Hello from San Diego!

[imgrado]

Hello everyone!

My name is Mark and I'm new to the drone hobby as well as the forum.
I'm a web designer, photographer, etc. based out of San Diego and do a lot of traveling up and down the coast.

My enthusiasm for the possibilities using the drone has been somewhat dampened over the last couple of days, more as a I realize how much noise these things make. I'm not sure why I thought they were quiet, but I find myself crossing out a lot of areas I wanted to fly at for my photography hobby. Mostly state parks up and down the coast, as well as some beaches here at home. I'm a big nature lover and can't even deal with people on their phones during a hike and being loud, so I can imagine spoiling what would otherwise be peaceful scenery with my machine.

That said, I've enjoyed flying this week, minus a crash caused by being distracted in my backyard. Nothing too big, but a 7 foot drop to concrete nonetheless. Luckily everything is fine so I caught a break there and learned a lesson.

Anyways, I'm glad to be on here and hope to learn a lot from the rest of you. Already gotten lost in a few threads that taught me a ton and look forward to reading more.

 

[J Dot]

Greetings,
From Sarasota Florida, I grew up in San Diego ( la Mesa county ) , love it out there. Glad to have you aboard!

As for flying,
I understand, but I fly everywhere, I just walk around, letting people know I'm doing a video shoot of the area, and I made a sign, I put out ( aerial photography in progress, please do not disturb pilot, we will be happy to answer any questions after he safely lands, thank you!
As for nature and preserves, that is different, but I fly parks, and preserves ( swamp land around here )
I try not to disturb too much with noise, but once I got some sweet footage, as I found a few hundred ( buzzards ) circling about in a huge thermal updraft, so I took out the vision, and flew circles with them, they did not care at all, a couple flew in front of me, pretty close, and just went about their own business, I was pleasantly amazed, but on the other hand, I tried videoing a hawk with something caught on the ground, as I tried to get close for a shot, a second hawk started dive bombing me, so I aborted as not to hurt the bird or disturb them further, or wreck my bird! Now I stay away from predatorial birds for the most part, as we have several golden, and bald eagles here, gorgeous, but I leave them be! ( I want to record them, but too high of a risk for both parties! )

Anyway,
Take care, and looking forward to future footage!

J Dot