Is buying a drone for your project or company a true cost saving measure. Yes….and no, well, it depends. You want to account for it correctly and weigh the options, then you will make an informed decision. We’ve heard you can end up throwing a lot of money in the sky if you are not careful!
Owner and Flight Commander Wendy Whittemore explains how costs can add up quickly with drone operations.
We got to have a little fun this past Saturday with our #DJIMavicPro. The East Nashville Tomato Art Fest is in it’s 15th year & for the past 5 years, a large tomato mural has been painted in the middle of 5 points. It originated with muralist Andee Rudloff and is now an ongoing project funded by the Nashville #ChamberEast and designed by street artist Troy Duff.
This year’s theme could be called “Attack of the Tomato”. The image of a large tomato looks like it fell from the sky and cracked the pavement around 5 points. And only the drone can show that perfect perspective! It was a dark start so we did a time-lapse first for the 4am painting party. At 5:33 we were cleared for drone flights. The ceilings were a little low but still gave us the clearance we needed to fly. By the time the 5K was to start at 7am, the art was done and selfies ensued. See the final result below and stay tuned for more footage from the mural.
From all of us at Aerial Innovations, hope you had a great Tomato Weekend!
Here are 2 videos from the 2017 Troy Duff Tomato Mural & the 2013 Chicnhair Mural
2017 Mural Drone Video & Time-lapse by Aerial Innovations of TN, Inc.
2012 Mural Timelapse by Stacey Irvin
Mural by Troy Duff Art and Photo by Aerial Innovations of TN, Inc. & Chamber East
Every picture tells a story…and sometimes the story behind the photo can be just as fascinating . We love to share the stories of how we got the images because that is our motivation. We love scouting out a location, figuring what the best time of day is and how to get the best angle. The image below has created a lot of buzz in our office so we thought we’d share the story behind the photo.
The client hired us to capture their newly expanded water treatment facility on the Cumberland River. The choice to shoot at twilight was made by our client and we suggested to shoot with a drone to capture the water, setting sun and the facility from an interesting perspective. The sky was ordered about 2 weeks ahead of time and came in just like we wanted….ok, that was a joke, we can’t order a beautiful sky. But in this image, we could not have asked for a better sunset.
The image was shot in 3 sections and then stitched together in Photoshop in order to show the facility and the river in one image. The exposure of 1/5 sec gave some smoothness to the water and by keeping the ISO under 500 we had a very clean image to work with. The gimbals on the camera attached to the drone made it possible to shoot at such a slow shutter speed and keep it sharp.
Let us know what you think about the image….we look forward to sharing more stories behind our photographs!
We love to show off our best images every quarter. These past few months have been quite eventful for us photographically (new buildings opening, bridges getting blown up, beautiful sunrise and twilight shoots, a magnificent soccer facility…and more!) See some of our pics below and be sure to visit our main gallery for all our best pics. Oh, and almost forgot, the most beautiful landscape in the world, our own Tennessee Rivers. Who has the best job? (lucky you get to come along.) Enjoy!
Wendy Whittemore – Flight Commander
Aerial Innovations of TN, KY
View of Nashville from the new Acme Feed & Seed on Broadway
Our flying companion
Beautiful Tennessee Rivers
New Belmont Academic Building
Sometimes they build, sometimes they blow it up. Paducah, KY
Luck sometimes has something to do with it
Classic Memphis, Mississippi River
They scored a Goal on this one! What a unique facility
Ground Twilight in the Gulch
Some of our best images from the last 3 months
Another 3 months have come and gone since our last image review and boy have we been busy!! It was a beautiful spring and we had so many great opportunities for spectacular photo shoots including a night shoot in Owensboro, KY, 3 days of ground photos in Memphis, and watching the new Acme building in Nashville come together. (See if you can spot Johnny Cash..and Senator Lamar Alexander.) For your enjoyment, we have gathered the best of the best; aerial, ground and creative. Did your project make it? Do you have a favorite? Let us know!!
