Monomad: A failed day in drone photography

I have been scouting areas to capture with my drone almost daily at this point, constantly searching for new and unique subjects to capture. This is out of my own interest, as well as seeing how so many people in Tbilisi tend to just fixate on the Old Tbilisi side of things, where all of the tourism is. There's a hydro power station that appears to have been built in the Soviet era of the city's past, which I figured would be a really cool thing to check out. I saw it on the map, looked at how to get there, and then planned a day to visit it; I even had the exact shots I wanted already in mind. Though there's one thing I hadn't considered that made this hour-long trip to the station a total waste of time: wind, again. The wind was so strong today, and in this area in particular, that my drone just was not enjoying the flight one bit, and neither was I as a result. I couldn't fly the drone that high up due to the wind, and the trees surrounding me. I wanted a hidden area to take off and land from, and usually that's fine, but the wind was too strong for me to casually fly the drone back without risk of clipping something with a gust of wind and having the drone fall into the river that runs through Tbilisi, to which there's no getting it back from there.

Old and roughed-up looking men stood by the side fishing, a group of odd men with a van that they all seemingly came from despite there looking like there's more men than the van could handle were standing outside drinking and eating things together. Old industrial rustic looking areas with little life around. Most nature devoured by litter in the form of general dumping of shit or just plastic, as always. Even in the main part of the station, it was pooling plastic bottles together in some depressing fashion.

I don't think the wind was a result of the power station itself. The area just seemed quite strong in winds, kind of normal for a river. And recently the wind has been picking up in the city alongside hotter days. I tried to fly over the water with the drone, keeping things safe and also trying to be fast. The drone would be pulled downward towards the water with me needing to constantly push up on the altitude stick. Even idle, the wind would be pulling it downward to the point where I just knew I had to keep the drone somewhat high up. The battery was already screaming at how difficult it was over the water. Instantly decreasing the flight duration from 26 minutes to 12. I shot as much as I could, a few attempts at different perspectives and movements with the camera, but it just didn't turn out well at all. Totally different to what I wanted to capture: one shot was intending to shoot the station entirely from above. Also a still shot that captured the flow of water beneath. But that just wasn't happening. Any height was met with stronger winds. And birds that looked ready to swoop down and take not only the drone but me with it. I was eyeing up the few in the area, noticing how they flew in circles new the drone, certainly curious as to what it was. I knew that the worst thing to do was keep the drone still over water in this instance. I wouldn't have time to get it back, nor could I physically scare of the gigantic birds that I'm sure would've gone for the drone at any moment.

This also spooked me a bit more given I was flying over water with strong winds that pulled the drone down. I felt like I was battling the water beneath and the threats above. What more could I do in such a scenario? It was disappointing given how long it took to get to the area, and I managed to come back with nothing that I intended, nothing I could really use in the video side of things.

I walked around the city afterward almost in a state of cope as I searched for some other subject to shoot with the rest of the batteries. But the sun was so stupidly strong, and the tourism in the city today was so dense that I just felt void of potential. No places in which I felt shooting near due to the threat of bothering others or accidentally breaking some rules. That said, it was an interesting experiment into shooting something more industrial. It's what I want to start doing and I guess this was a lesson into things I should consider and prepare for next time. This time it was less about the people around me, that didn't bother me one bit. Instead it was the natural events taking place around me. The things I really hadn't thought of being a problem in comparison to the usual thoughts: flight paths, police, people, or even businesses. I do intend to go back there and capture it properly some day. Perhaps I'll need to be cautious enough with the weather and find days in which there's almost no wind. I've seen others fly drones in this area and over the river, to which it was done with no problems whatsoever. Perhaps it's also my drone being a little thing, weighing next to nothing.

Another thought came to mind that perhaps a heavier drone would've handled the wind a bit better. Those huge Mavics tend to look like they're capable of dealing with anything that is thrown at them.

At least the view was kinda nice, I guess.