FW: Drone Photos of some Beautiful Places on Earth

[Himanshu Sheth]

 

 

 

 

 

 

         Illegal Drone Photos of some Beautiful Places on Earth

 

Amos ChappleAbove
the Kremlin at the heart of Moscow, Russia.

 

Drones are everywhere from the battlefield to the backyards of America. For such a
simple concept, the possibilities for how we can use drones is vast and still
being explored.

One of the most interesting ways to utilize drone technology is photography.
Photographer Amos Chapple knows this better than most. As soon as
consumer drones came on the market, Chapple knew he needed one. After purchasing
one and learning how to fly it, he began traveling the globe, photographing
famous landmarks before such photography was made illegal.

"There was a window of about 18 months where it was possible to fly these things
anywhere and people were excited to see it. I’m glad I made use of that time,"
Chapple told Business Insider.

Now, with drone use illegal in many of these locations, his collection of beautiful
drone images are some of the only aerial photos of their type. Chapple shared
many of them with us and told the stories behind his shots. Check out more
on his site.

Photographer Amos Chapple captures the world’s most famous landmarks — from the Taj Mahal to the Kremlin — using a drone.

Amos
Chapple

Taj Mahal as the day';s first tourists trickle through the
gates.

When the commercial drone first hit the market in 2013, Chapple says he sifted
through new product reviews, searching for the right model to help his art take
flight.

Amos
Chapple

Barcelona,
Spain.

Finally, Chinese technology company DJI came out with the Phantom drone and Chapple was
sold.

Amos
Chapple

Paris’
Sacré-Cœur, glowing in a hazy sunrise.

The Phantom allowed him to shoot from almost 400 feet in the air, and take 100 or so
images during a single flight.

Amos
Chapple

The Vittoria Light in Italy, overlooking the Gulf of Trieste at
sunset.

He wasted no time in getting started. Agencies, tourism bureaus, and other clients
commissioned Chapple for photos of iconic sites, such as Hotel Ukraina in
Moscow, Russia, seen below.

Amos
Chapple

Hotel
Ukraina, lit up at dusk.

He soared over the Church of Spilt Blood in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

Amos
Chapple

The Church on Spilt Blood on an autumn morning. The church marks the spot where the
reformist Tsar Alexander II was assassinated by a bomb-rolling
revolutionary.

Here';s another view of the church at sunset.

Amos
Chapple

The church was built only as an epitaph to the murdered Tsar and wasn’t intended for
public worship. A patch of the cobbled street on which the Tsar lay mortally
wounded is preserved within the old church, now open to the public as a
museum.

Chapple';s drone also floated over the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey.

Amos
Chapple

The spiky skyline of Istanbul as a freighter sails for the Sea of Marmara.

In the early days, Chapple flew the drone in busy areas, but he quickly realized
that could be dangerous.

Amos
Chapple

Known to the locals as "Hill 3," this knoll jutting above Mumbai';s northern slums is
no more valuable than the land below. Access to running water, which the hill
lacks, is far more valuable than any view.

His first drone had a design flaw which caused a propeller to fly off
mid-flight.

Amos
Chapple

Russian vacationers on the beach in Abkhazia.

He crashed a second one recently during a commercial shoot in which he was forced
to use an unfamiliar model of drone. At about 100 feet up, he lost control and
the drone disappeared. After chasing it down, he found it smashed to bits. He
suspects Wi-Fi signals scrambled the drone';s radio communication.

Amos
Chapple

The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Even though he’s flown his drone more than 1,000 times now, Chapple always runs the
risk that something will go wrong.

Amos
Chapple

The Lotus Temple, dotted with pigeons at sunrise. Designed by an Iranian exile, the
building serves as the center of the Bahai';i faith in New Delhi,
India.

And frankly, the drones freaked people out. “It’s a nuisance now that it’s no longer
a novelty,” Chapple says.

Amos
Chapple

A knot of fishing boats at the entrance to Sassoon Dock in Mumbai,
India.

Now, Chapple avoids people as best he can. “I';m just using it at dawn, or in isolated
places where I’m not annoying people trying to enjoy a stroll,” he says.

Amos
Chapple

The angel atop the Alexander column in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Built after
Russia’s victory over Napoleon, the column';s 600-ton granite trunk was tipped
into place by 2,000 soldiers. It balances without any attachment to its base.

Sometimes, the best pictures don';t require much altitude. Here, two wrestlers practice the
ancient Indian sport of Kushti in a pit they dug.

Amos
Chapple

Two wrestlers practicing the ancient Indian sport of Kushti in a pit they hacked
into the ground two hours before.

During a typical shoot, he maintains a flight path just above his head, never veering
off into the distance.

Amos
Chapple

The Mtkvari River winding through Tbilisi, Georgia's elegant capital.

