Tag Archives: drone

Snow Days of Early 2022

March 7, 2022 by admin | Comments Off

Hello Friends,

So the title of this article might be a little misleading…it should probably have read something like ‘Snow Days of late 2021’, since technically the snow dropped right before the New Years. But since I had created and posted my 2021 pics and video earlier in December I’m going to go ahead and count this post as 2022 snow.

Anyway, we had a major dump of snow in the Puget Sound area and unlike most years where it melts the same day it falls, this one stuck around for the entire week. And because it did, people like myself were afforded the opportunity to get out and enjoy it.

All of these photographs were aerial shots I took with the drone in and around my neighborhood during the snow event. I couldn’t get much further out than that, but that’s ok since I like some of the photos I took here. I even think there is a drone selfie in there, long hair, beard, and all. Haha.

Enjoy the photographs and as always stay safe and blessings to you.

Chris.

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It’s Another Snow Day 2021

December 31, 2021 by admin | Comments Off

Happy New Years my Friends,

If you live in the Puget Sound region, you are well aware that we had a bit of a snow event that kicked off on Christmas Day. As I mentioned in my last post it wasn’t quite the white Christmas that we always dream about but it was close enough for us not to complain. That event kicked off the week with a number of inches and as it continued into the week picked up a few more inches.

So I took the drone out for a couple of flights as the weather allowed. First around the neighborhood and surrounding areas and then down to a local lake for a bit of a flyaround. I tried the another lake yesterday and I was able to unlock the drone and get it airborne-something that I hadn’t been able to do in at that location for a while. I got a few interesting shots and compiled a bit of video for your enjoyment.

Enjoy the video. I’ll post some of the pics next week.

Blessings,

Chris.

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It’s a Snow Day 2021

December 28, 2021 by admin | Comments Off

Greetings Friends,

And Merry Christmas / Happy New Years to you.

If you live in the Puget Sound region, you are well aware that we had a bit of a snow event that kicked off on Christmas Day. It wasn’t quite a white Christmas for us but it was close enough for us not to complain. Overnight we accumulated a number of inches and for this area it means catastrophe, meteorologicly speaking. And in continued into Sunday and subsided yesterday.

So I took the drone out for a bit of a flight. First around the neighborhood and surrounding areas and then down to a local lake for a bit of a flyaround. I tried another lake but I couldn’t unlock the drone and get it airborne due to my own mistake with the coding. Nonetheless, I got a few interesting shots and compiled a bit of video for your enjoyment.

Enjoy the video.

Blessings,

Chris.

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Drone Launch Aerial Photography Contest 2021 Finalist!

December 17, 2021 by admin | Comments Off

Hello friends,

I’m so happy to report today that one of my photographs (see below) was one of the finalists in the Drone Launch Academy’s 2021 Aerial Photography Contest.

Earlier this year, I was out flying my drone in the Mt. St. Helens area attempting to find a good vantage point of the volcano while still maintaining the legal ability to do so. When I was done and working my way back home, I decided to take the scenic route and find areas to fly around and shoot some photographs and video.

When low and behold I came across a lake that I knew had an incredible view of Mt. Rainier on one side, but it was inaccessible. Fortunately for me, I had the drone and was able to position it in an area to capture the photo. Luck was on my side, too, as it was during the golden hour and the light falling on the mountain gave me an incredible site to behold.

Anyway, you can find their post on their blog at the following link: https://dronelaunchacademy.com/dla-photography-contest-2021-finalists/

As always, thank you for your support and for being my friend. And if you want to view some more our my work, visit some of my portfolio pages.

Chris

Blessings and Merry Christmas to you.

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Shot of the Day, September 2, 2021

September 3, 2021 by admin | Comments Off

Hi Friends,

It’s been quite a month of August. Travel, diving, work, and a corrupted website that needed to get fixed kept us busy and off the grid. But I’m back now and ready to post.

I mentioned travel. I spent a week on the big island of Hawai’i diving and trying to soak up some rays of relaxation. Well I got the diving in but not so much relaxation. In between dives, I was able to break out the drone and get some flying in. These particular photographs are ones I took of the Kona harbor just north of the city. I took these for a project I’m working on.

I hope that you enjoy them.

Blessings,

Chris.

P.S. If you want to see more of my aerial photography, be sure to visit my portfolio page at this link: https://chrismckennaphotography.com/portfolio/drone-aerial/.

Posted in Drone Photography, Shot of the Day, Travel Photography Also tagged , , , , , , , |

Shot of the Day, August 2 2021

August 2, 2021 by admin | Comments Off

Hello friends. And Happy Monday to you.

I’m not going to belabor the story here but rather keep it short and simple…I took the drone out for a few shots along the Tacoma Waterfront a few weeks back and snapped this photograph of the Port of Tacoma along Commencement Bay. The change in the water color to a carmel/brownish color is the result of glacial runoff from Mt. Rainier that comes down the Puyallup River and empties into the bay. It’s always a various shade or carmel but this time of year it gets particularly noticeable when higher temps melts more snow off the mountain and it picks up more silt as it rolls down. You can see the river about mid way up the picture in the back behind some of the building and steam stacks.

