July | 2021 | Real Art Is Better!

Last year at the end of December I purchased a drone. This is my second one — Maria got me a “starter” drone for my birthday a year ago, which I didn’t crash, but caused to quit working due to a software malfunction that I could not fix. It was a cool present, but it didn’t have the camera I was looking for. I was glad to pick up a DJI Mavic Mini from Costco. It’s really easy to use, and small enough that you can easily put it into a backpack to take places. It connects to your smartphone, and uses a joystick control that I had already became familiar with on the first drone, and a previous toy helicopter I used to crash into the ceiling and floor a lot. The drone is great, because it allows me to take pretty high quality aerial photography and videos that I would never be able to get otherwise. Drones are like ATV’s — they are annoying to people who do not have them, but are incredibly useful. Everyone is imagining that they are being surveilled, with highly detailed photos captured of them, but you have to push the shutter button to take a picture, or to record a video. This particular drone does not have a zoom lens, so seeing who is in the photographs is actually difficult, unless I fly the drone up really, really close. I use it mostly to take pictures of people’s cabins in McCarthy (with their permission) and to get cool shots from angles impossible to get otherwise.

I had a great time at my friend Bob Cook’s cabin when he invited a group of people over on a hot day for a swimming party in his pond. The shots from the air turned out really neat, and I had a good time chasing kids around the pond.

The DJI Mavic Mini has a pretty short range — about 200 meters. I think it would be a lot cooler to get one that can go a bit farther. My next drone will definitely have a longer range, but for now I am having a blast getting aerial shots with the one I have. I took a bunch of pics of Arctic Valley Ski Area, which I am going to reference while creating a new trail map of the mountain.

I had always wanted to get into flying drones, and I love flying this one. I’m sure it is just one of many I will own in the future. A drone is a great tool for an artist to have in his/her quiver of image-gathering devices. Cheers to flying remotely! I hope you enjoy the pics and videos I made with my flying camera.

Drone footage of brave souls kayaking and rafting the Kennicott River during Jökulhlaup

Bob and Sunny Cook’s Cabin in McCarthy, Alaska

Me standing on the bridge across Kuskulana River on the McCarthy Road

After a dinner party at the Rice’s cabin in McCarthy, Alaska

As you may have read in the previous post, we bought a house, and combined our living and working space, so we moved out of the studio on 4th Ave. As you can imagine, I haven’t been able to get much work done, because I’ve been spending all my time moving, shopping for furniture, and spending three relaxing days in Cordova to celebrate Maria’s birthday. One of our friends came over to check out the new house, and when she saw my studio downstairs, she said, “The first thing you’re going to paint is the walls!” The previous owner had quite a festive taste, and painted the large room downstairs in three different shades of orange. So, yesterday I began the long process of covering up the orange paint. I worked on one painting right when I moved in, because it had to be done by a deadline, and the light in that room was really screwed up because of the bright orange. I felt like the greens in the painting turned out weird, because the room was playing tricks on my eyes. So, before I do any more painting, I’m covering the walls with pure white primer. I’m on the second coat, and I think it will take three coats!!! So, if you need me, you know where I’ll be for the next few days — painting the walls in my new studio.