Is it a bird, is it a plane?

[F, Calla & Luca]

Today, which was cool and mostly overcast I took the doodles to see the cherry blossoms in Branch Brook park in Newark. Newark gets a bad rap, much of it deserved, but it has had some major new projects in the last decade. Branch Brook is very old but it is being renovated. It was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, who designed Central Park in NYC. The park has the biggest number and variety of cherry trees in the US.There is a well know cathedral, The Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart, the fifth largest cathedral in the US, near the park. 

Okay, my pictures were pretty awful, a combo of doodles and poor settings. But I will fix some up eventually for the April Assignment. But what really captured my attention was this photographer.

I commented about all his gear and we started talking. He opened his giant backpack and oh my doodle. He had a video drone.

Ad off it goes:

Here's what he was shooting, the people are watching the drone and you can see the cathedral in the background.  I suspect Calla, Luca and I are in some of the footage too. He is doing local sights for a cable company documentary but unfortunately not the company I use. I hope I can get to see it somehow but his information was very sketchy.

As soon as the photographer left, the whole sequence of setting up , shooting a few stills, launching the drone etc., was only a few minutes, a red tail hawk arrived. I wonder what it would have made of the drone. Would he have been frightened, would he have attacked it? I imagine drones are pretty pricey : )

[F, Calla & Luca]

I guess flying over people could lead to even more liability. But the drone seemed kind of lightweight since the cameraman caught it by one of the supports hanging down as it hovered near him. He had a LCD screen I think on the control module. He did tell me it can fly up to 1500 feet although he never flies it that high

[DJ & Chance]

Surely not--but in the imagination many things are possible

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Uh oh...this sounds like something on Person of Interest :) Pretty cool!

[F, Calla & Luca]

Too true, I hope my number didn't show up : )

[F, Calla & Luca]

Want one?
http://www.dji.com/

[Rosemary (Ro) and Enzo]

I can my $1000 bucks crashing now! ;)

[DJ & Chance]

I gave one to my son a few years ago--mine was near the bottom of the price range.  He is a techie and loves it. The little video camera transmits remotely through his iphone and he can even partially pilot the drone with the iphone.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Wow.

[Deb's Yarrow and Schatzi]

Now there's something you don't see everyday.  Thanks for sharing. Love the hawk at the end.

[F, Calla & Luca]

: )

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

So I'm thinking why am I waiting to get that perfect zoom lens? The one that can reach everything and the photos are so clear. A drone would be perfect  :)

I bet this was so interesting.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Now why didn't I think of that. The perfect zoom lens : )