My DJI Mavic Air 2 Drone / April 2020 / The Beginning of Covid

“and those two small sensors on the front of the drone: like two small black eyes”

Red Clay / Freddie Hubbard

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So good to get the Mavic up and running again. But hard not to compare this “toy” revival to getting my Fighting Tiger gas powered airplane of the 50s up and running. You held it on a nylon cord and it simply went around and around you just controlling its upward and downward movements. Until you got dizze and had to bring it down. Or you crashed it. But it was a lot easier than the Mavic to fix. Usually, more gas in the engine was all that was needed and this could be done in a few minutes.

The problem for DJI was the problem of any large, successful, Chinese company operating in the U.S. There were constant instances of spying alleged and uncovered. And besides, the world was moving more and more towards a drone technology in many ways. Certainly for the military and waging wars. Just a few months ago, the great drone company Anduril that contracts with the military recently built a huge plant in Columbus, Ohio. The Arteil drones look to put the U.S. in the lead for creating drones. Something that Ukraine has excelled at. The Iran is demonstrating. Not only is it an accuracy and effectiveness factor, but a cost factor. That is drones usually cost 1/100th the cost of the missile that wipes it out. One might win a war today with missles but there is no winning the economic battle against drone users. Of course this applies to building aircraft carriers where the economic ratio is in the millions. That’s why the world is going to become more drone oriented.

DJI Headquarters / Sky City in Nanshan, Shenahen, Guangdong, China

It was that weird time in April of 2020 – at the begining of the pandemic – that I got the DJI Mavic Air 2. The personal drone phenomena was taking off at the time and you could see them hovering over things like sporting events and various celebrations. It was amazing to see things from this new perspective. A personal perspective of above ground that any drone user could share. TV commercials, movies, web ads, everyone began employing drone shots in their content. I became more and more interested in drones. Not from just the perspective of fun but also creativity like films, photography and storytelling.

Around this time I saw some amazing videos of FPV drones controlled by special goggles. Some of the most amazing footage I’ve ever seen. Before the age of all the AI fakes of today.

But the FPV drones seemed too much for me at the time. I just wanted to see if I could fly it. Like I flown all the model airplanes. Many on nylon strings and some over wireless. It had been years since I had a model airplane. I read all the reviews and it seemed the Chinese company DJI had close to a monopoly on the global recreational drone market. Most of their leading drones were in the Mavic product line. I decided to get the Mavic Air 2.

Raring to Go After All Passwords Were Entered and Confirmed

The Pandemic had been officially declared a few weeks before I received the Mavic. The day it came was something like those Christmases of childhoods. Or at least the “happiest” of all days. But these childhoods were so distant now their shapes could only be seen vaguely like looking at someone through a wine glass.

Everyone has their memory (or forgetfulness) about the whole Pandemic episode in all our lives. Once I got over the excitment of receiving the Mavic Air 2 and then went through the “fun” of connecting up everything with the Chinese DJI. This became easier said than done and I got frustrated. I wanted it to start up like those old gasoline model engine jets created after some heroic plane of the Air Force brightly painted I used to fly.

“their shapes could only vaguely be seen like looking at someone through a wine glass” / Photo by John Fraim

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I finally got connected in the DJI app. And started the drone up on the floor of our living room. (My wife was very excited about this) But the drone was amazingly easy to control. Just so you didn’t over-react with the little joysticks on the controller. Always just nudge them just a little.

After starting it up in the house I excitedly took the Mavic out to test fly and practice with. I figured the soccer field at the nearby high school was the best place. A nearby park was another good place to fly it. I went up to the soccer field. It was late afternoon and the kids were out of school. The April air was crispt, the sky a cloudless blue.

Late afternoon was not too far away from the time photographers call the “magic hour” for photography. A changing time in the early morning and evening when the rising or setting sun provides the most direct sunlight straight at the objects of the world (like a powerful movie spotlight). The other times of the day this “spotlight” sun is never on this direct straight line to objects but always is a light at some particular degree about the objects of the world.