Enjoy the picture.

Chris.

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Shot of the Day, July 11 2021

July 11, 2021 by admin | Comments Off

Hello again friends,

Today is a busy day for me. Well, you know, this will be my 2nd blog post of the day. Of course, nothing else in my life is going or right now. Haha. Or is it?

Yesterday, I had to drive out to see my friends at YSS Dive in Hoodsport, Wa. I like to get out to Hoodsport and dive occasionally (some great diving in in Hood Canal), and if not to dive then to just visit. And yesterday was a social visit more than anything else (no dives planned). So off I went but brought Tweetie-bird (the drone) with me to see if I could get some shots of the area and whatever else might have come up. When the visit was over, out came the bird and up I went.

So for today’s 2nd post, I am going back to a shot of the day. This photograph is a high aerial image looking down on the Hoodsport Marina and part of downtown Hoodsport (the YSS Dive shop is in the photograph just off to the left of the pier). At the time I took this image, low-tide had just occurred so the water level was really low. You can also see some of the algae bloom going on right now as the water warms up and things in the water start to grow.

I hope that you enjoy the photograph and it somehow enriches your day. And if you enjoy my posts, please don’t hesitate to comment or head over to my Instagram page to follow for more pictures.

Blessings,

Chris

Posted in Drone Photography, Landscape and Nature Photography, Shot of the Day Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , |

Video over Pierce County, July 4, 2021

July 11, 2021 by admin | Comments Off

Hello friends,

So if any of you follow my Instagram or Facebook pages and posts, you’ll know that I took the drone out for an extended flight on Independence Day last week. I flew over Thea’s Park in Tacoma, some of Commencement Bay, the Puyallup River, and some of the old fields in Puyallup, not to mention over the neighborhood fireworks once the sun set (click on the word “firework” to be taken to that post).

What I hadn’t done until now is post video of those flights. Here is short compilation video (click the play button in the center of the screen to view).

Click on the tile to view that video. I hope that you enjoy some of the footage. And please call me if there is anything we can do to help you with your business or personal project.

Oh, and don’t forget to check out my other YouTube videos and follow me on Instagram.

Blessings

Chris.

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Interesting Perspective of Fireworks 2021

July 5, 2021 by admin | Comments Off

Hello Friends,

And welcome to your annual post-Indepedence Day hangover. I have to say that having the 4th on a Sunday really makes for a nice, relaxing Monday. Right?

So yesterday I took the drone out to a couple of places I hadn’t been before to check them out and get some shots. I’ll post those later, although I took mostly video. Anyway, when the sun went down and it got dark, of course all the neighborhood crazies came out and turned our quiet, little area into a war zone. Needless to say I had to drug the dog again to get him to calm down, but once he started to relax and I took the drone out again to get a few photographs of the fireworks from the air.

I have never flown the drone at night, but I am perfectly legal and licensed to do it, so I put it up but didn’t move it one-inch from straight up (I really want to be in a more open area for extended night operations). I adjusted the camera settings and started shooting.

This is a real cool perspective-much different that from the ground. But one thing that I noticed was different was with a light breeze having an open shutter on the camera creates a little background out-of-focus blur. That’s ok for these shots as the fireworks themselves turned out good, but of course I would rather have no movement on my camera when the shutter is open.

Nevertheless, I am happy with these photographs. I hope that you enjoy them too. (see more of my fireworks photos at the following link: https://chrismckennaphotography.com/2019/07/fireworks-2019/ )

Blessings,

Chris

Posted in Drone Photography, Event Photography Also tagged , , , , , |

Shot of the Day, June 28 2021

June 28, 2021 by admin | Comments Off

Wow, two of these posts this year! What’s up with that you ask? Not sure, but perhaps this post has more to do with the outside conditions around there than anything else.

We are in the middle of a record breaking heat wave across the Pacific Northwest these last few days. It is not normal for temperatures to reach 100 degrees and for the last few days we have been well above that. In fact, the forecast today is for Puyallup to reach 115. Unheard of.

So what are people doing to stay cool? Of course, if you have air conditioning it is normal to stay indoors next to the cooler, but for the rest of us we need to get close to the water. Whether that is Puget Sound or a lake somewhere, we flock to the edge of the water in an effort to stay cool.

Yesterday, we were at a graduation party at a house on Lake Tapps, Washington, and of course I had to bring the drone along and see if I could get a few shots. I was mostly just showing friends the flight abilities of this machine, but when I could I took some video and tried to compose something photographically. The bright sunshine and super washed-out highlights of taking photographs on days like this make it challenging (underlining the need for me to get some ND filters for this drone), but it’s always worth an effort to get what you can.

So this is a photo of Mt. Rainier in the background against the eastern edge of the lake and Snag Island bridge (and a private airfield also in the foreground I believe).

Anyway, enjoy the photograph and as always blessings to you. And stay cool!

Chris

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