The Joy of a red streaked summer evening sky gives no greater encouragement to our aerial photographers’ with an extensive list of “summer sunshine” briefs in their diary! Putting our faith in the great British summer (and weather forecast), one evening last week we called air traffic control and scheduled a take-off slot for early the next morning.
Ignoring the glimmer of red in the morning dawn (perhaps a sensible shepherd would have heeded this warning?), we attached a new remote camera system we are testing inside the specially modified Cessna aircraft we use and took off for London.
The objective of the flight was not only to meet our clients briefs for sun drenched aerial photographs of their sites but also to add additional stock images to our extensive aerial library whilst flying to and from our target sites across London.
The remote camera system for time lapse photography we are trialling will add a new perspective to the aerial photography options we offer to clients, largely portfolio owners, property developers, commercial and residential estate agents, landlords along with their and supporting marketing and design companies.
Canon cameras chronicle London
That morning the Canon cameras chronicled more than a life in the day of London as it time-lapsed our flight in two second intervals across the south, central and the east of London. In those two second snapshots, it also documented the bright, blue British summer sky simper through the shades of grey as visibility ricocheted from good to bad to ugly during the 40 minute flight.
However, it is not just a fast moving front that can hamper visibility. Even the brightest day on the ground does not mean visibility in the sky is good. The hazy days of summer mean just that. Haze. Mist. Miasma. And it is not until you are up in the air and behind the lens that a true picture of the elements can be seen.
And thus, as much as this aerial photographer is known for his love of bright skies and the opportunity that they bring, he is well versed in set-backs, but also lorded for his eternal optimism!
With summer sights this day now abandoned and the mood in London turned from one of summer hopefulness to the premature shroud of autumn; our path redirected by air traffic control, and the east London skyline now diluted by moisture content in the air, we shot with no abandon, like Snoopy against the Red Baron, as we circled back to base.
“Aerial pictures worth a thousand words”
One of the beauties of aerial photography as a business and marketing tool is the scope that it offers. Aerial pictures are quite literally worth a thousand words. Our clients use them to visually describe, present, position and map the location of their assets to potential tenants and buyers with the context that the 2D structure of a ground shot cannot.
Another great attribute of aerial photography is the depth that it adds to a photograph. Revealed, later that day, within minutes of filtering the photos taken during the morning’s flight was an incredible landscape of a moody London, quite literally rising from the dawn to greet yet another summer’s day where the city’s workers know the sun won’t shine. But for us, that day, the sun did shine.
“The camera never lies….”
The gift of this inclemency was this set of library photographs presenting a very real view of London in the summer. And, to coin three great clichés in one – whilst the camera never lies, the forecast often does, so if all else fails, make hay while the sun shines. And that we did, one dull, sunless summer’s day last week!
In our next blog we will go into more details about why you should consider the services of a professional photographer – and this is not just to avoid the time and cost of an aborted “summer” photography flight!
High Level view over London on an overcast day
High Level view over London on a clear day