Greg's Madness!

[Greg]

Or more properly, Greg films and photographs the 6th Street Viaduct.

The 6th street Viaduct got concrete cancer and the next big earthquake would send it into the river. The city decided to tear it down and build a new bridge, despite the fact the viaduct was on the National Historic Register.

It fascinated me that they were going tear and rebuild this big structure. Somebody should really take photographs of that. I have cameras.

I was pretty good the first couple of months back in 2014, when I was doing the pre-destruction photos. But then I realized nothing was really changing. Or very slightly. I went off to do other things. The next time I went out, the bridge was completely gone. There was just an empty stretch in the middle of downtown Los Angeles.

During this time I worked on other projects and kind of lost track of the project until I went back out again this September. Much to my surprise the construction was well under way. 9 big sets of Ys  with surrounding infrastructure marched across what was once the empty lot. I was far behind in my documentation. 

That September day, I promised to come back monthly to really catch up. I have done this. But it's making me insane.

One of the keys is to get in the same spots to take photographs or fly the same routes to film video. Now two dimensionally, this is pretty easy. You stand in the same spot and point in the same direction. Flying makes this a pain in the butt. How do I find the same spot in the air?

I thought I had a work around when I noticed that I could program the drone to fly a specific route. All I had to do was program the routes. I spent last week making route notes. I have 65 routes I are currently flying at both ends of the bridge and the middle. I have another 60 or so spots to take photographs. But I could do it.

I took both drones with me out Sunday. I've been going weekly to establish the base line for the endeavor.

I burned through one entire battery to record three paths. In order to program the route, you actually have to fly the route. You can't access the program unless the drone is in the air. It's a crap program for what I am doing. And worst of all, you can't make which routes are which. It will be a crapshoot for me to get to the right spot to fly the proper route. What could happen is if I am in the wrong spot for where I am starting, I could conceivably fly the drone through something to get to the proper route. Which would be bad.

But I will continue. I will make this work. Because everyone wants to see a bridge being built through the course of thousands of photographs.

The Viaduct is currently projected to be completed in 2020.

At least there is a Rihanna mural.

[Drunk Monk]

Stay true to your mission!

It's very entertaining.  

[Greg]

Just so you know, Drone pilots are dumb. And since I am a drone pilot...... Quid Erat Demonstratum

I'm out this morning for monthly journey to the Viaduct. I am now flying both of my drones because the number of shots I'm trying to get is stupidly high. I'm having a great time avoiding the High Power lines that line the river. A white flying dot against grey sky into dark line doesn't really give you a lot of depth.

So, flying is tricky. And I'm always up against the battery is dead warning blaring at me from the remote. Basically, when you have about 4 minutes of flight left, the remote starts beeping really loudly telling you to bring the drone home. About a minute after that. you get a message telling you that in ten seconds, the drone will fly itself back to the start point unless you tell it not to fly home. The final thing the drone does is simply lands in a safe spot.

The drone is not the boss of me. I usually put up with the beeping while I try and get just that one last shot. I usually override the plane is going to come back to you automatically procedure. I do this because I usually start to fly home when the remote starts beeping. It's a really irritating noise. I also usually stop for pictures along the way, too, since I'm up there anyway.

Then there was today. I'd already done the fly longer than I should have several times. I'm on the second drone, the one that doesn't fly that well and is easy to lose against the grey sky. You all see where this is going right? Because you are smart. Because you are not drone pilots.

I'm standing in the middle of Clarence St, right next to where they have blocked the road off for Viaduct construction. I've been flying the drone for a while. I've taken all the photographs and videos on the absurdly long list of shots. I have plenty of time left on the battery. Time to go for extra shots.

I can fly the drone a good distance away from my spot on the ground. But I keep an eye on it, since I am surrounded by so many drone killing obstacles.

The drone is probably 3 blocks away from me when the battery low warning beeps start. Whatever. Then I realize I have lost visual on the drone. What I do in the cases of losing the drone is I fly the drone higher so I don't actually run into anything. Also moving the drone up will sometimes allow me to see the drone.

I also look at my monitor to get a sense of where I am. I can point the camera straight down to get landmarks as well. I get nothing. I look at the map on the screen. I see the drone is west of me. I just have to fly the drone east Eventually, I'll hear it and then be able to spot it. That trick has worked in the past. Not this time. I can't see it. I can't hear it.

