EOY

Here’s my end of year video. It’s a compilation of scenes from my 2015 travels. During the year I visited 16 countries on 5 continents over an 11 month period. This video doesn’t have scenes from every place I filmed, but it does have something from most of them. It was difficult to pick scenes for the video because I had a very productive year. I had literally thousands of good scenes to choose from, but only space for a little over 130 of them in a very fast paced production. There's a fair amount of aerial video sprinkled throughout the film. I hope you enjoy this trip around the world with me. You can see it on this site in the "Aerial" menu or directly on my Vimeo channel at www.vimeo.com/fishtales/mmxv

Rice in the Sky

Another 100% Aerial video filmed with my DJI Inspire 1. I spent a day in the highlands of central Bali filming Rice Terraces. Since Rice needs a shallow water filled paddy to get started, in hilly areas you have to carve the hillside into terraces. This makes the terrain difficult to film from the ground, but a very interesting locale from the air. Rice crops are staggered in Bali, so this video contains everything from fallow fields, newly plowed land, freshly planted paddies, green fields and golden rice ready to harvest. Bali has two seasons. One is hot and wet, the other is hotter and wetter. I'm currently here in the latter, so it's not a great time to be filming weather wise, but I lucked out with a great day that had some blue sky and fluffy clouds. You can see the video here on this site in the Aerial Videos Menu or on my Vimeo Channel at: www.vimeo.com/fishtales/riceterrace

Goin Divin

I just uploaded a video that I did while I was at Lembeh Resort teaching an underwater video workshop. It's called "Goin Divin", but there's no underwater footage in it. As a matter of fact, it's 100% aerial. It is comprised of scenes filmed from the air as the dive boats departed for their morning dives. Also a couple scenes at the end of Lembeh Resort where the workshop was being held. You can see the video here on this site in the Aerial Videos Menu or on my Vimeo Channel at: www.vimeo.com/fishtales/goindivin

Hong Kong Photos

I didn’t shoot too many still photos while in Hong Kong, but I did shoot a few architectural photos late one afternoon. Most of my photography was aerial with the DJI Inspire to check out the new X5 camera upgrade.


I call this one “New Growth, Hong Kong Style”


In this shot, I was riding an escalator trying to get just the right angle while on the move. I also managed to get a jetliner in this image, though I didn’t see it at the time.


In this image, I actually did see the jetliner and caught it on purpose.


The last bit of sun on the sot of the Bank of China building.


These next three images are still frames from DJI Inspire X5 4K video. I could have shot stills at the time, but I was busy flying and filming and sort of spaced out and forgot to shoot some test stills. Next test flight I do, I’ll try to remember to shoot some stills too for comparison.

New Cam

While in Hong Kong, I upgraded the camera on my DJI Inspire to an X5. I did three test flights with it in various parts of Hong Kong. Here’s a photo of that bad boy.

Loy Krathong Cancelled

Well, I had planned on going to Chiang Mai to film the mass release of lanterns that float up into the air. It happens during the Loy Krathong festival. I went a couple years ago and it was very cool. I thought it would be even cooler to shoot it with the Quad from the air. Last year, the airlines complained about it, even though it has been going on for many years without incident. The mass release is nowhere near the airport, but they wanted it cancelled. The local organizers didn’t want to cancel because it brings in a huge number of tourists (which benefits who? The airlines!). So the airlines cancelled dozens of flights to Chiang Mai over the four nights of the festival. Then the local organizers cancelled the mass lantern release. So now there are no flights, no lanterns and no reason for me to go to Chiang Mai right now. I decided to wait until the Flower Festival in February. I’m pretty sure the airlines aren’t anti-flower yet. Instead of Chiang Mai, I decided to go to Hong Kong for three days instead.

Great Ocean Road Video Online

About a month ago, I did a drive along the Great Ocean Road in Southeastern Australia. It is famous for it's spectacular coastal scenery and offshore rocky formations called "stacks". The most famous is an area called The Twelve Apostles. Also in the area is Loch Ard Gorge, The Bay of Martyrs and Bay of Islands. I spent several days in the area, and also some time inland while waiting for the coastal weather to improve. While inland I was able to film some of Australia's iconic wildlife, Kangaroos, Wallabies and Koala Bears. On my last day in the area, the weather cleared enough to fly the DJI Inspire and I managed to get some nice aerial footage of The Bay of Martyrs and The Bay of Islands. Nearly half of the film is aerial. You can see it at: www.vimeo.com/fishtales/greatoceanroad

This is the last video of my New Zealand/Australia trip. Time to go out and shoot some new content!

