Porsche Road Trip

Pie

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Today I gatecrashed a Porsche road trip - but only because dad mentioned he was going and I thought I might tag along and try get some aerial footage.

So, lot of learnings for anyone wanting to try something similar:

1. Do your homework beforehand on where you want to stand and shoot - Google Streetview is your friend!
There were plenty road sections I could think of in my head as its the same road I ride my motorbike (The route was shared in the Porsche forum on the run up to the event) but it wasn't till I Street-viewed the route that I discovered just how many power pylons, trees etc we have in the countryside of Scotland. As I needed to fly Solo at speed this would allow very little margin for error if there were obstacles in the way.

2. Plan for the weather. Totally slipped my mind that one of my shots would be in the highlands.... in winter. Gloves would have been helpful on this occasion.

3. Your contact should be your main focus for your shots as you have more control of him (or her). In this case I got a few takes with dad before meeting the larger group so we stopped somewhere and bagged a few shots of him driving back and forth along the same stretch a number of times (these are the first and last scenes in the vid where the sun is out and lots of lovely punchy colours)

4. When Petrolheads see a camera or video pointed at them, their natural reaction is to drop a gear and put their foot down. Yes it all sounds lovely and acceleration is impressive but for shooting with a drone and a DLSR it makes my life a lot harder! Give your subjects a heads up on where to expect to see you and perhaps slow the pace slightly to accommodate. But yeah, try telling a group of Porsche drivers to slow down on a Highland mountain pass!

5. Get to your spot and set up a good 15-20 minutes before the group pass by. I was there, set up, got GPS lock. Did a quick test flight with the 25% used battery from earler to confirm wind conditions in the air was acceptable then landed and changed to a fresh battery but kept everything off to preserve power.
Dad phoned when he was 10 minutes away so I could prepare for the group arrival. What I didn't realise was he was actually lagging from the main group so when I seen them in the horizon heading up the hill I had to rush getting everything fired up again.
Only just got GPS lock and in the air as the first couple of cars drove by so I didn't really get the big spectacular, parralel panning shot I had planned for.
This was a one chance shot as there was no way I could ask 15+ Porsche owners (all of whom I had never met) to do a U turn and try again!
There was also no chance of landing, catching up and getting far enough in front to bag another shot.

Other than that I now have a few ideas on how to improve next time and focus on one subject rather than a group.
The most obvious thing you can see in the middle scenes is the complete lack colour - due to it being so overcast and half snow covered in the hills; its a far better place to shoot in the summer.

Anyway, here's the vid:

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Nicely done. I'll be doing lots of car rallies - thanks for the tips.
 
That by far is one of the coolest videos I have seen. Nicely done! Looks like it was a blast!
 

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