Zeus's Spittle

In the spring, when the hills in the Bay Area are nice and green, it's an excellent time to go out and photograph them from the air. Being above them, looking down on their rolls and shapes provides a different perspective. As the sun dips low in the sky, the contrasting shadows pair well with the beautiful but bumpy shapes. Willie and I had photographed near here before but he wanted to get closer to a particular area, so we ventured further down the road to launch the drones. We had initially set out to photograph a peak in the opposite direction as this, but I kept turning the drone around to look back at the clouds behind us. At one point the clouds opened up and rays of light beamed out of the clouds, so I rushed the drone over to a patch of rolling hills and fired away. Hidden in the clouds I see a face -- there's the left eye, part of the right, lips and a large beard. I imagine it's Zeus up in the sky, looking down at us and the rays are his spittle, cackling at our folly. DJI Mavic 2 Pro: 10.26mm, f/4, 1/500 sec, ISO 100

Add hills to the background of this and see if it looks sicker

Add hills to the background of this and see if it looks sicker

Pot of Gold

One of my favorite local scenes to photograph are the hills. The Bay Area has a lot to photograph but it's mostly known for its cityscapes and seascapes, so it's fun to photograph something different. And photographing it from the air is even more fun and different. Willie asked if I wanted to go fly the drone with him and the forecast looked perfect for some hills photos. Low clouds with a clearing at the horizon are perfect to light up the hills but also provide something interesting in the sky. When photographing the hills, I don't actually want a colorful sky -- the orange and reds from the sky don't go well with the green hills. But a nice glow in the clouds pairs perfectly with the warm shades on the hills. The setup was perfect -- before the sun went down, a hole in the sky cast light-beams all around. The sun dipped behind the clouds for a while before popping out just before it was blocked by the hills and dipped below the horizon. For a while, Willie and I were getting rained on. We let it past and then put our drones back up, and that's when I noticed a rainbow had come out. I flew to a nearby hill to use as a foreground and captured this stunner. DJI Mavic 2 Pro: 10.26mm, f/4, 1/80 sec, ISO 100

Before the Storm

I mentioned to Willie that I wanted to photograph more of the Bay Area hills and he was kind enough to invite me out to go shoot on a stormy evening. Actually, I think he just wanted me to drive him there (which is fine by me. Chauffeur Meyers at your service). When we arrived it started to drizzle. I was a little worried that the rain wouldn't play nice with the drones, but the rain stopped and we thought it was safe to launch. We spent about 25 minutes exploring the area before bringing the drones back. Just as we went to launch the second battery, the rain came back, so we took a little break and waited for the sun to dip lower in the sky. We had been waiting for a gap -- low clouds blocked the light, then the clouds gave way, before the sun dipped below the mountains. When the sun did finally hit the sweet spot, we had the drones in the air to capture the way it illuminated patterns onto the hills. The sky caught a bunch of the glow as well. Later on the sky turned pink and purple, before pouring and hailing on me while I drove home. DJI Mavic 2 Pro: 10.26mm, f/4, 1/120 sec, ISO 100

Pot of Gold

One of my favorite local scenes to photograph are the hills. The Bay Area has a lot to photograph but it's mostly known for its cityscapes and seascapes, so it's fun to photograph something different. And photographing it from the air is even more fun and different. Willie asked if I wanted to go fly the drone with him and the forecast looked perfect for some hills photos. Low clouds with a clearing at the horizon are perfect to light up the hills but also provide something interesting in the sky. When photographing the hills, I don't actually want a colorful sky -- the orange and reds from the sky don't go well with the green hills. But a nice glow in the clouds pairs perfectly with the warm shades on the hills. The setup was perfect -- before the sun went down, a hole in the sky cast light-beams all around. The sun dipped behind the clouds for a while before popping out just before it was blocked by the hills and dipped below the horizon. For a while, Willie and I were getting rained on. We let it past and then put our drones back up, and that's when I noticed a rainbow had come out. I flew to a nearby hill to use as a foreground and captured this stunner. DJI Mavic 2 Pro: 10.26mm, f/4, 1/80 sec, ISO 100