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.