RTF - Sunday February 2nd to Satuday 15th - Golden Hour and/or Landscapes without Buildings - Winners Announced

The votes have been tallied, the requested recount has been undertaken and we can now reveal the subject you have chosen for this round of RTF - except that it is TWO subjects! You may choose either of them or be aright wee clever clogs and combine them into a Landscape without Buildings taken during the Golden Hour:

And / Or

The requirement is to submit a still image created using a drone to illustrate the subject of the competition. This round will run from 00:01 Sunday 2nd of February until 23:00 Saturday, February 15th; the subject is Golden Hour and/or Landscapes without Buildings

The image must be captured during the time that the competition is open. It is a Reason To Fly competition so please show that the image is created by a flying camera!

Editing is confined to colour and exposure adjustments and crop only. There must be no removal or pasting of an object.

Please post only one image, the image you wish to be judged, in this thread.

Images must be posted with the following information as a minimum:

In Capitals as the first line of your post:

THIS IS MY ENTRY

If this is not done at the time of posting the picture will be ignored. Should it be necessary to change your picture then delete the previous picture and add “This is my entry” - as above - as the first line of your new post. If in any doubt contact the Challenges Committee
(@Challenges_Committee)

Further Information is required

  • Location
  • Time and date
  • Aircraft/camera used
  • Feel free to add any further information that you think will be of interest

Voting

The members of GADC will judge images. They may vote for any number of pictures through an anonymous poll open for two days after the closing date for competition entries.

Voting in the poll is open to all GADC members, whether they have entered the competition or not.

You may vote for one, all, some or none of the entries.

The judges may request the original media in case of a dispute.

Schedule

The competition subject will be announced every second Saturday around 22:30. The subject will be chosen by a poll of GADC members selecting from three that have been picked at random from the subject list. You may make additions to the list at any time.

The competition will run from Sunday 00.01 to Saturday 23.00 fourteen days later. Voting by poll will be open for a further two days until Monday 22:00

The winner, second and third-placed competitors will be announced shortly after the vote is closed

Have Fun! Be Safe!

All flights are the sole responsibility of the individual conducting them. Each competitor must abide by the drone code and adhere to the limitations and restrictions imposed upon them by aviation law, the aircraft being used and the qualifications they hold. Help, I am being held captive in the ChallCom bunker, message me. If a flight is undertaken in a restricted zone proof of permission having been granted is required.

E&OE

@group-challenges

3 Likes

THIS IS MY ENTRY

14 Likes

THIS IS MY ENTRY
Landscape/Golden Hour
02,02,2025 @ 4,30 hours ish
Mavic £ Classic
Pewsey Downs Wiltshire Towards Giants Grave
180 Pano & Crop, Sabotaged The Colours The Sun Was Setting Behind Me !

14 Likes

THIS IS MY ENTRY

  • River Mersey
  • 09/02/2025 08:20ish
  • Air3s

More of a seascape than a landscape but taken in golden hour. Not that the mist was going to give up any sort of interesting light (or barely any light at all).

7 Likes

Been in there a week - hope they’re okay… @Challenges_Committee can be a ruthless bunch…

1 Like

THIS IS MY ENTRY

Conningbrook Lake Country Park Ashford

2 Febuary at 7.30 am

DJI mini 3 pro

13 Likes

THIS IS MY ENTRY
(Golden Hour)

Waves of fog below ‘Sun Rising Hill’ near Radway, Edgehill, 06-02-25, 07:45.
180° pano by DJI Mini 4 Pro.


This bit of the A422 that zigzags upwards (hidden in the trees here) is called ‘Sun Rising Hill’, a favourite with local (motor)cyclists.

9 Likes

THIS IS MY ENTRY

  • Near Old Winchester Hill - Hampshire
  • 10.30am 5th February
  • Dji Mavic Air
  • Feel free to disallow this image as I realise there are farm buildings in the capture, I had hoped to try again excluding any buildings but have been thwarted by the weather!
5 Likes

THIS IS MY ENTRY

  • Sunningdale, Berkshire
  • 0750 2nd February
  • Dji Mini 3
  • Taken during my Northcote film in video section

One of a few early mornings to get the footage I needed for the short film. Sunrise over the rural Berkshire countryside.

12 Likes

THIS IS MY ENTRY

  • North Harrow looking to the Hill and town centre
  • 16:34 2/2/2025
  • DJI Mini 3
  • Golden Hour as obviously a lot of buildings!

Peter

7 Likes

THIS IS MY ENTRY

12/02/2025
Mavic 2 Pro
Landscape without buildings

Poor weather for last few weeks, either too windy or thick cloud making for awful flat lighting.
Pilling salt marsh. looking towards Sunderland point.

