Cleared for Takeoff

Mar 17

*Adding context to a location is easy with a drone. Here, Philadelphia’s Center City lies just beyond Tower Place Apartments.*

There’s no better way to showcase a new addition to a building, provide geographic context to a location, or simply add a little drama by way of twilight. Drone photography is an essential part of our process here at Benson Photo, and because drones can be dangerous when flown by inexperienced pilots, shooting safely is just as important to us as the finished images.

*Drones are a great way to capture an overview of a large site, such as this mixed-use development in southern New Jersey, shot from 400 feet above ground.*

Both Paul and I are FAA-certified remote pilots, meaning that we have legal permission to operate drones for commercial purposes. After passing the initial exam, we have continued to renew our certificates regularly to keep our knowledge up to date.

*Team Benson is ready to take on drone flying and ground shots at this construction site.*

As certified pilots, we must abide by strict safety regulations when operating drones. We must take into account the weather, local airspace regulations, and other potential obstacles that may interfere with our shoots. Small drones can’t fly against winds over 20 mph, so we can only shoot when the conditions are just right.

*Not every drone view has to be from high up. Hovering over a water feature enabled this twilight view of a suburban office building.*

Being certified allows us to legally fly in places inaccessible to an amateur with a box-store drone. Short of Air Force One landing next to your shoot site, we can find a way to fly there, given enough lead time. We’ve also kept up with technological improvements: switching from the DJI Phantom to Autel Robotics drones has given us more access to fly in places where we were previously limited by geofencing.