Jacaranda

By way of explaining a long absence of blogging I'll only say that sometimes life (and work) get in the way of our being able to do the things that bring us the most joy. But over the last few weeks as I've made Friday drives up to Waimea Airport to check on the weather equipment I couldn't help but be reminded that this is my favorite time of year here. It's that short window of time when the Jacaranda, Silver Oak, and Ohia trees all blossom at the same time. So I've been waiting for a day when a trifecta of conditions come together: 1) It has to be a calm day... not too windy; 2) The weather has to be clear and the lighting good (end of day being best); and, 3) I have to have a set up drone with me and time to fly. All of that came together this past week and here is the result.

Enjoy!

Olivia

"Olivia"... the hurricane, er, tropical storm, er... event that never really was this past week... at least not here in sheltered Kona. Regardless, we have had a full summer of hurricane scares, warnings, preparations, close calls, earthquakes, eruptions, wildfires, and overall angst out here it seems. It's been an interesting summer on the Big Island.

So, Olivia, and to all your friends and named events... Thanks for stopping by.

Enjoy!

Kuainiho

Found perfect sunset light on my second day out with the new Mavic 2 Pro and flew over a favorite pu'u. I'll continue to struggle with only having a single battery and no neutral density (ND) filters for a while, but the batteries will come soon and I've made inquiries with Polar Pro about a custom set (ND4 thru ND64) of filters. So by late October or so all the gear should be here and we'll be into this new rig thru a couple of software and firmware updates. Things on the settings side should settle in by then too and quality improve from here.

... Which is awesome because it's all starting at a pretty high bar I'd say! The dynamic range on this new camera is amazing.

Enjoy!

Hawaiian Pu'u

My Mavic has been out of service (OTS) since I got back from the mainland in mid-October. DJI eventually fixed it for free since the problems were within my warranty. I also had a DJI Care Refresh policy so it would have been free anyway. So it was great that a Friday afternoon coincided with a perfectly clear, wind free day to let me get up in my little bird again. Over time I hope to fly many more pu'u around the island. For now here's a short look at countryside I get to see on a regular basis.

Enjoy!

Kohala Friday

Nowadays whenever I can I collect video clips on my GoPro to use as training material in Adobe Premier Pro CC.  Build one skill at a time on a regular basis in anything and after a while you almost know what you're doing.



Enjoy this short trip around a portion of the northern part of the Big Island.  It was a really nice spring day.

UAS Photography

HAMERSLEY | a pilbara aerial film from Dan Proud on Vimeo.

As I find myself getting more involved with UAS projects (drones) and a personal GoPro system I naturally gravitate to superb work like this. Enjoy!

(And be sure to click the full screen button for the best visual experience!)