The Land of the Long White Cloud

I’ve just uploaded a compilation of the four New Zealand Themes. Nothing new, but now it's all merged into one film. It’s titled “Scenes from the Land of the Long White Cloud”. There is quite a bit of aerial footage from my DJI Inspire interspersed throughout the video. I'm officially finished with my New Zealand footage But I'm pretty sure that I will do a slide show in the form of a video from stills that I shot there. You can watch the composite video here: www.vimeo.com/fishtales/longwhitecloud

Going Coastal

I’ve just uploaded the third short film in my New Zealand series. This week, I'm still on a "water" theme, but instead of streams and lakes and waterfalls, we're Going Coastal. Scenes in this film are from the gorgeous coastlines of both the North and South Islands. There's quite a lot of aerial footage filmed with my DJI Inspire. As a matter of fact, the entire opening sequence is aerial from Cathedral Cove on the Coromandel Peninsula on the North Island and the closing sequence is from the Pancake Rocks on the South Island. So nearly half of the film is aerial this week. You can see the film at: www.vimeo.com/fishtales/goingcoastal

New Film Uploaded

I’ve just uploaded the second short film in my New Zealand series. It is titled Water Dance, and true to its name, it is water themed. It’s all about rivers, streams and waterfalls in New Zealand. It’s a mix of footage the North and South Islands. About 20% of the scenes are aerials filmed with my DJI Inspire. The aerials really add a nice alternative point of view to the mix. You can see the film on my Vimeo channel here: www.vimeo.com/fishtales/waterdance

Showtime

OK, it's showtime again. After filming for over 2 months in New Zealand, I'm now hanging out in Bangkok for a month to work on postproduction and organization. This little video is the first of several that I will do with footage from the New Zealand trip. The theme of this episode is Mountains. New Zealand has spectacular mountain scenery. Most of it is from the South Island in the Southern Alps, but there are a few scenes from the North Island too. There are several scenes that I filmed from the air with my DJI Inspire Quadcopter. There are a couple time lapse scenes and even a few still photos in the mix. You can see the film in the “Aerial Films or Travel Films” menus on this website, or view it directly on my Vimeo channel at: https://vimeo.com/fishtales/sky-and-stone I promise a film from this project that is mostly Aerial within the next couple weeks. Hope you enjoy it!

Moonlit Sanctuary

The weather was better today than I expected. It was supposed to be rainy in the AM and then just cloudy in the afternoon. It was, in fact, pretty nasty in the morning, so I dawdled around more than usual. I wanted to go to the Moonlit Sanctuary SE of Melbourne and try to get some Wallaby footage. They have a area with free roaming Kangaroos and Wallabies and since this is my last day in Australia, I thought I’d give it a shot. By the time I arrived there, the wether had actually cleared off and was fairly sunny. I got my Wallabies, a couple Kangaroos and one more dozing Koala Bear. So I’m finished with my Australia filming and tomorrow I’m off to Bangkok for a month to catch up on my postproduction projects.


Another snoozer.


Here’s a Wallaby. They are much smaller than a Kangaroo and tend to live more in forests than out on grassy plains.


Here’s another one foraging for something good to eat.


This is a smaller species of Wallaby. Except for the long tail and the little Joey in the pouch, they look more like Rabbits than Kangaroos.


Here’s a Roo lounging in the sunshine.


This place obviously gets Asian tour groups that have never seen anything but a squat toilet (a hole in the floor). Sometimes they need some special instruction on how to use a toilet. There’s an old joke that is appropriate for this situation:

You know you are in Asia when you see footprints on the toilet seat.
You know you’ve been in Asia a long time when you see footprints on the toilet seat and it doesn’t seem strange.
You know you’ve been in Asia too long when you see footprints on the toilet seat and realize that they are you own.

Phillip Island

I spent the day on Phillip Island, about 2 hours drive SE of Melbourne. The weather today was better than I expected. I had to wait for clouds a couple times, but it wasn’t too bad. I went to a wildlife reserve that has Koala Bears and I managed to get a few good scenes. They have a boardwalk that is up off the ground a bit, not really very high, but it lets you get a little closer to some of the Koalas. They spend 20 hours a day sleeping, so once you find one, its not going to run away. Most of the Koalas I filmed today were, in fact, snoozing.

I also spent some time out at the SW tip of Phillip Island where there are interesting rock formations and a lot of nesting sea birds.


Sound Asleep!


He doesn’t seem worried about rolling off the limb he’s napping on.


This guy looked like he had a bad night.


Ah, here’s one awake. He looks drowsy though.


This one ate a couple Eucalyptus leaves, then promptly went back to sleep


This is at the SW tip of Phillip Island.


These rock formations are called “The Nobbies”


There are lots of little Succulents blooming this time of year (springtime in Australia).


Several hundred sea birds make their nests in the Succulents.


I think these birds that were flying in formation over the point are Ibis. At least they have a long thin curved beaks like the Ibis do.

Great Ocean Road (Again)

I spent the day filming on Great Ocean Road again. This time, I was doing mostly aerials. Today was supposed to be a sun break in the cloudy weather and though it didn’t start shining as early as it was supposed to, and didn’t really clear off as much as they said it would, it was adequate until about 1:00 PM when the high overcast took over. I went back to the places that I scouted as possible aerial locations. I also stopped at a couple other places that I saw on a satellite image. There are quite a few small dirt roads leading off the main highway, and none of them are marked in any way. Some are access points for surfers, others for hiking trails. Several of them were good places to fly. By 1:00 when the sunlight finally crapped out I had finished all four of my batteries and have a little over 50 scenes. So I would call the day a success. I also shot a few stills under lighting conditions that I didn’t have on my first pass through here.


