I've just uploaded a little sample of some of the aerial scenes that I shot with my DJI Phantom and GoPro camera on my recent trip to the amazing archeological sites of Bagan, Myanmar to my Vimeo channel. Most of my shooting on the trip was with my RED, but I did 12 flights at Bagan over a period of 3 days. Each flight was about 5 minutes long, so I have about an hour of footage. This was the first test of my new Brushless Gimbal mount for the GoPro. It seems to work pretty well. All but the first three flights were with an FPV system consisting of FatShark video goggles that were monitoring a transmitted signal direct from the Phantom. It's pretty cool to see your flight from the perspective of the aircraft. I'm quite happy with these first results, but the downside is that now I want a bigger multi-rotor that can carry a larger payload:<)
You can see the video at: https://vimeo.com/86610355 or in the GoPro Album here on my website.
Thursday, February 13, 2014
Friday, February 7, 2014
Mandalay
Today I did some more Pagoda hopping. Mandalay is not really a tourist centric city. There isn't a lot of infrastructure like guides and drivers, or even very many taxis. In both Yangon and Bagan I was able to arrange a guide through my hotel with little trouble. Here, I asked about a guide and they looked at me like they had never heard such a request. So I plotted out where I wanted to go on my iPad, and when I left the hotel, a guy approached me and asked if I needed a taxi. I said yes, and showed him on my map where I wanted to go. He said 2000 Kyat (about $2) so I said fine. He disappears for a minute and comes back with a helmet for me. He doesn't have an actual taxi, just a motor bike. I've got my big pack on with my RED in it and a very large tripod which he says is no problem. Normally, this wouldn't be my first choice in transportation, especially in a re-incarnation based culture, but I thought, WTF, I've been riding around dirt roads in Bagan on an electric bike for a week, why not. So I hopped on and off we go. It turned out to be quite a pleasant ride. We went by Mandalay palace, the last royal residence in Burma. I had seen it on the sat map I was using and thought it reminded me of the old city of Chiang Mai, but as you pass by it, you get an idea of how huge it really is. It is square and nearly 1.5 miles on a side. It's about 4 times the size of the main Angkor Wat temple complex in Cambodia. It is surrounded by a moat that is about 50 yards wide. Inside the moat is a huge wall surrounding the whole site. There are massive gates in the middle of each side. There is a part that you can tour, but much of it is comprised of military installations now.
I went to the Kuthodaw Pagoda and the Sanda Muni Paya Pagoda. They are adjacent to one another at the foot of Mandalay Hill. They are similar in that they both have a large central golden pagoda surrounded by hundreds of smaller white pagodas. Inside each small pagoda is a marble slab about 3 ft wide and 4 ft tall that is inscribed with a single page of Buddha's teachings. In Sanda Muni Paya, there are 1,774 individual pagodas each with one slab of marble. It is supposedly the world's largest book.
When I was finished with my shooting, I headed back to the hotel with another motor bike taxi. It's interesting how traffic flows here. Nobody stops at intersections. Traffic streams just seems to flow through each other. It seems the only rule is to not hit something that is directly in front of you. You don't have to worry about whether something is going to be in front of you. Whoever gets to a point in space-time first, has the right of way. Traffic doesn't even seem to slow down at intersections. It's a little un-nerving at first, but with a leap of faith, it's not so bad. Of course they do believe in re-incarnation. Anyhow, we went about 10 miles through city traffic and only stopped twice for very brief periods, yet it all felt quite safe and sane at the time!
Here are some Images from today:
Kuthodaw Pagoda
These are some of the small pagodas housing Buddha's teachings on marble slabs
This is one of the marble slabs with a single page of Buddha's teachings inscribed.
A setup of my RED doing a shot.
Sanda Muni Paya Pagoda.
some of the 1,774 pagodas at Sanda Muni Paya Pagoda.
Looking through a row of small pagodas at Sanda Muni Paya with the stone tablets going off into the distance. There are row after row of these small pagodas.
I went to the Kuthodaw Pagoda and the Sanda Muni Paya Pagoda. They are adjacent to one another at the foot of Mandalay Hill. They are similar in that they both have a large central golden pagoda surrounded by hundreds of smaller white pagodas. Inside each small pagoda is a marble slab about 3 ft wide and 4 ft tall that is inscribed with a single page of Buddha's teachings. In Sanda Muni Paya, there are 1,774 individual pagodas each with one slab of marble. It is supposedly the world's largest book.
When I was finished with my shooting, I headed back to the hotel with another motor bike taxi. It's interesting how traffic flows here. Nobody stops at intersections. Traffic streams just seems to flow through each other. It seems the only rule is to not hit something that is directly in front of you. You don't have to worry about whether something is going to be in front of you. Whoever gets to a point in space-time first, has the right of way. Traffic doesn't even seem to slow down at intersections. It's a little un-nerving at first, but with a leap of faith, it's not so bad. Of course they do believe in re-incarnation. Anyhow, we went about 10 miles through city traffic and only stopped twice for very brief periods, yet it all felt quite safe and sane at the time!
Here are some Images from today:
Kuthodaw Pagoda
These are some of the small pagodas housing Buddha's teachings on marble slabs
This is one of the marble slabs with a single page of Buddha's teachings inscribed.
A setup of my RED doing a shot.
Sanda Muni Paya Pagoda.
some of the 1,774 pagodas at Sanda Muni Paya Pagoda.
