In 2018, we quit our jobs in NYC, sold a 1 bedroom condo in NJ, and said, “See You Later,” to New York! After visiting several countries in South and Central America, and Hawaii, we arrived in Indonesia. We spend thirty days in Bali, before making a "visa run" to Malaysia and Singapore. We returned to Indonesia to explore Java and additional islands. In Java, we woke up at 02:00, and took a 1.5 hour van ride to the Bromo Crater, before completing the 1.5 hour dusty, dirty and difficult hike to the scenic overlook.
Arriving just before 05:00 meant that almost all of the good photography spots were taken, as we had a mere 20 minutes before sunrise. Luckily, I was able to jump on top of a concrete planter large enough to hold the tripod, and tall enough to shoot over the heads of fellow travelers. We worked quickly to get the DJI Mavic 1 Pro into the air so that Emille could capture aerial photos and videos from unique perspectives, while I captured still photos and videos with the Sony a7rii on the tripod.
The strategy worked brilliantly, as Emille was able to capture breathtaking shots like this, while keeping the drone clear of photographers' lines of sight. We have repeated this dynamic several times since then with great success, and will share our best results with B&H and their fans worldwide. We shoot in RAW, and do some editing in Lightroom to ensure that our photos look “framable.”