Tag Archives: DronePhotography

Skywatch Friday – The Sky is the Only Thing that Kept Me Sane Edition

We have had a lot of stress recently in our family, not caused by anyone within our immediate family. We had been looking forward to our family vacation and we ended up going on it and we had a good time. In amidst the weeks before I dealt with the stress by taking photos. That always settles me down. They are not works of art but they are mine (that is why I call myself a “picture taker” and not a “photographer.” Being a picture taker is so liberating!!

This was the Full Strawberry Moon at the end of the month. I’ll admit I missed by a day or so but close enough.

And this was a few days before. The moon isn’t quite full.

A drone shot at 40 meters over the backyard looking to the northwest.

A local shopping center has a concert series in the summertime on a weekday night. This was at the end of the concert. The music was great but the sky said “my turn” and did not disappoint. This is looking west.

And another shot to the east. We don’t normally get reverse sunsets as nice as this.

Here is a neighborhood sunrise from our house looking east. I used a hipstamatic filter on this. I love the Hipstamatic App on my iphone.

And a jigsaw puzzle photo.

And this is the Goosenecks of the Colorado River in Utah. This has been on my bucket list to get in real life for some time. I’m told that during peak times there is all sorts of pushing and shoving amongst people to get the best spot for a photo. So until I get there myself and use my picturetaker skills to get my own photo, I’ll just use this. I’m not into pushing and shoving.

So that’s it for this week. I’m linking with Skywatch Friday

The Skies of Tulsa – Summer Edition

The family just got back from a trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Pagosa Springs, Colorado. We had a good time but it was one of those active trips where we were on the go every day as opposed to sitting on the beach a bunch. We had a great time, saw a lot of stuff, and ate lots of good New Mexican style Mexican Food. I’ll have photos from the trip in the coming weeks. Right now, I am still working my way through photos from June.

Drone shot looking north from south Tulsa

Here’s a drone photos from 50 meters over my back yard in Tulsa, Oklahoma looking north.

And a shot from my across the street neighbor’s driveway looking east.

I love infrastructure of all kinds. This is Public Service Company of Oklahoma’s Tulsa Power Station. It’s an ancient facility on the Arkansas River right in the middle of town. I used to work for the sister natural gas pipeline company, Transok Inc., that supplied the natural gas to the plant.

This is the Arkansas RiverParks trails right across the river from the power plant looking north. You can see that bicycles are to the right and pedestrians to the left.

And at the north end of the Trails, and across the river is where Route 66 crosses the Arkansas River. The city has installed a collection of replicas of vintage motel signs in a little park. Pretty interesting to me. This year is the 100 year anniversary of Route 66. I’ve lived a bunch of my life on Route 66. I love all the attractions on Route 66 but don’t care much for the road itself. Luckily in Oklahoma to the west coast most of the route is paralled (by the powers vested in me, I am declaring “paralled” to be word) by Interstate 40. I’m good with traveling on I40 and getting off to see the attractions as I feel led. Route 66 is too slow!!

I’m linking with Skywatch Friday.

Skywatch Friday – High and Low, Home and Away

Here’s a sky over my house and my neighbor’s garage.

And another sky looking west over my neighbor’s trees.

And a sunset from out in front of the house looking west. I like how the golden light reflects in the trickle of water on the street.

And this is 40 meters over my back yard looking west toward a rainstorm late in the day.

And here is a selfie of the drone pilot, yours truly.

And away from home at a local shopping center that puts on free concerts on Thursday nights in the summer.

And a view of the decks of a restaurant on the Arkansas River here in Tulsa.

And that is about it!! I am linking with Skywatch Friday

Skywatch Friday- Flying Through the Air

I went on a bike ride during a sunny, cool morning this week. It was glorious. I stopped here at the Arkansas River as it goes through Tulsa. That bridge going across the river is Williams Crossing, named for the corporation that donated about one gazillion dollars to build it. I saw some people gliding, almost flying across the bridge.

This is them. They stopped at the western end. Two roller skaters and a scooter. No wonder they were so smooth looking going across.

This past week, I broke out the old drone and launched it from the backyard to get some skywatch shots.

Here you can see a front coming through.

I put this photo through a filter to get some color.

One day storm clouds were building up. I launched the drone but it started barking at me at about 15 meters warning of high winds. So this is a low level shot of the clouds. You can see that the drone is just a little above roof peak level and below the power lines. When the drone barks I listen to it. I don’t need it flying away in the wind. It almost got away from it once and I went through the recall procedure and it came back.

Here’s a street level photo looking east.

Another looking west.

That’s it for this week. Join me at Skywatch Friday

Skywatch Friday – In the Air and Over the Water

From a drone flight in early June. Usually June is boring blue but we are getting lots of clouds this month.

And another flight a few days later. It looks like a giant hammer is fixing to pound Tulsa.

And from my first post-surgery bike ride. I had a knee replacement back in mid-February and have done a lot of Physical Therapy and exercise on my own as well. Earlier this month I went on my first ride. Six miles. The first two of which were ouch, ouch, ouch, on every pedal rotation until I got warmed up. So it is just a small ride. Earlier this week I did another of eight miles and it went well also.

It rained here a few days later and so for my hiking I went a park that has paved trails. Less erosion that way and I am all about Leave No Trace principles. (Hit the link to find out about the Seven Principles of Leave No Trace.)

