Drones are becoming more and more common for photography businesses to include them as a separate service for their clients.

I’m no different. Recently, I’ve teamed up with Sims Parker & Kidd, who are professional CAA approved drone pilots, based in Swindon.

Together, we can tackle most filming and photographic requirements literally from the ground up!

Using drones in my business, I’ve been able to add views that I wouldn’t otherwise have been able to capture, enhancing the visual experience for my clients. In the past, camera cranes, very tall ladders – all having their own specific physical and safety constraints have made it difficult to capture shots from extreme vantage points. Drones make these new aerial perspectives a reality.

Drone images are extremely helpful for clients who require:

  • Construction site and building surveys
  • Land surveys for developers
  • Internal room surveys
  • Thermal surveys
  • Agricultural crop surveys

Pros and cons of drones:

Over the past few years there have been quite a bit of negativity about drones. Mainly with people flying them when they weren’t approved pilots; also, some people are worried about the images that drones can capture covertly, invading privacy and safety.

However, the truth is there are rules in place around this and they are different for those who operate on a personal licence and those who have commercial licences and training to use drones. You can find useful information on this here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/drones-are-you-flying-yours-safely-and-legally

The government had some dialogue about drones with the public through workshops.  During these sessions people were introduced to the positive benefits of drones.

There have been some particularly positive developments in the use of drones to help confront the global threat of air pollution.

Robert Garbett, one of the world’s leading experts in drone technology called on the UK government, back in September, to support the World Health Organisation’s plea to ‘rise up and act to protect the health of our most vulnerable people.’

He suggested that:

“Drone technology can be used in our most polluted cities to help improve the quality of the air, and this would be both economic and rapid. And lives can be saved, disease in the youngest reduced, the oldest and most vulnerable members of society protected.”

As things stand, 99% of the global population breathes in polluted air every day. In a study, the Francis Crick Institution in London found air pollution uncovered the link between car fumes and lung cancer in non-smokers. And another study by Imperial College London proved that around 4,000 Londoners died prematurely in 2019 because of long term exposure to air pollution. And poor air quality was found to cause permanently stunted lungs in children.

A Maritime drone initiative on the River Thames in London would decarbonise the city’s logistics and freight industry.  And this technology could be deployed in any city with a river in the UK. Adopting this would reduce the number of delivery vehicles on our roads, which at present is approximately 89% of all goods transported by land. This is one of the UK’s most polluting industries.

Recent research published in a scientific journal found that a single delivery of a package by drone accounted for 84% less greenhouse gas emissions than a diesel truck, and used 94% less energy.

If the UK adopted drones in these situations the UK would become a world pioneer.

5 other positives use of drones:

  • Emergency services and disaster relief can use drones to enable quick access to sites and to deliver medical supplies – saving lives.
  • They can help find people lost in remote areas.
  • Help to catch criminals more quickly, such as car thieves.
  • Support conservation activities such as monitoring wildlife, habitat protection or rainforests
  • Geographic mapping or land and coastlines and environmental law enforcement

If you think drone photography might be useful for you, please view my aerial photography gallery https://www.moore-photographics.com/portfolio-items/aerial-photography/

Or contact me: info@moore-photographics.com