18 DIGITAL CAMERA^ SEPTEMBER 2019 http://www.digitalcameraworld.com
Remember: you
can’t just fly
anywhere...Sean recommends taking time to
educate yourself. “I took a couple of
online courses related to flying as well as
aerial photography, plus ensured I was familiar with the
aviation rules for drones in the countries where I fly. Take a
sensible approach. I use the CAA’s Drone Safe app to check
for hazards before I get the drone out of its case and, if it’s
deemed safe, to publish my flight plan on the CAA system.
Drone flyers must exercise self control or we’ll end up not
allowed to use them. The photography bit comes easily;
it’s the safe behaviours that need more consideration.”Correction
In our June issue (217), instead of showcasing the winning
image of our Landshape Facebook challenge (Project 10)
taken by the talented Sean Goodhart, we repeated the
previous issue’s winning shot (Becca Fulcher’s duckling,
for Signs of Spring). Apologies to Sean for this oversight,
which was a production workflow error. So here is Sean’s
amazing Landshape winning image for everyone to enjoy.ean Goodhart (keen
amateur photographer
and an associate of the
RPS) is somewhat of an
expert when it comes to
photographing the ground from above.
In his series ‘Scratching the Surface’,
Sean explores the human imprint and
our effect on the surface of the planet,
looking for interesting shapes, tones,
patterns, colours and textures. Sean’s
images provide visually interesting
photographs to look at, but also create
a discussion point about how we
impact the earth. “I like to find unusual
viewpoints of familiar views,” he says.
“It brings me a lot of satisfaction. The
images in this project are all top down,
but I’m also making a lot of landscape
pictures with a new dimension because
of the ability to get higher.”
Sean loves the kit that comes with a
photographic hobby and has had many
analogue and digital cameras in his
collection spanning back to as early
as the 1980s. In 2018 as a Christmas
present to himself, Sean invested in
a DJI Mavic 2 Pro drone. “I’ve been
visualising this project for a couple of
years but waiting to buy the requisitetool once the technology price versus
performance got sensible. The camera
on the 2 Pro is capable of proper
manual control, plus has a lot of
megapixels. It also packs up fairly
small for travelling, which is something
I do a lot of in my line work as an
engineer in the energy industry.”
As well as mastering drone
technology and flight techniques,
Sean also takes the safety aspects that
comes with flying a drone seriously.
However, even when you take all the
necessary precautions you can
sometimes be caught out, as Sean
was on one shoot. “I had checked the
location was safe, published my flight
to the CAA system with the Drone Safe
app and was happily making my images
until a low-flying stunt aeroplane came
over the brow of a nearby hill... heading
straight at my Mavic! It flew straight
over the drone and then proceeded
to do two loop-the-loops in the fields
to the right of my image. I’m sure the
separation between drone and the little
aircraft was probably a lot more than
it looked... but my heart was in my
mouth for a few seconds!”
seangoodhart.myportfolio.comBird’s eye view
Sean Goodhart shares his tips and latest
images from his ongoing personal project2 | AERIALSean GoodhartS