LEARNING TO FLY

Several years ago, I picked up my first drone, the DJI Phantom 3. To be fair, I was a nervous pilot at first, and my experience was one of cautious exploration. With the constant advances in technology, it was not long before the Phantom 3 was replaced with the Phantom 4 and then the 4 Pro. I picked-up the Phantom 4 and had many wonderful flying experiences. My main focus for picking-up the Phantom was to take large-format multi-image panoramic photographs. At the time, I lived in Atlanta, GA and the “city in a forest” that Atlanta is offered many beautiful places to shoot my panoramic images from. Alas, I have not had the opportunity to fly for the past couple of years…

My drone made the move with me from Atlanta to Mexico City, and for several reasons, it never took to the skies over CDMX. This is a shame as there are so many fantastic photographic opportunities there. After a year or so in Mexico City, we moved to Dubai. Sadly, again, up until this point, my Phantom has not had the opportunity to fly. Instead, it sits patiently on the shelf at my office on campus becoming more a museum piece than an actual part of my creative toolset. The lack of flying here in Dubai I will put down to the government restrictions on zones where one can fly and the licensing. I plan to at least take care of the licensing issue in the coming months, so I am ready to fly during the cooler months here in the UAE.

The years have passed, and technology has pushed on. I am intrigued by the portability and ease of use of the new DJI Mavic Air 2. It is a much smaller platform than my current Phantom, and I feel it could be a worthwhile investment for future creative opportunities from the air here in the UAE and indeed in my future (let’s hope the world finds a new normal that works) travels. The size of the Phantom platform has always made going taking it something of a pain. The small footprint of the Mavic Air 2 could make this a game-changer for me. Due to its size, it could almost always be with me in my photo bag. One of the main reasons I became a Sony shooter several years ago was due to the fact that my Canon 5D kit was just too big. I have been a happy Sony shooter (A7R MK II and A6400) ever since.

Maybe the Mavic Air will be a great addition to my creative kit? Allowing me to up my game and offer one more opportunity for me to learn to fly again.