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Posts Tagged ‘Steinmetz’

Case dismissed against George Steinmetz, whose drone was confiscated for documenting mass burials

18 Aug

Back in April, an award-winning National Geographic and New York Times photographer, George Steinmetz, had his DJI Phantom 4 Pro drone confiscated by the New York Police Department (NYPD) while documenting mass COVID-19 burials on Hart Island. Steinmetz was issued a desk ticket for violating NYC Administrative Code § 10–126, which prohibits the takeoff and landing of drones within New York City.

A preliminary hearing was scheduled for early August. During that time, the NYPD held onto Steinmetz’ Phantom 4 Pro as ‘evidence.’ After an unsuccessful attempt to get it back, he went on to purchase two DJI Mavic 2 Pro drones. ‘I need to get back to work,’ Steinmetz explained. ‘The Mavic 2 Pro is in a real sweet spot for me. I prefer the optics and files from the big bird, the Inspire 2 with the X7 gimbal. But the Mav 2 flies really well, has a decent file…the compactness is quite revolutionary.’

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Preparing for burials of what appear to be more COVID-19 victims this morning on Hart Island, New York City. For over 150 years this island with no public access has been used to bury over a million souls who’s bodies were not claimed for private burial. With the morgues of NYC strained, the pace of burials on Hart Island has increased dramatically. I was cited by NYPD while taking this photo, and my drone was confiscated as evidence, for a court date tentatively scheduled for mid-August. #keepthememorycard

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Steinmetz’ story has a happy ending, after all. ‘My case was spontaneously dismissed last week [the week of August 7th, 2020], so I went down to the Bronx Police HQ on Wednesday and recovered it. During the time it was confiscated I had to buy a replacement to keep working, and don’t know if I will pursue any further legal action,’ he tells DPReview.

We will keep you updated if any new developments come about.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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NatGeo’s George Steinmetz on capturing Africa ‘from a flying lawn chair’

03 Feb

During a new 10-minute TED Talk, famed National Geographic aerial photographer George Steinmetz talks about his experiences photographing Africa while flying around in a motorized paraglider. This vantage point gives Steinmetz a unique look at the world below, including its various cultures and landscapes.

The motorized paraglider is composed of a wing in the style of a parachute and a backpack motor, holding 10 liters of fuel and offering a speed up to 30MPH / 48KPH. Steinmetz explains that he gets a flight time of about two hours, during which he gets an “unobstructed view both horizontally and vertically.”

“It dawned on me that this crazy little aircraft I was flying would open up a new way of seeing remote parts of the African landscape in a way that had never really been possible before,” Steinmetz explains in the video, pointing out that a typical airplane moves too fast for this type of photography, and a helicopter is too loud with too much downdraft.

He goes on to introduce a video of how the paraglider works before highlighting some of the most striking aerial footage and photos taken from it.

For most of us, a drone presents photographers with the closest we can get to Steinmetz style of capture, but that’s still not quite the same as a paraglider. As Steinmetz explains in the video, the motorized paraglider’s long flight time and capabilities makes it possible to not just photograph the immediate landscape, but explore the wider world around it.

Check out the full video above for a dose of Friday inspiration.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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