STEPHENVILLE, N.L. — Bailey Parsons got his start with photography by travelling to new places.
“I’d want to capture what I’d seen and show it to everyone else.”
The Stephenville man has been in the photography business for about seven years and specializes in drone landscape photography and weddings and portraits.
While he uses traditional cameras when shooting the latter, it’s the drone photography that’s become his favourite.
“It’s pretty unique. It’s not something everyone does.”
So, with not many people shooting with drones yet, Parsons said it kind of gives him an advantage as a photographer. It also gives him the option of taking his photography to different places, many that people would not be able to see unless they were in a helicopter.
He’s taken many photos around Newfoundland and Labrador and has also taken drone shots in Alberta, Vancouver, Italy and the Bahamas.
“It’s not views of the landscape that you’re used to,” he said.
Parsons shoots his photos, which are available for sale through his Parsons Photography Facebook page, with either a DJI Phantom 4 Pro and DJI Maverick Air. The image settings can be controlled the same as a traditional camera and the drone remote plugs into a cellphone so he can see everything in real-time.
As long as he’s shooting out in the wilderness — not around people or buildings — Parsons said the regulations are fairly loose. Drones can’t be used around airports or anywhere aircraft fly.
Parsons was recently named the grand prize winner in the 2020 Provincial Parks Photo Contest for an image he took with one of his drones in 2018.
An aerial view of the rolling sand dunes and beaches at Sandbanks Provincial Park in Burgeo was selected from among the 300 entries received in the contest to win seven nights of camping during the 2020 season.
He may have to wait a bit to enjoy his prize because the opening of the province’s parks has been delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Using a drone to record video and sometimes photos for tourism promotion is something John McKinnon does regularly as the co-owner/operator of PB Productions, a digital film production company in Corner Brook.
McKinnon said the use of drones in his business, and by the general public, is evolving. In the ’90s and into the 2000s film production would require the use of helicopters to get aerial images.
“But now anybody can buy a drone and go up and fly and be able to capture this amazing scenery.”
McKinnon said in the tourism industry drone video and photography has really opened the world to let people, whether they live here or they want to visit the province, see the miraculous landscapes that are in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Whether that’s flying over an iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean, capturing landscape over Quirpon Island, or whales in the ocean, he said it allows tourists and even local residents to see what’s here.
“In that point of view, I think (drones are) invaluable to the tourism industry.
“It’s a whole new perspective to where you are, what town you’re in, what the landscape is. The whole aerial perspective is something the average person has never really been able to really do before.”
Twitter: WS_DianeCrocker
Other winners:
Joanne Lodge — Camping category, Image of a campfire at night taken at Notre Dame Provincial Park
Jeanmarie Stuckless — Flora and fauna category, image of the Picture Plant taken at Sandbanks Provincial Park
Pamela Moore — Friends and family category, an image of two children playing in the water at Lockston Path Provincial Park
Susan Park — Outdoor adventure recreation, fishing at Dildo Run Provincial Park
Meghan Carew — Trails, climbing the stairs at Butter Pot Provincial Park
View the winning photos
The photos have been posted to the Department of Tourism, Culture, Industry and Innovation Twitter page, and the new park's website http://www.parksnl.ca/.