The remote tells me it will be bringing the drone back to home unless I override it in the next ten seconds. I over ride. I can solve this problem.

I can't solve this problem. I am lost. I don't know where in the vicinity the drone is. I bail out and hit the return to home button. 

By this time, the battery is too drained to return to home. It's option is to just land. The computer takes over full control and starts to descend. I have no idea where it's going to do this, but according to the monitor, it does appear to be landing in some dirt feel. Except I'm in the industrial district of East Los Angeles. We don't have fields.

It lands somewhere. The camera shows an upside own tree on my monitor.

I realize that the map shows where the drone has landed in relation to where I am. Great. Except the gps of the map function is poor. All I can see on the map is a green circle without any street markers. It won't give me the satellite view so I can tell the area. I decide I will drive to where the blue dot says the plan.

The map updates sporadically, so I can't really tell if I'm driving in the right direction or not. No streets are appearing on the map, which would have been a great help. As I drive I get closer to and further away from the blue dot. Sometimes street names appear. But then they disappear. At one point, I thought the plane had come down in the middle of a gated and locked section of public housing. I drove down an alley, I probably should not have.

Panic starts to set in. Somebody is going to find the drone before me and steal it. The remote continues to tell me the battery on the drone is dangerously weak. I won't be getting any signals from it soon.

As I look a the live map on the controller I realize one of the depths of my dumbness. The blue dot I have chased around the industrial streets is actually my own location. The little red arrow is actually the location of the drone. Good job, genius.

I'm back to where I started at Clarence St. Clarence st lies right up against the freeway. It's where the arch is going to span the 101 over to Whittier Blvd. I look at the remote map. It looks like the drone could be right here on the other side of the chain link fence. I climbed the six foot high fence to see if I can do it and to see if I can spot the drone. I then realize, I recognize the tree from the upside down picture on the monitor. The tree lies on the other side of the freeway. A few feet less and I could have parked the drone on the freeway. That would have been swell.

The map on the remote agrees with my conclusion. I take Clarence down to 4th street to cross under the freeway and then take Boyle to Whittier to see about finding the drone. 

It's a mass of confusion on the other side of the freeway. There is no parking because this is where they are building this end of the bridge. I can see my tree but I can't find any place to park. I park next to one car also waiting on the bridge but that was just creepy.

The tree stands right next to the on ramp to the freeway. I decide to drive down the on-ramp to see if there is some way to get back to my tree. I figure I'm about to embark on a freeway journey from which there is no escape.

The drone gods take pity on my. As I drive down the onramp, there is a wide dirt shoulder to the side. When I pull on to it, I immediately see the drone upside down halfway up the hill, lights still flashing. I park, I run up the hill through the old barb wire and dying grass, and get the drone. Miraculously, there doesn't seem to be any damage.



That's my onramp and tree to the right middle. The 101 is the white line running through the middle.

Well, I had certainly learned my lesson. No more flying passed the warnings. No more losing the drone.

Except, I still had one more location to shoot at Santa Fe St on the other side of the river. The drone flew fine. I only flew passed the battery warning a little.

Drone pilots are dumb. And they don't learn.

[Drunk Monk]

At least you won’t be sore tomorrow. 

Or will you?

[Greg]

Sore. On the inside. In the head space.

I did have bloody nose during the shoot if that's any conciliation.

[cranefly]

I did have bloody nose during the shoot if that's any conciliation.

If you didn't film it, it didn't happen.

On the bright side of this ordeal, at least now you know how to locate yourself.

[Drunk Monk]

I did have bloody nose during the shoot if that's any conciliation.

Bleeder

Crash a drone and you can’t hold yer mud.

[cranefly]

BTW, I am very intrigued by this madness.  Keep the drones well-fed, and looking forward to the result.

[Greg]

I'm bringing the madness to a whole other level. I've made a book to guide me through the shots I need to revisit.

[Drunk Monk]

Image fail

A book isn't madness.  A book is cool.  A manifesto is madness.  

You know what's madness?  When your space starts looking like this:

[Greg]

Oddly, I can see the photo in the preview.

Oh! Your'e supposed to use red twin. That's why mine looks odd.

[Drunk Monk]

It works now.  

It's all about the red twine.  

[Greg]

Or I fixed the code.....

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

You need a hobby to get away from your hobby, G-Man.

[The Queen]

He’s got one. It’s called researching real estate in the Oakhurst/Ahwahnee/Mariposa area.