Last week, my wife and I went to a free concert at Jenks Riverwalk. It’s a nice shopping/eating center right on the Arkansas River. I took a little break from the music to take some photos.

Linking with Skywatch Friday

Skywatch Friday – Colored Skies and Subtle Skies

I fired the drone up over the backyard last week toward the end of the day.

It had been raining and I wanted to go hiking so I went to Broken Arrow’s Ray Harral Nature Center. A beautiful place with many paved hiking trails so one can go hiking while adhering to Leave No Trace guidelines. The end of the hike I found this composition with flowers, trees, and a sky. Nothing earth shattering, just kind of pleasant.

Skywatch Friday

Skywatch Friday – Late Afternoon in the Neighborhood

I launched the drone the other day. It wasn’t sunset time but there were clouds and light so off I went. This is 40 meters over my backyard in Tulsa, Oklahoma, looking west.

And then I turned the drone 180 degrees to the east and pointed the camera closer to the ground.

And, as you can tell, I played with the photos a little bit. I used a program called Dynamic Auto Painter and used one of their watercolor presets.

I’m linking with Skywatch Friday

Shadow Shot Sunday – Shady Cooling

My wife and I had coffee yesterday at place that has this nice outdoor space which always has a breeze. I love the sails that they use for shade. They actually allow some light through. I’ve been thinking about something like that for our back patio which is nice but doesn’t really have much shaded area. Here in Oklahoma with our high winds I think it would be imprudent to do this as a do it yourself project. The wind loads on the sails and supporting post would be considerable. Fortunately I have a friend who is a mechanical engineer and knows how to do those kinds of calculations.

I fired up the drone yesterday to get a few photos of the midday sky. I also pointed the camera straight down to our backyard. You can see our patio with no shade. The orange object in the middle of the yard is the drone landing pad and just to the left of it is me, piloting the aircraft. This is at about 40 meters above ground level.

And I lowered it to about 20 meters and took another photo.

And this is what I was taking photos of while the camera was pointed out. Check out my Skywatch Friday post next week for more.

So, should I see what would it entail to get some shade sails over our back patio?

ShadowShot Sunday

Skywatch Friday – Urban and Other Skies

I fired up the drone again and flew over the backyard in between rain storms. This is looking to the west. You can see everything is very green in Tulsa right now with all the rain we are getting.

A stopped in traffic, crepuscular ray shot one afternoon.

And another shot from almost the same spot yesterday.

The City of Broken Arrow has a Veteran’s Park with all sorts of monuments in honor of veterans. This is the “War at Home” Memorial. It honors veterans who came home from war but committed suicide later. It’s a huge issue. War is hard on people mentally and emotionally and we need to make sure they are cared for when they come home even though their wounds are not physical.

And I went on a short hike at our Turkey Mountain Urban Wilderness Area. The John and Kate Kaiser YMCA tucked to the very northwest corner of the Wilderness Area. I am a Y member so I just check in at the office and take off. I hardly ever see anyone else on the trails there. It’s pretty remote from the rest of Turkey Mountain.

Skywatch Friday

Skywatch Friday – First Day and More

I hope that everyone had a great New Year’s. 2024 was a year of blessings and also trials and tribulation for us and we got through it. Back when I started blogging, there was a friend of mine who also started and quit because she said people only put the positive parts of their life online so it was dishonest. So I guess I am dishonest. Sorry about that and I don’t feel bad about it all. I’m a blessed man, what can I say. I have this irritating trait that no matter what the situation, I think things will be okay. I couple that with a sense of realism about what okay looks like.

I have always loved New Year’s. It’s like a fresh start every year. We didn’t do much, stayed home, had a nice dinner, watched some television.

In late December after weeks of monotonous gray skies I saw that things were shaping up for maybe a good sunset so I got my drone in the air and captured a bunch of images. I put them in a video and here it is. It is only twenty seconds long so do not panic!

New Year’s Day morning I went with Heather to a class she is starting at a nearby YMCA. It is cardio drumming and twenty people showed up to take it. Not bad for a brand new class. She is already teaching it weekly at another YMCA here in town and monthly at our “home gym.” It is lots of fun, you have drumsticks and you drum on an exercise ball in time to music. She leads the different moves. It is lots of fun, she loves upbeat music and so do her students. She also teaches Zumba at two different gyms, and a couple water classes, aquazumba and aquastrength. I take both of those classes. She stays pretty busy. She has been teaching for years and is very good at “reading the room” providing alternative moves for those who need them.

Afterwards, I took off and found a geocache and hiked a short distance. If you are a geocacher, New Year’s Day is an important day to find one and if you are a hiker you should go on a First Day’s Hike. So I did both. Yeah me, hah!

And then we went home and had our New Year’s Day meal featuring chicken quarters and baby back ribs that I smoked on the day before New Year’s Eve. That red stuff on the meat is a very spicy rub use. It brings the heat.

Meanwhile, I did another jigsaw puzzle on my ipad. Great way to stay busy while we watch our streaming shows. The one I am working on now is a Canyonlands scene with lots of tan colored desert and skies. Very challenging.

Again, I wish everyone a Happy, Heathy, and Prosperous 2025!

I am linking with My Corner of the World and Skywatch Friday

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