I was privileged to spend a week in the Paris, LDS Temple, filming the interior and exterior of this beautiful edifice in preparation for the open house and dedication. I created this video for the Public Affairs Department and the Temple Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The temple is located in Le Chesnay, France, just outside of Paris, and is a mere five minutes from the Palace of Versailles.
This was the stormiest week on Maui this year. I intended to fly my drone and get those iconic tropical Hawaiian shots.
It rained every day. I flew in between the storms. I dodged the rain drops. I got what I got. I’d do it again. Even a bad day on Maui is still a good day.
The red rocks and blue skies of Southern Utah provide striking scenes for aerial cinematography.
It was late afternoon when I was finally able to open my drone case and get some shots. I felt like I needed to hurry because there was so much beauty and so little time to fly. I barely scratched the surface, so to speak. The good news is, there is much to see and capture next time I go back.
The Bonneville Salt Flats landscape has a stark beauty. The salt preserves and corrupts. Very little can live in the salt. This far from civilization it may as well be another planet. Yet, the solitude, the harshness and the contrasts are inspiring. I would go back. I will go back. I will fly over the salt and the water. Next time, I will stay longer.
I shot this drone footage with my DJI Phantom 4 drone. I also did the music.
I thought it would be easy, flying a drone. And, in truth, the technology makes it much easier than it could be. Nevertheless, it is still easy to crash. Believe me, I’ve done it. Fortunately not yet catastrophically.
Standing in a high mountain meadow, I take off. My phantom 4 rises effortlessly and hovers. In truth, every time I take off I have this feeling that I’m going to loose it, my drone that is. It is going to fly away, or, get blown away, or, run into something, or…I can go on thinking of all the possible ways I might loose or crash my drone. Nevertheless, the good pictures and the great footage do not reside near where I stand. If they did, I wouldn’t need a drone. So, I send my phantom 4 off into the sky.
Having passed my Federal Aviation Administration part 107 test and received my FAA UAS certified remote pilot rating, I know that I must fly VLS, visual line of sight. The specs on my phantom say that it has a 3.1 mile range. I, on the other hand, can not see my drone once it has gone about a half mile. I probably need glasses. However, I’m trying to find a balance between VLS and reasonable range. I haven’t found it yet.
I fly over the aspen trees toward Mount Timpanogos. The sun is setting and with fall approaching, the colors and the imagery are amazing. I’m trying to get the right exposure, watch the drone and watch the screen when I get a message telling me that the signal is weak. My phantom is not that far away. Then the message changes–signal lost.
What?
My drone is out there flying, by itself? And, I must admit, I can’t see it. It has gone out of my sight behind a stand of Aspen trees.
That knot in the pit of my stomach tightens.
The specs say that the phantom 4 is supposed to return to home upon signal loss. I can’t hear it and I can’t see it. I start walking uphill through the meadow. If I can just get to a higher vantage point. I hold my controller over my head. The signal returns. My drone is found. Hallelujah.
The battery life is running critically low so I bring it in for a landing. The sun drops behind the mountain and I pack up my gear.
When I look at the footage, I’m amazed. It actually looks pretty good. Nevertheless, you be the judge.
Fall comes to the high mountains above American Fork Canyon in the Uinta National Forest.
From Bandai Toys Action Figures to Harlem Globetrotters basketball, Dalrymple Productions can handle it. James Dalrymple has written for, produced and directed commercials for top advertising agencies and fortune 500 companies. Check out this demo montage of commercial work.
Here is a spot just completed for Zagg, featuring their new Sapphire Defense mobile device protection screen.
Matt Merrill, Zagg Creative Director
Michael Dey, Zagg Producer
James Dalrymple, Producer / Director
Tom Garner, Cinematographer
Keith Gwilliam, On-camera Talent
This video is a short book trailer for my novel, Death Comes At Night. It was a labor of love :).
Death Comes At Night is a suspense/thriller novel guaranteed to get your heart racing and keep you up at night reading. Death Comes At Night, the novel, is available for purchase on Amazon.com, Barnes&Noble.com or directly from the publisher, Black Rose Writing. For more information, contact me, or email, [email protected].
Here is the short film book trailer premier for Death Comes At Night. I hope you enjoy it. Please let me know what you think.
Credits:
Nate Cummings as Daniel Monson.
McKenna Cullimore as the Woman
James Dalrymple as the Author
Richard Porter, Camera, Sound, Osmo
Anders Piiparinen, Osmo and Grip
Sterling Elliott, Production Assistant
Meagan Piiparinen, Hair and Makeup
James Dalrymple, Writer, Director, Editor, Composer
Special thanks to Don Wadley for use of his farm.
These mountains are amazing. I never tire of the view from my house. Now that I fly drones, I try to spend as much time as possible soaring over them, remotely. These are a few shots from this summer of the mountains nearest my home. I will post more aerial cinematography shots on a regular basis. Your comments are always welcome.