Sundance ski resort... a little piece of heaven

Hi all.  One of the most amazing places here in Utah is Sundance ski resort.  It is about 15 minutes up Provo Canyon. My family try to make it at least a few times a year to see the sites and take in the fall colors. While the leaves haven't changed yet, I could definitely see signs of colors coming.  (photos of last year below)

While they don't have any cool amusement types of rides like Park City, they do have amazing scenery, food, drinks, biking, hiking, and just about anything outdoors that you could want.  They also do weddings, company parties, family get-togethers and everything in between.  They also keep the ski lift running to take people up on top of the mountains!  Some of the hikes that they recommend also start at the top of the mountain.  Even if you are just looking for a little refreshment while traveling in the area, Sundance is great place to stop in for a treat.

I gotta say, I have been kicked out of a lot of places trying to shoot some aerial shots with the quadcopter. Some really stupid places that had no real reason other than just "no".  I was approached by a security guard at Sundance and I thought for sure that this was going to be just another "no" type of place... To my utter surprise, he actually pointed me to a open area that I could use and film to my hearts desire.  He not only said "YES", but helped me out!  Awesome place, awesome staff.  Thank you for your hospitality Sundance!

click for high res version

Provo Temple at night - but in the air?

So I went out in search of good video and photos tonight here in Utah County.  It wasn't easy... Lots of wind and dark clouds.  I stopped off and one of the iconic temples here, the Provo LDS Temple.  There were two lovers sitting on the grass, as there always is above the temple.  I must have scared them away because they left as soon as I started flying above them.  I put the GoPro into timelapse mode in order to capture this photo.  It was one of the only photos that stayed still long enough (.3 sec) to look good.  Let me know what you think?

Shot with the DJI Phantom Quadcopter with Zenmuse H3-2D Gimbal
GoPro Hero 3 - Timelapse mode (every 1 sec)
F2.8 at .3 sec

Sunset in American Fork - from the air

Hi everyone, just thought I would share some great shots that I got flying over American Fork tonight at Sunset. I set the GoPro in time-lapse mode just to see what quality shots I could get from the stills from the DJI Phantom quadcopter. Out of the 400 shots it took, I was surprised to see that most were in focus and some were amazing.

Towards Lehi, Utah Aug 6, 2013

Back towards Mt. Timpanogos and American Fork Utah, Aug 6, 2013

Pioneer Day Raft and Run in Provo Canyon

I set out this morning to take some video and photos of the the first ever Pioneer Day Raft and Run in Provo Utah!  You can see all about the race here.  The race began at Canyon Glen Park (Provo Canyon) with buses taking participants in buses to the upper Provo river. Teams of eight to twelve ran the river with a raft guide to steer. I got to meet Dave, the organizer of the event and some of the volunteers, all great people who were very helpful and friendly.  I hope you enjoy the video Dave.  Make sure you watch the HD 1080 version.  

After the rafting race, each team had to run a 5k down the canyon from Vivian Park.  I was able to catch most of the competitors coming out of the water, and then starting down the canyon.  The race ended up at Canyon Glen park and I got to shoot the Quadcopter at the finish line at the end of the run.  It was a bit windy and the canyons always hinder the GPS signal so I didn't go very crazy with it.  

It was fun to see people having such a good time.  A couple of friends of ours came in first for best costume!  Congrats to Tina and the Rootin' Tootin' girls.

Bridal Veil falls flying high with the DJI Phantom Zenmuse H3-2D gimbal

Hi all.  Enjoy the flight around Bridal Veil Falls using the brand new Zenmuse H3-2D Gimbal attached to the DJI Phantom Quadcopter.  Thanks to my awesome daughter who let me follow her around for some great shots.

It was a bit windy and the canyon makes for some interesting flying in GPS mode.  I decided to shoot with the GoPro in 2.7K mode with Protune turned on.  Officially, this is my second flight with the gimbal attached... I did a test flight last night in my neighborhood at about 11:30, my new neighbors are probably going to regret moving in.  I didn't quite have the daring ability to go all the way up the falls.  It scares me a lot to be flying over water even though I have never had a single hiccup with this thing.

The cost of being on the bleeding edge of technology sometimes pays off.

If I can get enough practice in, and feel comfortable with it, I am hoping to make a trip to Yellowstone and southern Utah for some amazzzzing footage.  Cheers.

Practicing for the DJI Innovation Zenmuse

July 4th, time for everyone to take off work, spend time with family, and celebrate.  A few weeks back, I pre-ordered the DJI Innovations Zenmuse H3-2D gimbal for the Phantom.  I was hoping to be able to shoot some of the festivities on the 4th.  Well, to my dismay, I found out I am in the second or third shipment on Monday, so the fourth was definitely out.  Oh well, better luck next time.  I decided that I was going to shoot all the same and learn as much as I could, even though some of the shots may not be up to my own standards.

So I headed down to the Freedom Festival hot air balloon launch early morning on the fourth.  I took every bit of equipment that I could carry.  Alas, no launch today.  Turns out launching balloons in potentially wet, windy and lighting is probably not a good idea.  So I had 3 fully charged Phantom Batteries and no place to shoot.

So I decided to go and practice shooting some of the other shots that I have been waiting for the gimbal to shoot.  To the temple!!  It was almost midday by now, and the sun was getting pretty hot, not necessarily a bad time to shoot with the GoPro.  I have found that if you are angling the shot down and the sun is directly above, you can usually avoid the lens flare and reflections of light that get in the way. Wasn't quite directly above so I did catch quite a bit of light in the lens.

So the shot challenge that I was looking to accomplish is to fly toward the temple at ground level, and as I approach the building, fly up the building, and get up to Moroni (the guy at the top of most Mormon temples) and then circle around and back down.  Check out the video to see how I did.

Then, that night, we went down to the Freedom Festival fireworks. This time I tried out the new 5D Mark III Raw Video capabilities using Magic Lantern, (June 27 build).  Check out the video below.