Yesterday evening our teaching facility - Shoot Photography - played host to Christopher Fulham and a bunch of drones.
I hasten to add that I am not describing the staff or clients who attended the lecture - Christopher makes use of the modern mechanical marvel - the UAV. The drone. He uses cameras rather than Hellfire missiles and so is much friendlier and more accessible in his speciality than some others in the world.
These are some of the devices - electrically-powered frameworks with widely-spread electric motors and horizontal props pushing the air down and the drone up. Differential signals passed through a radio link to the computer brain of the drone means that the power to each motor and propeller assembly can be varied.
The combination of these thrusts means that the tilt of the platform is varied and it can be steered thither and yon as well as up and down - it is the principle of the jelly on the plate. While the platform is hooping over the sky the small cameras carried are picking up images and recording them. Those are biggish drones and one in particular can pack a regular mirror-less camera.
Job for the clumsy? No. Mr. Fulham knows what he is doing and has the skill and dexterity to do it. You would not be able to beat him in any video game involving a joystick...
Now for the next picture, here is a view taken of the audience - note the degree of concentration on the faces. There is not a teacher here in Perth who would not be envious of this degree of attention. Tribute to both the value of Mr. Fulham's presentation and the serious enquiring nature of Perth's photographers.
Will this form of photography continue to attract this level of interest? Well, it forms a commercial entity in its own right at this time with advertising and real estate workers and more and more segments of video coverage are being added to motion pictures via drone coverage. The legalities and liabilities will be examined and debated with time - cynicism says that the press will always print something sensational regarding them - and this will take on the "truth" of urban legend...but fortunately professional photographers like Mr. Fulham will do a great deal to settle things.
Last picture. Nikon the dog, and a handsome dog he is too. No idea who the guy is...