9 Likes

THIS IS MY ENTRY

DJI mini 4 pro
Feb 12th 4pm
Fordon nr Wold Newton, Yorkshire

NO sun for a fortnight here on the East Coast so no chance of colour, let alone golden colours. Here is a dry chalk valley and road. They draw water from here and grow barley to malt then make the lovely Wold Top beer.

6 Likes

Time to vote for your favourites. As there are only ten images in this round we will restrict the voting to your top three - so please vote for up to three pictures by 22:00, Monday February 17th.

@group-challenges

And now for the results you have been eagerly awaiting:

In third place is a great image of Burbage Edge in the Peak District, taken in what would have been Golden Hour if only the sun had co-operated. On very close scrutiny there are a couple of blobs of pixels that just might be buildings in the far distance - it’s almost like looking at a Birthday Challenge entry for “A Farmhouse” - deja vu all over again. The picture was taken by Richard - @Yith - congratulations to him:. Is this the first time a Neo has been used in RTF?

In second place is Jay - @Pirbright_Drone - with a contre-jour morning Golden Hour shot taken in the Sunningdale area of Berkshire. It’s almost totally devoid of buildings, helped, we think by juducuius cropping and a convenient mist although there is a church spire just making its ghostly presence felt :slight_smile:

And this round’s worthy winner? Another early riser took advantage of the Golden Hour andcaptured an image of Conningbrook Lake Country Park, Ashford, Kent looking eastward toward the Kent Downs National Landscape

Congratulations on being our winner David - @grandad1950 !

Thank you all for participating, whether by voting or actually entering (can we find the way to convert our armchair voters into active flyers? :slight_smile: ) and well done to our top three - @Yith , @Pirbright_Drone and @grandad1950 !

@group-challenges

11 Likes

This is my third entry using the neo and the second one where I got third place.

Thanks for all the votes! This was a tough competition as usual!

4 Likes

Well that was a big surprise and thanks for your votes. I have not entered any of the competitions before and wouldn’t have done this time if I hadn’t been nudged to do so by a fellow member. Infact I am not sure I really what this competition was all about.

Perhaps a reminder to some of us newer members what the RTF competition is all about.

Thanks once again

David

4 Likes

Well done all… great shots, and thanks for those that voted for me. Looks like some critical analysis took place by the committee on the submissions! I did have to crop to remove some “litter” from the original.

1 Like

I’m sure someone from the @Challenges_Committee could provide a more comprehensive description, but the Reason To Fly (RTF) competition does exactly what it says on the tin. Gives people an excuse to pull the drone out and go out in search of whatever the given theme is.

The committee will usually post a vote for what the next theme will be, from a choice of 3 subjects. The winning theme is then announced, and members are then free to submit their entries between the published dates (with entries having been captured between those dates). Once the completion closes, the winning entries are chosen via a public vote (which you should know having just won one… :wink:)

Specific rules etc will be posted at the top of each RTF thread.

1 Like

What he said :point_up:

:slight_smile:

As nice Mr. Barnet says:

the Reason To Fly (RTF) competition does exactly what it says on the tin.

Several years back two people were enjoying the banter and the action in vying with one another to capture third place in the Summer-long Birthday Challenge. It gave them a purpose in going out with the drone and the fun of researching and planning flights to photograph the sometimes weirdly specific demands of the Challenge.

When the Challenge ended the two competitors decided to try something less strenuous but still exercising the mind - The Reason to Fly Challenge was born. (And RTF Rules - but people seldom do :slight_smile: )

There is a pool of potential subjects, suggested by the membership:

The subject will be chosen by a poll of GADC members selecting from three that have been picked at random from the subject list. You may make additions to the list at any time.

The random selection is done on a Google Sheets spreadsheet using a magic formula (=ARRAY_CONSTRAIN(ARRAYFORMULA(INDEX(B12:B999,RANDBETWEEN(1, (COUNTA(B12:B999))))), 1, 1) bought from a passing Shaman.

The three randomly chosen subjects are then put into a poll after commissioning exciting, upcoming British illustrators, fine artists and graphic designers to illustrate them. The subject for the RTF is chosen by the members who then have two weeks to take pictures on that subject and submit the one they consider their best.

The pictures are then arranged in a poll for the GADC members to pick their favourite(s).

And that’s about it. Although ChallCom oversees the challenge the suggestions for subjects and the selection of the winners is effectively done by the members. (ChallCom are too occupied in spending the money gleaned from the exorbitant entry fees charged for this Challenge … )

1 Like