Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Solar Panel Inspection for Property Management and Insurance Adjusters - Dallas Texas Aerial Photographer

Texas Aerial Photography solutions with drones and unmanned aircraft
  Drones are not just for real estate photography, but a myriad of other industrial uses too. Let's take a look at a case study / practical example.

  An apartment complex with 16 buildings, all of them are 2 or 3 stories tall, with no internal access areas to the roof (stairs or built in shaft), due to the residential tenants, and liability reasons. A storm comes through with VERY high winds and/or hail. This is extremely common in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas during the spring and summer months.

The property management doesn't immediately notice any power issues, but would like to check everything out and get ahead of any problems before it cause an interruption in resident electricity service. A normal inspection would require a 2 man crew, climbing 30+ feet of portable ladders, and repeating that process for all 16 buildings. This could take 2 days, and will certainly present a safety risk to any maintenance staff or contractors with the repetitive ladder climbing. Not to mention the labor cost for 2 contractors, or just the time spent away from other maintenance duties if utilizing property staff.  For a simple inspection, this already is starting to sound like a daunting, expensive task, especially just to confirm everything is ok.

  Bring in a drone. In just a few minutes, the UAV can be airborne from a ground station, and fly each building without ladders, climbing or other unnecessary risk to employee/contractor safety. A previously full 1-2 day inspection job, can be completed in a few hours with an unmanned aerial drone, at a significant cost savings.

  High resolution photographs of each array, single panels and even overviews of the entire complex are easily and quickly obtained. These can also be used when applying for "green" tax and utility credits, to prove technology usage. Inspections can also be utilized for insurance adjusters who are overwhelmed with claims immediately after a storm hits an area, and may take months to get out to each site personally. High resolution aerial photographs of roofing shingles, solar panels, Air Conditioning units, and other building and property damage can expedite claims processing, or be used to justify emergency repairs necessary before an adjuster can even review anything.

  Have a licensed, qualified UAV pilot perform an inspection immediately, the next time there is a "surprise" from mother nature!

Saturday, February 25, 2017

General Tso's Chicken - Dallas Texas Food & Advertising Photographer

  While this dish is a 20th Century creation for the North American Chinese Cuisine market, I am quite confident that Zuo Zongtang, the man who the dish is named after, would be quite proud of it.

  As a food and advertising photographer, presenting simple dishes is harder than it seems. For me, it is a welcome challenge that keeps my mind sharp and creativity flowing. It's one of the things about photography I love so much.

  I would love to discuss your upcoming menu revamp, or new concept, and get you great images to represent your brand. With all the online options such as Yelp, UberEats, and a dozen other delivery and review services, great photos will make that first impression to get customers in your doors, or on your app to order.

Friday, February 17, 2017

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

Monday, February 13, 2017

Unexpected things always happen...

 Over the last decade, I have seen, or been privy to, just about every unexpected thing you can imagine on a photoshoot, or location set. While I have seen my share of bad things, most "unexpected" occurrences are pleasant, whimsical, or just downright funny. This was all 3 of those!

 While setting up for this bedroom shot, the homeowner's sweet Chihuahua/mix rescue didn't appreciate us straightening out her covers! She snuck up the backside of the bed, under the comforter, and poked her head out just as you see here.

  While no one can capture every great moment presented to them, part of being a professional is delivering the unexpected. Shots like these are not story boarded or discussed, they just happen. Making it worthy of the assignment you were shooting is even more difficult, but certainly in the realm of possible. I am always happy to surprise an editor with bonus material such as this, or an unplanned, gorgeous sunset shot off the balcony they didn't know they wanted. There is no rhyme or reason, you just have to be ready. Architectural and Interior design photography is my main niche, but delivering professional results EVERY time, no matter what I am photographing, is what I truly specialize in.