Thursday, April 18, 2019

Making new friends in Arizona!

Last night we were invited by friends Craig and Shirley to meet Shirley's sister and brother in law (Mike & Sue) at their beautiful ranch here in Gold Canyon.  Chuck the Camera-Drone was brought along to help document the occasion and to do a bit of aerial photography of some of the grounds around the ranch.  Beautiful and majestic cactus dot the land while Horses in the stable complete the picture of a real western ranch.  Mike is a pilot and has his own plane hangered at the ranch and a short dirt runway just "out back"..  Truly neat people to meet and spend time with and we hope to see them again when we return in the fall...


Superstition Mountains to the north of the ranch make a beautiful backdrop!

















































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That's the Runway behind the hanger...



















A Red-Tail Hawk perched on top of an Old Man Saguaro - Watching our drone Chuck carefully...  We were more than 100' away and would not fly any closer as we don't want to upset the inhabitants of the desert.














Old man Saguaro watching as the sun sets on the horizon....


Finally - a 180 degree panorama....

We hope you liked this update!

Tuesday, March 26, 2019

Skywatching with Randy & Chuck March 10-20, 2019

If you're seeing this post on Facebook, please click on the text box or first photo to see the rest on our blog.

As you may know - Chuck the Camera-Drone and I "fly the sunset" just about every night that we're able.  Not all nights is this possible due to weather. Chuck isn't waterproof so flying in the rain or fog is not a good idea (even if some people are posting videos that do just that).

Below are some of the hundreds of photos we've taken recently..  I'll post the date below each picture.  All pictures were taken in Gold Canyon Arizona in our "back yard" of the Arizonian RV Resort.

When the colors show up in various frames, but individually are just not representative of the sky, I will do a stitched panorama. Sometimes 180 degrees or 360 degrees.  Blogger just shows these photos as a very condensed and W-I-D-E photo. Facebook will allow you to use your mouse or tilt/move your tablet to change your point of view.

Pictures were taken with a DJI Mavic 2 Zoom drone "Chuck". Post processing via Microsoft Photos to adjust exposure, contrast & sharpness.  In other words, I don't add color that was not already there or "Photoshop" results. What you see is what I took a photograph of although it may be cropped or adjusted as already mentioned..


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3/10/2019 - Clear day with light breezes - the last day without rain in the forecast for the next 3-4 days.  We flew the sunset and caught a few sights worthy of photographing..


3/10/2019 - The Arizonian RV Resort - just about at full capacity! That squiggle at the bottom of your screen is the RC Car Racetrack.


3/10/2019 - Wispy clouds lighting up are quite pretty. So peaceful up here at 400'


3/10/2019 - Back down close to the ground, the Cholla are so bright from the recent rains. Quite beautiful!


3/10/2019 - Superstition mountain. This mountain is north of the park, so you are viewing the southern face.


3/10/2019 - Jake's Cactus reaching for the moon!


3/10/2019 - Jake's Cactus (Saguaro) during the afternoon.


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3/12/2019 - Rainy day and windy - Not a great day for much of anything, but we had a gap in the rain and I thought I could get Chuck out there to take some pictures of the clouds..  I flew him toward the Superstition mountain and suddenly, my screen started to not look very good.  RAIN! Chuck is not waterproof, so I high-tailed it back to my launch point and landed. Chuck spent the rest of the night recuperating on a towel.  He checked out fine the next day.


3/12/2019


3/12/2019 360 panorama


3/12/2019


3/12/2019


3/12/2019

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3/14/2019 - Clear day and windy - Not a great day for sunsets, but having just been through a good rain, the air is clean and the haze on the mountains is light.


3/14/2019 - Superstition Mountain


3/14/2019 - Jake's Saguaro Cactus


3/14/2019 - Jake's Saguaro Cactus


3/14/2019 - Jake's Saguaro and a host of Prickly Pear, Cholla, Hedge-Hog and Stag-Horn cactus


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3/19/2019 - Clear day and windy - Not much up there for clouds or haze at sunset, but dusk brought on some nice light and color.


3/19/2019 - pretty much the only clouds in this sunset


3/19/2019 - as night creeps in from the east.


3/19/2019


3/19/2019 - Old Friends. The ancient Palo Verde tree stands guard over the stump of his once majestic Saguaro neighbor. Our time here is almost done.


3/19/2019 - 180 Panorama at dusk

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3/20/2019 - Overcast day and windy - Interesting cloud formations with striations of light and color.


3/20/2019


3/20/2019






3/20/2019 - 180 Panorama


3/20/2019 - 360 Panorama


Saturday, March 9, 2019

Skywatching with Randy & Chuck March 3-9, 2019

If you're seeing this post on Facebook, please click on the text box or first photo to see the rest on our blog.
Chuck the Camera-Drone and I "fly the sunset" just about every night that we're able.  Some nights, it looks like the clouds are too thick for the sun to peek through. Then suddenly - God surprises us with a glorious painted sky and lit-up mountains and cactus..
Below are some of the hundreds of photos we've taken recently..  I'll post the date below each picture.  All pictures were taken in Gold Canyon Arizona in our "back yard" of the Arizonian RV Resort.
Note: You may notice some photographs of a Saguaro Cactus that resembles a hand and I notate it as Jake's Cactus.  Jake was our son who passed away suddenly 3 days after his 34th birthday on 3-7-2017.  I dedicated the image of this cactus to his memory.
Pictures were taken with a DJI Mavic 2 Zoom drone "Chuck". Post processing via Microsoft Photos to adjust exposure, contrast & sharpness.  In other words, I don't add color that was not already there or "photoshop" results. What you see is what I took a photograph of.



"CHUCK" - Coming home from a mission


Randy & Darlene - Chuck's Pilot and Co-Pilot

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March 3, 2019

March 3, 2019

March 3, 2019

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March 5, 2019

March 5, 2019

March 5, 2019 - Little Mountain & Knife Mountain in foreground. 400' 



March 6, 2019 - Superstition Mountain



March 6, 2019


March 6, 2019


March 6, 2019


March 6, 2019 Panorama 180 (is it this one or the next one that's nicer?)


March 6, 2019 Panorama 180 (so hard to pic a favorite!)

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March 7, 2019


March 7, 2019 - Jake's Cactus


March 7, 2019 - Jake's Cactus


March 7, 2019 - Jake's Cactus


March 7, 2019 - Jake's Cactus - Panorama 180


March 7, 2019 - Panorama 360 @ 400'


March 7, 2019 - Arizonian RV Resort from 400'


March 7, 2019 - Arizonian RV Resort from 400'

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March 9, 2019 - Jake's Cactus - Panorama 180

March 9, 2019 - Jake's Cactus