Looking through a row of small pagodas at Sanda Muni Paya with the stone tablets going off into the distance. There are row after row of these small pagodas.
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
More Bagan
Well, I had intended to do daily posts from Bagan since I was spending a week there, but the internet connection was so pathetic that the first post I tried took over an hour to upload after two days of failed attempts. Most of the time. there was no connection at all, but occasionally it would creep in for a bit. I don't think I ever saw it get above 15 Kbps! So plan B was to just wait until I have a better connection and do this mega-post.
As I write this, I'm traveling on a ferry boat up the Irrawaddy river from Bagan to Mandalay. Since it's a 12 hour trip, I thought I'd get the post ready in the event that I have better internet in Mandalay, it's the second biggest city in Myanmar, so I'm hopeful. The ferry is a modern boat with comfortable seats. It also has a large outside area in the stern where you can sit beneath an awning and watch river life pass by. I'm hoping to be able to shoot some Pagodas along the river this afternoon when we turn East, and again later in the afternoon as we get closer to Mandalay. We should arrive sometime around sunset. We left this morning at 0600 and had a nice sunrise over the river.
I spent my days in Bagan alternation between different activities. My first day I went out with a driver and a guide and shot mostly RED footage, but lots of stills too. The next day I went on my own on an electric bike. The hotel rents them for $10 per day and they are widely used here by tourists. They are pretty cool, actually. Wish we had them in Bali. They are silent and quite quick. The first time I took one out, I strapped my tripod on the back and carried my RED and DSLR in my Cinebag backpack. The best light is early morning and late afternoon so my strategy was to take off about 0730, shoot until 1030 or 1100, then return to the hotel. I would go back out around 1500 and shoot until I lost the light. On my third day I went with just the car and driver as the guide I used the first time was booked. It turns out the my driver was a really good assistant. He toted gear around for me and helped look for good setups.. Day 4 was bike again, but this time with the DJI Phantom and GoPro to shoot some aerials. I used the same pack, but had to take the props off each time I moved. I did 5 flights the first day and had some good success. My new gimbal mount works quite well, and I've wired in a radio controlled adjustment for camera pitch so I can tilt it up and down in flight as needed.. Bolstered by my aerial success I went out the next day with my driver again and did a mix of some aerials with the phantom, some RED footage including some with my slider. On my last day I went out again with just the Phantom for a couple final aerial scenes. I had two hard landings that day, one when a battery went out as I was landing and dropped the last 5 ft and the last one when I clipped a tree branch as I was coming in to my landing zone and it flipped the Phantom over causing it to fly straight down the last 12 feet in a split second. Fortunately, the Phantom is pretty sturdy and didn't sustain any damage except to one prop.
So, enough talk, now for some more Bagan Images:
I happened upon a couple local ceremonial processions. I was on an electric bike both times so I was able to circle around and get multiple passes.
These kids were selling sets of "postcards" that they made. I bought the set from the girl on the left. The light colored patches on their cheeks is Sandalwood. It's popular among the locals.
As I write this, I'm traveling on a ferry boat up the Irrawaddy river from Bagan to Mandalay. Since it's a 12 hour trip, I thought I'd get the post ready in the event that I have better internet in Mandalay, it's the second biggest city in Myanmar, so I'm hopeful. The ferry is a modern boat with comfortable seats. It also has a large outside area in the stern where you can sit beneath an awning and watch river life pass by. I'm hoping to be able to shoot some Pagodas along the river this afternoon when we turn East, and again later in the afternoon as we get closer to Mandalay. We should arrive sometime around sunset. We left this morning at 0600 and had a nice sunrise over the river.
I spent my days in Bagan alternation between different activities. My first day I went out with a driver and a guide and shot mostly RED footage, but lots of stills too. The next day I went on my own on an electric bike. The hotel rents them for $10 per day and they are widely used here by tourists. They are pretty cool, actually. Wish we had them in Bali. They are silent and quite quick. The first time I took one out, I strapped my tripod on the back and carried my RED and DSLR in my Cinebag backpack. The best light is early morning and late afternoon so my strategy was to take off about 0730, shoot until 1030 or 1100, then return to the hotel. I would go back out around 1500 and shoot until I lost the light. On my third day I went with just the car and driver as the guide I used the first time was booked. It turns out the my driver was a really good assistant. He toted gear around for me and helped look for good setups.. Day 4 was bike again, but this time with the DJI Phantom and GoPro to shoot some aerials. I used the same pack, but had to take the props off each time I moved. I did 5 flights the first day and had some good success. My new gimbal mount works quite well, and I've wired in a radio controlled adjustment for camera pitch so I can tilt it up and down in flight as needed.. Bolstered by my aerial success I went out the next day with my driver again and did a mix of some aerials with the phantom, some RED footage including some with my slider. On my last day I went out again with just the Phantom for a couple final aerial scenes. I had two hard landings that day, one when a battery went out as I was landing and dropped the last 5 ft and the last one when I clipped a tree branch as I was coming in to my landing zone and it flipped the Phantom over causing it to fly straight down the last 12 feet in a split second. Fortunately, the Phantom is pretty sturdy and didn't sustain any damage except to one prop.
So, enough talk, now for some more Bagan Images:
I happened upon a couple local ceremonial processions. I was on an electric bike both times so I was able to circle around and get multiple passes.
These kids were selling sets of "postcards" that they made. I bought the set from the girl on the left. The light colored patches on their cheeks is Sandalwood. It's popular among the locals.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)