Filming surfing from a drone is something I have wanted to do for awhile. This is the first time I got a chance to get some practice flying around Ho'okipa. I happened to run into a guy named Ekolu Kalama and I filmed him doing some awesome nose riding on his SUP board. This was really just to get some practice filming, and I learned a bunch about how to set up shots and chase surfers around. You can expect to see many more surf videos from my Phantom in the next few months. Anyone in and around Maui that wants to collaborate on cool projects, please contact me here.
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Click here if you have not yet seen my pictures taken from my drone of Jaws! I loaded up my QAV400 camera drone and snapped it to my backpack and started out for Jaws (Peahi) in Maui. I really wanted to get some cool surfing drone aerial photographs and I could not think of a better place to try this than at one of the most famous big waves spots in the world. I was not sure how my equipment would hold up or if I would be able to get enough range to photograph the surfers successfully. I knew a crash or malfunction would result in the total loss of my rig as well as my previous videos because I only had one memory card! I flew three flights total and took over 1300 pictures to get 1-2 really good shots and a few more fairly decent ones. This picture is what I looked at for nearly 2 miles while hiking. This was the first thing I saw when I walked up. I took this with my iPhone and gives you an idea of how far away the surfers are from where I was able to fly! Regardless, it is an amazing view!! Always cool to take a picture of your gear on location. You can see some monsters out there! Here I am flying my QAV400 with Naza controller. I use the fatshark goggles and a 5.8ghz video transmitter from Immersion RC. I really love this setup and use it instead of the Phantom when I need to sequenced pictures because it has a separate FPV camera that doesn't blink out after a picture is taken. For aerial pictures of houses that delay is no problem, but when you are flying around something like this I need all the help I can get! This was the first picture I saw when I took off. These waves are so far away, I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to get out that far. On my 3rd flight, I decided to try and get a little bit lower. The wide angle lens makes it look like the wave is heading straight for my camera.. I start climbing a little more aggressively, but I was cutting it a bit close on this one! That wave was close. And probably time to head back and make sure this RC helicopter didn't suffer too much water damage. Drones and cameras really do not like being wet! One of the most challenging things about flying FPV is learning to fly in a new location. This was no different and the stakes were a little higher. On the way back, I had no idea where I was going. In this picture I was headed too far to the right. Luckily, I had some awesome spotters who I will introduce you too in the next few photos! Ahhh there is my Jaws landing pad. See that awesome 4 wheeler? That is the way to travel to Jaws in Style. It was badass and I enjoyed looking at it. Wish I had taken a picture of it. My awesome spotters! I am so thankful these guys were here and so willing to help me out. They helped time my flights and helped me find my way back home when I was lost. Without them, I might not have these amazing pictures. I forgot your names so please hit me up on mycontact page and send me your names! These are my aerial photographs I took my drone flying around Jaws. These were shot on January 20th 2014 on a GoPro Black shooting 12 megapixel .5 second stills in wide format. This was my first time using a drone to photograph surfing and I think the results turned out pretty cool. The drone used is aQAV400 which is flying the same flight computer that powers the DJI Phantom. If you know who these brave dudes are please send me their names so I can credit their amazing rides down the incredible wave known as Jaws in Maui Hawaii! If you want to see behind the scenes pictures as well as a near drone crash from the spray, click here! |
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