Rural Aerial Art

Sep 19

I had a long commute this past week. I left on Sunday afternoon, drove to southern Indiana, then drove all day Monday to Monroe, North Carolina for a photography shoot early on Tuesday morning. Then I drove all day Tuesday to Nashville for an early morning job there on Wednesday. Finally, I drove all day Wednesday through Tennessee, Kentucky and Illinois to get back home that night… 1900 miles total over 3-1/2 days.

Whenever I tell people about the long drives I sometimes endure to do these jobs, they can’t believe it. Why, they ask? Well, I like a good road trip. I always have. I drove to Alaska one summer during my college days– three weeks and 9,500 miles. I don’t mind hours and hours in the car, watching the scenery go by; I like seeing America through a car window. But I also stop a lot too, and I’m constantly looking out for good images, even at 70 miles per hour.

I brought my drone along this week, as I do on all my long drives now. As I drove through southern Illinois Wednesday afternoon, I noticed the beautiful coloring on the fields of soybeans. They were a mix of golden yellow and shades of light and dark green. I knew right away there was a beautiful image there if I could find the right field and shoot straight down on it with the drone. It would be a ‘rural abstract’ image.

But of course, you don’t know what a field looks like from the air until you actually get up above it. I spent a lot of time driving off the interstate checking out fields of soybeans. I finally found this one in Cumberland County, in central Illinois. It was remote enough that I knew I wouldn’t be bothering anyone with the drone- an important consideration IMO. I flew over the fields of soybeans, got some decent images, but realized the best view was of this crossroads, with the field of soybeans in the lower left corner, surrounded by ripening fields of corn. This was my favorite composition.

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