Story by Jon Stalnaker AKA The Studebaker Dude
I love photography. I may not be a great photographer, but I have studied it at the college level from a professor who used to be a protégé of Ansel Adams. I know a little bit about it, and if I learned anything from my college class, it is how to recognize a good picture when I see it. Just to put a little context on photography during my college years, one thing he used to tell us was that “the film was the cheapest part of taking pictures.” That’s right, digital cameras were not a thing back then. But the idea is still the same; take lots of pictures when you have the chance and weed out the bad ones. That is the beauty of digital photography, film is no longer a cost consideration. I have always heeded that advice, and I take tons of pictures, then I pick out the best to share. I can go crazy with that advice now that I don’t have to buy any film. And I do.
I have several professional-grade cameras that only collect dust. They were cumbersome to carry around and developing film was time-consuming and expensive. I have some nice digital cameras that are less expensive to use, but still cumbersome to lug around. Cell phone cameras are so much more convenient, and the quality of the photographs is as good as the pro cameras for what I take pictures of these days. There are limitations, but I don’t make a living out of taking pictures. My phone serves me well.
I post plenty of pictures on Facebook and have lots of friends who do the same. One of my favorite things about living in Oklahoma Green Country is the beautiful images I have taken with my cell phone camera. I used to think the sunsets in the Central Valley of California were the most beautiful in the world. Well, they can be spectacular, but I think the sunsets in Oklahoma are better. And I love the images I get when it snows. Lately, I have been taking pictures of the lightning storms. I’m not set up to get photos of lightning strikes, but I can take some cool videos to post. Now there are a few drone pilots in Sapulpa, and I have befriended a couple of them.
I was talking with my neighbor, Darrell, in our back yards, when we saw strange green and red lights in the sky overhead. It turns out that it was a drone, and I went on Facebook and found the Drone Jedi. I sent him a friend request, thinking it was him who was taking the pictures. I checked out his Facebook page and I was impressed with the photography. A few weeks later, I saw the drone overhead again but this time it was landing right across the street from my house. I went out front and saw my neighbor, Paul Shelden, working the drone. I asked him if he was the Drone Jedi as I had not seen any pictures of him. He said no but he knows him. Paul is also a drone pilot who goes by the name Sixty 6 Drone Works. So, I have been following both of them for some time now. They take awesome pictures.
Last night I was outside trying to get a good picture of the beautiful sunset. Paul was doing the same and he came over and showed me some of the things his drone can do. It was fascinating for me to listen to his interesting drone-ology. I tried to absorb as much as I could, but at the age of 73, my brain is looking for information to purge, so that I can make room to keep the Studebaker stuff in there. I enjoyed listening to him and he demonstrated a few things that the drone is capable of doing. I watched him operating his controller and I could see what the drone was seeing on his monitor. Sometimes I could see the drone in the sky and sometimes it disappeared behind the trees. He showed how it can take clear pictures while the camera is being buffeted around by the wind. I understood it somewhat as he explained it to me, but what was retained had something to do with GPS locations and the ability of the drone to keep the camera focused even though the drone was tipping sideways. Or something like that.
He brought the drone down so I could take a picture of it taking a picture of me. And he also got a stunning picture of my house with the two of us, sitting on the brick wall, looking up in the sky. Was it a bird, was it a plane? No, it was the drone of Sapulpa’s “Sixty 6 Drone Works” pilot, Paul Shelden. I’ve got some awesome neighbors. If you like looking at storm photos and sunrise and sunset pictures of the highest quality, send friend requests to Sixty 6 Drone Works and the Drone Jedi, these guys post some incredible images that capture the best of Oklahoma’s Green Country. I’m sure there are other drone pilots out there also.
