I had hoped to get my own footage, when we go to Orkney next month. Now, I’m afraid it’s just not realistic: I’d need to spend far more time — probably another year — and more money — ?£!€!£!$!£?! — to get what I want. Now, I think it might be more realistic — sensible and reliable — to find someone with the equipment and experience who’s going to be there, and ask them to get the footage for me.
In a nutshell, I intend to make a time lapse shot of the sun setting and rising again a few hours later in the same frame, most likely over the Ring of Brodgar or the Standing Stones of Stenness, depending how all variable factors pan out on the ground at the time. (Tripod mounted on or about the South Knowe — ?between the South and Salt knowes? — seems most likely from behind laptop in comfort of armchair.) I’d like to get drone footage, very similar to much of that shot by AlbionDrones on 28/06/2023 (My congratulations on that most excellent footage, by the way!) I’d like my footage to include a bit more close-up detail of the stones themselves, as well as the bigger picture(s), as covered by Albion Drones. If possible, I’d like the drone to fly a 360° around each stone within the rings, as well as a ring around the inside and outside of the rings themselves. (Sounds confusing? Now you know why I’ve given up on the idea of doing it myself: I’m afraid it’s far too demanding for a beginner and would end up little more than an expensive, frustrating failure for me on my own.)
Is anyone willing going to be in Orkney for the Solstice this year (20-21/6/24) who could take on this job?
Yeah, good question, ‘What’s your budget?’.
Nowhere near your inc. all expenses and VAT price, I’m afraid.
Actually, to be brutally and painfully honest, I’d rather hoped an enthusiast might take it on for little more than a symbolic gesture. It is in the name of a good cause.
Doesn’t need to be 100% free. I could cover the cost of travel on the (Orkney) mainland, but I’d struggle a bit to get a(another) car there from the UK mainland. (We’re taking our own but that’s about as much as we can manage, I’m afraid.) Obviously, I’d be happy to collect anyone willing to give it a shot from wherever they need to get to and from on the (Orkney) mainland, but we’re only going to be those couple of days (20-21 June) — pushed for time.
Thanks for the kind words on our own footage…Anyone wanting to fly there and get in closer - and TOAL from the site would need to apply for permission in advance. This is why our own footage was mainly from a distance as we had to TOAL away, on the side of the road below the circles…
Sounds like an interesting project, I hope you manage to find someone, but don’t put yourself down as to what can be done… I had only been flying drones for 10 months when we flew Brodgar…
Ah-ha, I see; must say, I wondered about that. Thank you so much for being so forward.
Yes, it looks like this project might become rather more long-term than I’d first imagined. That’s OK: there are two solstices every year, so I’ll just have to pick another!
I say, that’s very kind and supportive of you — thank you!
Funnily enough, I’d just started to think it might be better for me to reconsider for the longer term and perhaps go back to the idea of doing the job myself.
I should also say I’ve perused some of your work on the YouTube link and find it almost alarmingly captivating — quite fantastically beautiful! I can’t imagine I should manage anything approaching that quality before a couple of solstices have passed, but it’s inspired me to imagine I might.
I would have appealed to you directly, had I not understood you were on Orkney for the solstice last year, and therefore not likely to fancy spending a second year on the trot there. Judging from the scratch I’ve made at the surface looking at your other work, I’m sure you’ve got more than enough to be getting on with! Moreover, I’m afraid it might be embarrassing, both for me and anyone I appealed to, to discover the commercial value of the work I’d like (~£3,000, inc. VAT) is so far beyond anything I could hope to meet.
Again, thank you for your time and attention; it was very good of you.
Thank you for your kind words on our videography work, tbh I had only been flying for 10 months when we flew Brodgar, and even now I have only been flying for 20 months in total, so if I can do it there is no reason why others cannot…
I am away to Skye this year, on the Saturday after Solstice, we take the MiL away every summer for a week, so last year was Orkney, this year she fancied going back to Skye, and although we were there in October I am happy to return, still lots of places we haven’t yet flown…
Orkney is a special place, we will be returning at some point, but probably not for a year or two… Lewis and Harris too need to go back there and spend some time…
Funnily enough, Stornaway and the Outer Hebrides were another place under consideration before deciding on Orkney for this solstice. Perhaps bump into you there?!
I’d quite like to do the seals’ breeding on the Monarch Isles, too, but I’d imagine theTOAL (and a great many other) restrictions would make any restrictions on Orkney or elsewhere seem like child’s play in comparison. In all seriousness, I wouldn’t have thought it possible (so won’t be seeing you there).
But look forward to other such adventures, as you’ve posted so many already.
That’s good: (almost) everything that does anything to diminish humanity’s perceived reliance (delusion) on counting (money) to assert authority (power) sounds like a good idea to me!
Besides, the way it looks now, it won’t be long before you can put a few lines into a ChatGPT, or a Chinese equivalent, and have a drone take off from anywhere in the world to send you back the pictures you want for pennies, where real feet on the ground demand hundreds and thousands of pounds, yen and euros now.
Ooops, that should have been M^3, NOT ^2… Duh!
(It won’t let me edit now: ‘Too long since posted,’ it says.)
Yeah, parking… I remember: I’d be resident abroad for many years before being shocked to discover parking was the UK’s only remaining growth industry, when I came back to visit; many, many years ago now.
Since then… Well, as far as I can make out, at least the Americans are making money out of the NHS; can’t see much other reason to thank Mrs Thatcher, and I’m not sure thanks is the best part of her legacy, at that.
That’s always been the worst part of this part of the world: bad politicians — greed(y).
Let’s hope Grey Arrows and Drone Zones help them find a way around and out of it.
