cause it to nose dive into the ground.  I got pretty good at rebuilding what was left, but soon that got old.  Like working on my own car, I realized that flying a drone should be left to professionals.  At least, my experiences  helped me realize that the best view of a home is not the roof.
My photographer, Rob Karosis and his son Cam, have taken up flying and photographing projects with a much more sophisticated quadcopter which is stable, has the capacity to take amazing photos, and is controlled by a skilled pilot and a great photographer. Â I happily turned the aerial photography over to them while sticking to the few things I am good at.
 Curated Brochure by Crisp Architects: Portfolio
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Great photos of the farm, Jimmy….and of your feet in the small photograph!