The drone doesn’t allow Chapple to see what he’s photographing. While it may snap
100 photos, only 10 to 20 images will be framed in a pleasing way.

Amos
Chapple

Worker and Kolkhoz Woman striding into the future that was. Built for the Soviet
pavilion at the 1937 World';s Fair in Paris, the steel masterwork now stands in
the suburbs of northern Moscow.

Here';s one view of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, on the banks of the
Moskva River.

Amos
Chapple

The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour at sunrise.

And here';s a slightly different shot, showing more of the church';s architectural
detail.

Amos
Chapple

The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour again.

The surprise doesn';t bother Chapple. “There’s a magic to not knowing what you have
until you have the camera back in your hands,” he says.

Amos
Chapple

The Katskhi Pillar in Georgia, where a hermit has lived for the past twenty years to
be "closer to god."

Drones also offer a huge advantage over manned aircrafts: You can afford to take risks
with the weather.

Amos
Chapple

The Peter and Paul Cathedral in Peterhof, in Saint Petersburg, Russia, with the
palace and gardens in the background. Beyond, the Finnish Gulf is obscured by
fog. During WWII, Nazi armies occupied Peterhof, destroying it almost completely
during their retreat.

“When you’re paying $1,000 an hour for a helicopter flight, you make absolutely sure
you’re going to get some sunlight,” Chapple says.

Amos
Chapple

The star fort at Bourtange, Netherlands. Three centuries after the last cannonball
was fired in anger at the fort, it now serves as a museum and the center of a
sleepy farming village in eastern Holland. The low, thick walls were designed to
offset the pounding force of cannon fire.

"As a result, most aerial shots [are] blue, bright, sunny, and boring,” he says. “My
best shots have been in unusual weather, but it’s taken several flights to
achieve. That kind of experimentation would have been impossibly expensive with
a helicopter."

Error! Filename not specified.

 

For about 18 months, it was legal to fly drones anywhere. Chapple took
advantage.

Amos
Chapple

The Admiralty shipyard in Saint Petersburg, Russia, headquarters of the Russian
Navy.

“For that year, when the whole world was open, it was just a case of hitting famous
landmarks and moving as quickly as possible."

Amos
Chapple

The Peter and Paul Cathedral, inside the Peter and Paul Fortress in Saint
Petersburg, Russia.

“The window has definitely shut now,” he says.

Amos
Chapple

A ruined college in Gali, Abkhazia, near the "border" with Georgia, where ethnic
Georgians made up 96% of the region’s pre-war population. Most fled, or were
driven out of their homes after the war. Today Gali is a twilight zone of empty
buildings and overgrown farmland.

In 2014, the Federal Aviation Administration made it illegal to fly drones for
commercial purposes, including photography. Other countries followed suit.

Amos
Chapple

The windswept Liberty Statue, overlooking Budapest. Built in 1947 by the new
communist rulers for the “Liberating Soviet Heroes” the inscription was amended
swiftly after the USSR collapsed, "To the memory of all those who sacrificed
their lives for the independence, freedom, and prosperity of
Hungary."

Russian authorities denied him permission to fly above the Kremlin in Moscow because he
was a foreign citizen.

Amos
Chapple

He did it anyway. Over the course of two days, he scoped out an area tucked out of
sight from the police. He waited for a burst of traffic to block the noise of
the drone and got his shot.

Amos
Chapple

The Palace at Petergof, perched on a bluff overlooking the sea some 19 miles from
central Saint Petersburg.

“I ended up snatching the drone out of the air and running through the alleyways to
get away,” Chapple says. “It was risky, but so much history has walked through
that space, I just couldn’t resist."

Amos
Chapple

Jama Masjid, the heart of Islam in India. The red sandstone structure was built under
the orders of the same Mughal emperor of Taj Mahal fame.

His dream location would be Iran, but current laws prevent him from shooting
there.

Amos
Chapple

Mumbai';s
northern slums.

“I even got the direct email to [Iran’s] minister of tourism, but got no response,”
Chapple says.

Amos
Chapple

The
angel atop the Alexander column.

"There are still plenty of places where this technology can legally and safely offer
spectacular new imagery," says Chapple. In two months, he plans to shoot in the
wilderness of Kyrgyzstan.

Error! Filename not specified.

 

While Chapple says he’s fully supportive of the tight restrictions abroad, his photos
make us wish he could continue.

Amos
Chapple

The Taj Mahal, with the Yamuna river snaking away toward its source in the
Himalayas.

Drone photography allows the viewer to take in the lay of the land...

Amos
Chapple

Buda castle on August 20. The barge in the center of the Danube is loaded with
fireworks, launched later that night to celebrate Hungary’s national
day.

...during both the day and night.

Amos
Chapple

Buda
castle again.

“It’s amazing to be able to explore an aerial image,” Chapple says. “There’s such an
immensity of information."

 

 

 

 

--

Yogesh Goradia