Drone + Donut = Dronut (VIDEO)
It's not every day you see a donut flying over the treetops.
For a while now, our friend Danny and I have been thinking about how much fun it would be to use the drone to deliver a donut to our friends who live down the street. We had some time last Sunday and the weather was perfect for a late afternoon dronut delivery.
The rig was a simple frame and hook contraption formed out of stiff electrical wire attached to the landing gear of the DJI Phantom 4. A chocolate frosted donut with sprinkles from Dunkin' Donuts (Henry's favorite) was securely loaded onto the hook and away it went, over the treetops.
All was going according to plan, that is until the iPad that was controlling the drone suddenly shut down and went black! I no longer had any visual from the camera, but thanks to it's advanced features, the drone was fine, just hovering in place waiting for instruction. I swapped out the iPad for my phone, and we were back in business.
Overall, our first dronut delivery was a success! Now to figure out how to attach a cup of coffee...
(song by Matt Chaney, re-worked and performed by Emma Charette and Daniel Castro)
Buster's Bark
We recently finished a delicious photo project for a chocolate toffee snack called Buster's Bark. What was interesting about this project is that our client was willing to ship some of their product from the US to us here in Poland where we are currently living so that we could make some photos for their website and brochures. We converted a section of our apartment into a temporary "studio". With props from IKEA and the local home center, my wife Martina got to work on the styling. We wanted the look of natural light, but because of the changing weather conditions we chose to use off camera flash for a more consistent look. We even took some to a cafe in the market square here in Kraków for some additional shots. It was a fun and tasty project!
Check out www.bustersbark.com to see how our photos were used on the website. While you are there, you can order some of these delicious homemade snacks for yourself!
Photos From Poznań
Not much to say, just some photos from our trip last week to Poznań, a city in north western Poland.
"Don't Ya Want a Fanta, Fanta"
My wife has wanted a Fanta shot for a long time now. Finally in Poland we found glass Fanta bottles. 6 bottles and lots of natural light made for some interesting shots.
Naleśniki and a Drunken Bum
So, the other night everyone had plans except for me. Don't worry, I wasn't sad. I had a nice night by myself to take some photos. I started my "date" with a delicious plate of Naleśniki at an outdoor cafe in the Main Square while I waited for the sun to go down. Naleśniki are similar to crepes. They come with a variety of fillings like fruit or cheese. Mine were stuffed with apples and covered with chocolate sauce, powdered sugar, and whipped cream. Since I had to sacrifice a lot of space and weight in my suitcase for my tripod, I thought I better start making use of it with some long exposure night shots.
This is when I met my new "friend". He came up to me and asked what I was doing. I thought it was pretty obvious, but maybe not to someone with beer goggles as thick as his. I chatted for a few minutes with the extremely close talking drunk. Occasionally he braced himself on my shoulder. He told me that he was a law student and had 2 more years left until he graduated. The fact that he had only 3 teeth, dirty clothes, and liquor breath that could knock you over, kind of told me otherwise.
After his "spiel" came the punch line I was waiting for, "Do you have any money for food?". I gave him 2 złoty to get rid of him, but he said, "Only 2 złoty?!". "Sorry, that's all I have on me. If you don't want it give it back!", I replied. Of course he kept it and staggered away.
I have uploaded some new photos in addition to the ones below to the Krakow Gallery.