Here’s “The Arch” with some afternoon light. I also shot it this morning, but I like this time of day better.


This arch in the Bay of Islands is in a better orientation for morning light.


Here’s an evening shot looking East from one of the Bay of Islands viewpoints.


Some Sea Stacks at sunset.


Here’s a “Dronie” that I inadvertently shot of myself while I was finishing up a pass. That little viewing platform makes a nice landing pad. Tour buses don’t stop here, so it is not very crowded.

Tower Hill

Today was mostly cloudy and not very conducive to scenic photography. It was supposed to start clearing off around noon, but it was still 95% cloud cover by then. I went to the Tower Hill state park to see if I could get a little bit more wildlife. The park is located in an ancient volcanic crater and has several small lakes inside. It is supposed to be a good place to see the Emu, a large flightless bird. I did see several there and got footage of individuals, pairs and a small flock. I also saw one Koala Bear there, but it was not possible to film it as it was obscured high up a tree and the background was bright white cloudy sky.


A small group of Emus. They are a little smaller than an Ostrich. The females leave as soon as they have laid their eggs and the male incubates them and raises the chicks.


This is one of the little crater lakes at Tower Hill.

The Grampians

I spent the day in The Grampians National Park. It is a mountainous park, at least by Australian standards. Australia is relatively flat so any hump gets called a mountain. I visited several of the park’s signature attractions including Mackenzie Falls, The Balconies, Venus Baths and the Fyans Creek trail. A highlight of the day for me was filming Kangaroos at Fyans Creek. I saw a total of about 20. Some were feeding, some were lounging around in the grass, a couple of mothers had baby Joeys in their pouches. This is my third time to Australia, but the first time I’ve seen wild Kangaroos (except road kill). In all honesty, I have to admit that the first time I was diving and t he second time I was just in Sydney which isn’t know for having much of a population of wild Kangaroos (except on gold courses, but I don’t play golf). I got some fairly good footage today, so I now have the two iconic Australian animals, Koalas and Kangaroos.


These pools are called the “Venus Baths”. I didn’t see any goddesses or nymphs.


This is Mackenzie Falls.


On the way back up from a strenuous climb down to Mackenzie falls, you encounter this sign where they are doing some maintenance on the trail. It looks like something they would have for highway construction, not hiking trail work. I had to laugh because everyone who passes this is huffing and puffing and I guarantee they are all prepared to stop.


This rock formation is called “The Balconies” You used to be able to climb out on the tip of the lower balcony, but they have blocked it off. I suppose too many people were falling off while attempting a selfie.


When standing, this guy was about as tall as me.


I’m wondering how the Kangaroos know when they have traveled the 64 kilometers. I didn’t see any on the road in either direction so I can only assume that they don’t read too well.

Princess Margaret Rose Cave

Today was forecast to be rainy, and it was. Following my pattern of using rainy days to shoot where it doesn’t matter what the weather is, I decided on the Princess Margaret Rose Cave in Lower Glenelg National Park. It actually stopped raining when I got a sufficient distance from Portland (makes sense to me). It wasn’t raining in the cave at all. After the cave, I did a fairly long drive to The Grampians National Park. It was clearing off as I arrived late in the afternoon, and tomorrow is supposed to be nice.


The Princess Margaret Rose Cave has some spectacularly detailed formations.


It has some of the longest Stalactites I’ve see on this trip.


There’s lots of interesting flowstone formations too.


Here’s a “Chandelier” of tiny Stalactites called straws. They are hollow and form from the inside out.

Portland (Australia)

Well, I’m spending the night in Portland. No, I haven’t found a way to teleport myself back to Oregon. I’m in Portland, Victoria, Australia. This is the oldest city in Victoria, first settled in 1835 which pre-dates Portland Oregon’s incorporation by 16 years. I drove up here from Port Campbell along the Great Ocean Road. It was a cloudy day with only a few sun breaks, so I didn’t do too much shooting. I did do some scouting of locations that I will shoot on the way back down when the weather will, hopefully, be more photogenic. One positive note is that I’ve found some places that I can do my coastal aerials that aren’t packed with Chinese Tour Buses. There are actually more Sea Stacks up in the area above Port Campbell than there are at the 12 Apostles, but they aren’t quite as tall. That just means that I’ll have to fly a little lower for the same effect.


This is called the Arch.


This is London Bridge. It used to be two arches, but a few years ago the left arch connecting to the mainland collapsed.


This is called The Grotto.


As I mentioned, there were clouds today.


These strange flowers are almost black with bright lime green centers.


Welcome to Portland. You can see overcast sky in the background. At least they got that right.