FAA part 107 Certified Drone Operator - Texas Aerial Photographer

I recently passed the FAA part 107 exam. Officially licensed and legal pilot for all drone / UAV work, as well as manned aircraft aerial photography. I am ready to discuss your next project!

Aerial Photography is something I have done for years from manned aircraft, so this is not a new fad I just decided to try. I have almost a decade of experience photographing commercial and residential properties from the sky, as well as construction progress and other projects. While there are still times a manned flight is the only option for a very specific project, adding Drones to my toolbox opens the door to a few new things that were not possible or cost effective with manned aircraft.

• Orthomosaics - Georeferenced mapping can be done in real time. Mapping of properties of all types, in many cases same day. This allows for weekly, bi weekly or monthly progress of job sites, construction, or land development to be documented efficiently and accurately. With precision ground control points surveyed on the initial setup, and satellite GPS tagging of images, each map is extremely accurate and can be updated in 24 hours or less. These maps can be overlayed into google earth maps for exact updates of your site in comparison to the surrounding infrastructure.
• Inspection - Quickly and accurately inspect areas that would normally require specialized climbing tools, techniques and personnel. Get a quick, real time view of tall roofs, towers, or difficult to access areas to determine if sending in maintenance/repair employees is necessary. No ladders or harness required.
• Volume measurement - In construction and Mining operations, measuring production material volume, volume of blast areas, and removed material piles in real time, gives decision makers on site, and at remote offices access to real numbers in real time. This aids in logistics planning for removal and dispersion of excavated materials, and storage capacities of delivered / consumable materials.
• Mining, Oil & Gas Production and Energy - In addition to volume measurements, Drones allow tracking of equipment positions, excavation progress, drill and rig site surveys, aggregate calculations, and monitoring of safety compliance on site.

For more info on what I can do for your business with Drone technology, call or email and I am happy to discuss your specific needs in detail.

http://www.jasonjones-photo.com/contact

UAV / RCMA / Drone Photography... Not the "evil" you might have heard.

 Almost everyone these days has heard the term "drone" or UAV as it is associated with law enforcement or military operations.  Increasingly, these vehicles have started occupying the skies, and there is a LOT of misconceptions and legislation in the works regarding their use.

    I think we can all agree that their use should be regulated to prevent invasions of privacy, like unauthorized / unconstitutional surveillance by govt. entities, paparazzi, and criminals using them for nefarious tasks (voyeurs, planning crimes, etc..). However like any tool or object, there are good uses for such devices. These uses typically are overshadowed by the very limited number of bad implementations.

    As an aerial photographer, I have clients with a property that would not allow ideal images from a traditional aircraft that cannot fly as low or as close as a UAV, such as being surrounded by much taller buildings on all sides. Another extremely common use for these in my field is indoor photography of large buildings from elevated positions, such as a massive production facility/warehouse.  Theres a high demand for the use of UAV's and drones in agriculture too. Instead of spending the fuel and airtime for a small manned craft to survey 1000 acres of crops, you can do it cheaper in relatively the same time with a UAV.

    Realtors are probably the one industry that would benefit the most from positive legislation regarding the use of UAV's / Drones for Aerial photography. Being able to inexpensively take some elevated point of view images of larger homes or homes on land without some of the added cost and time consumption a traditional flight requires, makes their marketing more effective, and unique.

    When you hear of knee jerk or feel good legislation regarding unmanned aerial photography or UAV's / Drones in the news, voice your opinion to your representatives, but keep in mind there is a huge industry of honest, well intentioned photographers, cinematographers and surveyors counting on citizens to see the good in this technology.