My Featured Works in Digital Madrid 6

I’m happy to announce that several of my aerial photographs have been featured in Digital Madrid 6. Digital Madrid is an interesting concept, an online-only art exhibition featuring pieces unique to the show from multimedia artists around the world. Digital Madrid is curated by founder Kadeem Fletcher, an outgoing and interesting individual who has put together something I feel is truly unique. I was first introduced to Digital Madrid and its fifth incarnation I believe through Hypebeast, and I remember being excited with the quality and unique nature of the work presented and deeply interested in the concept of purely online art galleries and curation in the modern world.

Recently, Kadeem asked me to contribute a few of my area photographs for the sixth incarnation. I spent quite a while thinking about how I want to approach it, and wanted to share the process and photos.

I’ve often heard photographers who use drones say that they dislike the term “aerial photographer” and that they are simply photographers using an aerial platform. I feel almost exactly the opposite; the technology intrigues me in a way standard image capture does not. The technical and visceral barrier to entry and overall complexity is part of why I embrace it.

My first inclination was a series of aerial photographs of shipwrecks that resembled hyper-real surrealist paintings, but I felt that a visual connection in the series was less important to my work than a technical connection. The shots I selected have one thing in common, and that is that they were captured with autonomous flight planning. I documented the location via Google Earth before traveling, planned the image capture with a Ground Control Station for mobile devices called Autoflight Logic and at the location simply turned my drone on and hit “begin” on the flight plan.

The concept of robot-assisted art appeals to me on multiple levels and this is my first true attempt at showcasing some of the greater concepts I’ve been playing with for larger, longer-term projects still in the works Below are brief descriptions of the shots that I included in Digital Madrid 6, I hope you enjoy the visuals and their stories. I highly recommend you review the full collection of art for the project, the talent is tremendous. I’m honored to have been included.

This photo was shot in Turks and Caicos, it was an overturned ship I discovered in a Google Earth exploratory session. My wife was feeding our young son in the car to keep him out of the sun, while I piloted from the front seat. The contrast of the rusted ship on Turks and Caicos’ unreal blue water gave the image more of the look of a painting than a photograph, it was my favorite of everything I shot on the islands.

This photo was shot while I was executing a commercial job (I’m a licensed commercial drone operator) in Texas. I saw the shape of the building while planning a job at an adjacent construction site, and simply added a series of photos to the end of one of the commercial flights. The strong midday shadows of Texas combined with the geometric architecture created a great palette to explore line and shadow.

This last photo was in Oregon. It was my first trip to the Oregon coast, which is unbelievably beautiful and surprisingly close to Portland. This was another shot was taken while my baby was being fed in the car (this is a recurring theme, I have a patient family who put up with both my travels and my robots). I spend so much time photographing architecture, and shadows that sometimes I forget the power of man-made shapes to create landscapes. This flight plan I designed from the vehicle on the spot to take a series of photos down the beach I could stitch into a larger image.

Thanks for reading!