Tag: DJI

Rain & Reservoirs

Looks like the biblical rain we’ve recently had has gone someway to refilling the reservoirs..

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I’m surprised they’ve refilled this quick. Unfortunately, I could not see Grimwith, as I was up there, everything was choking on a layer of fog that was so thick, visibility was easily down to less than 10 meters.

You can see in these photos, the bottom image was taken at Thruscross, the top at Grimwith.

The Thruscross image, you can see the immense fog bank on the horizon.

It was like driving into a alien world, like an invisible border had been crossed. I’ll spare you the rants about drivers not having lights on.

But anyway, a few good shots had of Thruscross dam, some piloting experiences amoung the trees.

I do however want to get shots when this dam, and others are overflowing. Might need to wait a few more months for that though..

Cold stones Cut

I’ve been wanting to get the shot for awhile, but the weather has been uncooperative for every day I’ve had off. But a brief lull in the rain got me up there.

Despite a stiff bone chilling breeze, the drone was up and on its way to the installation on the hill. (A video describing how the Cut came to be: https://youtu.be/PnVnl8wyvwQ )

I rattled a few shots off, and then noticed the really low cloud base had started to roll in. The drone now reporting an altitude of -0.7m, the controller started beeping a landing warning, the cloud confusing its sensors.

By the time I’d got the drone back and landed, I couldn’t see the hill or installation. But at least I had a few shots to choose from.

The cloud had rolled in surprising quickly. It didn’t help with constant video breakups, as I was working with reduced range as I’d accidentally switched back to CE mode.

But all in all, a good flight, and I’d got the image I wanted, but I do want to try a different angle taking more of the quarry into view. Maybe a rotating video too.

Grimwith

A short film of our visit to Grimwith. I’ve been out here many times, but it’s the first time I’ve had the drone up. Despite shooting loads, there wasn’t really much to work with.

So, enjoy this short video..

Panoramic shots

Trying out the panoramic feature of the DJI spark. Impressed, but not blown away by it.

I found it really easy Todo, with the drone doing all the hard work taking the images, a great mode for capturing the vista. However, I find myself unable to position the drone where I want, always seeming to stop short. Not a limit on the drone, but for some reason my brain always stops in that same position!

Toft Gate Lime Kiln

So it was a trip to the top of Greenhow hill today. Lord was it cold and windy. But the little Spark did a sterling effort of dealing with the wind.

Up at the top of Greenhow hill is the old Lime kiln at Toft Gate.

The kiln was loaded with limestone through the top and with coal through the rectangular openings in the end and side walls. A stone lined flue runs from the kiln up a gentle slope to the chimney base in the distance. Life must have been hard up here. I’m suffering just with the cold wind, I hate to think what it was like being up here, mining the ore and loading it, moving the spoil, let alone the children that would have had to clean out the long flue leading to the chimney.

Theres plenty of grassy hillocks and curious dimples in the landscape between Toft Gate and Grassington – many of these are remnants of the limestone industry. People would mine the area, and transport it out to the lime-kiln where it would be burnt and heated to release the quicklime, which was then used in the local farms for fertiliser.

I decided to try the editor built into the DJI Go app, and it’s not bad really. Its most useful if your away from the main editing system you use, and just need a quick and dirty instagram upload or something, it wont really replace a dedicated editing software, but its intended use its not too bad. Once you play around with it and learn what it can, and can’t do as the information on using it is a little thin, it can yeild some good results. The auto create function can be a little odd, but that’s what you get for a random selection..

Thruscross

Spend the afternoon going round one of my favourite walks, thruscross.

This is by no means an easy walk round here, the first part if done in a clockwise direction is easy enough, but you soon get to a section that’s not easy to navigate and a difficult, almost scrambling section. There’s no path to speak of, just be careful where you put your feet, and look out for the directional markers.

The reservoir it’s self is incredibly low, I can’t ever remember seeing it this low. The bridge is now well above water in the previously submerged village of westend. The river washburn down to nothing more than a stream now. The last time the village was visible, was 1995, and now much of the visible bridge and houses have broken down, or covered by sludge. (Here’s a YouTube video showing the 1995 drought)

I shot a few clips on the way around, some of which I didn’t use in the above video, but these two I really did like and couldn’t just leave them.

And this one, I just loved the way the dam reflected in the still water.

Thruscross, with its mix of moorland exposed walks, thick dark woods, and muddy scrambles is always worth a walk.