testmeat photoblog

in a previous post i mentioned that i bought a new gopro when i was in bangkok, which was my plan when i went to the shopping mall that day. however i discovered that there was a dji store next door with a selection of drones which weren't that more expensive. it sparked a debate in my head, where do i want to capture more from, up in the air or under the water? the allure of having a brand new toy with a drone was certainly very appealing. i couldn't come to a decision so i left the mall empty handed and spent the evening mulling it over and doing a little online research. it was a good job i did, as i discovered that travelling with a drone is far more complicated than with a tiny action camera. every country has different rules and regulations when it comes to drones, and even if i'd bought it within thailand i wouldn't be able to fly it without getting authorisation from some aviation authorities which can take more than a month to arrange. i also recalled a time that i travelled to morocco for work and a colleague had a big headache at the airport when he tried to bring his drone into the country, and as i wasn't sure which countries i'd be visiting next i could see how this toy could make my life a lot more complicated. so with regret i left those dreams of drone flying on the shelf and returned to the mall to get the gopro. a month or so later i told this story to a friend on koh tao, and she told me that she had a drone with her and offered to let me fly it. we drove our scooters to one of the highest points on the island to go flying, and it was such a thrill to see my surroundings from a vantage point i'd never normally manage. to be honest this little test flight made me want to get a drone even more, so i hope that at some point in the future i can figure out a simple way to travel and fly.

despite the preceding story this photo was taken by hand with my regular camera at a view point not far from where i tried out the drone. i captured it about forty minutes after the sunset, as the stars and artificial lights had almost finished replacing the sunlight. for comparison here's a shot from thirty minutes prior when the sun still provided all of the illumination