Click here to see the entire gallery of 36 images
Wendy Whittemore – Flight Commander
Next Friday, June 6 is an important date here at Aerial Innovations of TN & KY. That was the day we set up shop in Nashville, TN in 2003. Can’t believe it’s been 11 years already!! And we pale in comparison to the longevity of our sister companies in Florida and Georgia (from whom we learned EVERYTHING!!). All of us celebrate our “birthdays” in the spring, Tampa turned 27 on May 9th. Click the link below to view images from their celebration:
Aerial Innovations of FL, Tampa Turns 27!
In Georgia, Sheri and the gang celebrated 23 years with a few blasts from the past, check out this opening day photo from the GA Dome:
Aerial Innovations of GA Turns 23!
So, we are just babies here in TN & KY, but we still know how to have fun. We have gathered some of our favorite “AI in Action” shots to share. View the link below to see what a day in the life of the best job in the world is like:
Aerial Innovations of TN & KY Turns 11!
Ready for Work!
The staff at Aerial Innovations has gone through all of our Best of 2013 photos and chosen their favorites in time for Valentine’s Day. Here are some of the photos we took last year that we love. There were way to many to choose from…maybe you would have chosen differently? Click here to see the entire gallery and let us know what you think!
Bridgestone Arena
Taxi for Takeoff
Parking Structure
A window office
Towards the end of 2012 & the beginning of 2013, we are busy (like everyone) setting up new files, archiving old ones and also trying to take some time off. When we get a chance, we like to go through our year and remember the projects that we have worked on, the people we have worked with and all of the great vistas that come with the job. Here are a few galleries with those images…looking forward to sharing more in 2013!
Flying is Fun! – link to see more of us in action
UT Computer Lab – link to see other projects
Lake Patterns – link to see more of our Best of 2012
Flight is freedom in its purest form,
To dance with the clouds which follow a storm;
To roll and glide, to wheel and spin,
To feel the joy that swells within;
To leave the earth with its troubles and fly,
And know the warmth of a clear spring sky;
Then back to earth at the end of a day,
Released from the tensions which melted away.
Should my end come while I am in flight,
Whether brightest day or darkest night;
Spare me your pity and shrug off the pain,
Secure in the knowledge that I’d do it again;
For each of us is created to die,
And within me I know,
I was born to fly.
— Gary Claud Stoko
Interior of Cessna Zero Hotel
Delta XRay sits pinned to earth under a tree. Zero Hotel has a gate laying across the wheels as if someone had tried to build a cage around her. This is the devastation that the flood of 2010 brought to Cornelia Fort Airpark in East Nashville. The waters rose from almost a half a mile away to flood the runway, the field & the FBO with almost seven feet of water. Nothing prepared anyone for how far the waters would reach. Nothing prepared me for the sights of what was left of Colemill’s fleet. Nothing prepared me for the tears that welled up as I walked out on the muddy taxiways.
Cornelia Fort has been linked to Aerial Innovations of TN, Inc. since it’s inception. I walked into Colemill (the FBO on the field) almost seven years ago to the day asking…no, stating, that I would like to see their aircraft and talk to their pilots..I was starting an aerial photography company and would need their services. A little cocky, for sure, but with the dreams I had of being successful in the aerial photography business, I needed some guts. And with Colemill, over the next seven years, we did see succeed thanks to the pilots & trusty (at times) aircraft.
As photographers, we flew countless hours out of Cornelia Fort in the three cessnas; Bravo Tango, Delta XRay and Zero Hotel. Like everyone at the small airport, they each had their own personality. Bravo Tango would take you the farthest, Zero Hotel may or may not be in maintenance, and always check the seats for water. Ironic. Flying out over Shelby Bottoms and Opryland, talking to BNA, the Nashville skyline coming into view over the neighborhoods of East Nashville…it felt like home. And Colemill was home to so many; pilots, mechanics, plane owners..assorted characters that made up a family. Dysfunctional at times, but a family. The photographers of Aerial Innovations were a part of that.
I know there are so many who lost lives and loved ones in this tragedy….it seems silly to lament a struggling business, a forgotten airfield and a few planes on their last wings. But there are people tied to this place who have lost so much as well…jobs, their business, their savings tied up in aircraft, their homes. Will we ever fly out of the Fort again? Who knows… I would like to think so. But it will take time and someone to see the potential in her again. So for now it is goodbye as we help our neighbors and communities come back from the flood and we will hope that Cornelia Fort will rise again with the rest of Nashville.
above it all 