I learned about the “magic hour” and photography from my father, an avid photographer. He had some great cameras of the times like Leica and Hasselbald. He gave me his used photography magazines. Dad subscribed to a number of them. All of this ties into a key purpose I wanted in a drone, a good still camera. It was stated and advertised the Mavic Air 2 had the ability to take 48 megapixel High Dynamic Range (HDR) photos. I thought this was an amazing claim for a drone camera. But I had 30 days to return it since I bought it from Amazon. I figured I didn’t hav much to lose. Unless I lost the drone.

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I found a spot in the empty parking lot and got the Mavic out of the car. I attached my phone to the controller and turned the drone and controller on. Then I opened the DJI app and brought the Mavic to life with flashing lights on its four propellar legs. It was very different looking from toys of my distant childhood. But then, today’s technology was distant from this childhood past. And so were its modern version of toys. In the area of photography. I was constantly exploring light and learning about its techniques. Much of the photos taken at this time are posted on this website. (Remind me to later post the links)

Yet the Mavic Air 2 outwardly appeared as brash and confrontative. Cars all have distinctive front grills. I’m sure that the frot “grill appearance” for the Air 2 was thought out by marketing and engineering. On the front of the Mavic Air 2, two small black sensors like two little eyes. Looking back at you with the air of defiance. (Judge for yourself by the two photos of the Air 2 posted above) It wasn’t meant to be a friendly toy. Yet the more I flew it the more impressed I was with the DJI system.

And the HDR photos from that day at the soccer field turned out amazingly good. Late afternoon and I took it back and forth over the high school and then to nearby downtown and then back home. I processed all the photos and videos from the first day and they all are – both videos and photos – far beyond my expectations.

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I had a new partner in exploring images and new perspectives for seeing the world. It reminded me of those distant childhood memories when I had childhood buddies who set out to explore the world with me. Now the Air 2 was this new “buddy” to help explore the world with me.

Looking back – with the wisdom that looking back always brings – reminds mr of a well-known quote from the famous German philosopher George Hegel.

“When philosophy paints its grey in grey, then has a shape of life grown old. By philosophy’s grey on grey, it cannot be rejuvenated but only understood. The owl of Minerva spreads its wings with the falling of the dusk.” G.W.F. Hegel, Philosopy of Right

As scholars note, Minerva is often depicted with her sacred creature, an owl usually named the “owl of Minerva” symbolizing her association with wisdom and knowledge. Wisdom is awakened or “spreads its wings” at the end of the day. The is the time of day known as dusk, the period of twilight in the evening that occurs just before nightfall. Daylight has almost completely faded and the sun is below the horizon. It marks the end of the day. Or a period of time for a person or a civilization.

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Something was new about the time. It was the last year of the Trump presidency. A new panic gripped culture called Covid. People wore masks and got shots and stayed their distance from others. Even members of their own families. Conspircy theories had gone viral and they filled the atmosphere, infiltrated it. Minerva was spreading her wings. Something new was being born it seemed yet it was difficult to see if this “something new” was related to wisdom.

The downtown of our village was deserted one day when I took the Mavic to take some photos. I easily found a place to park in the large parking lot that was always overflowing with cars. Today it was almost empty.

I took the Mavic up to about 500 feet and got some great shots of the downtown area of our town. I learned much about my little part of the world from above. This seems to be a general truism that translates across various religions. One of the best photos showed an almost deserted village looking down at Main Street, hovering about 500 feet above. I had the photo printed on a canvas print and framed and gove it to our town’s mayor. He liked it. It showed a different town than anyone had seen. t was a different world than anyone had seen.

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During the next year I took the drone all over Columbus. I got a great photo maybe 500 feet up looking at The Ohio State University stadium, the Shoe. Got great shots from parks around town. Took it out to my brother’s home and got some good photos. I carried it out to California – to Carmel, Pebble Beach, Pacific Grove and Monterey. And the wine country of Santa Rosa. One time on a trip to Traverse City, Michigan.

The more I used the drone, the more I felt a new feeling. Somewhat that of a “drone pilot” as this new group of hobbyists was being alled. I guess this was part of the feeling. Yet there was something else associated with drones. For years, I’ve been involved with the studies of branding, symbolism and media ecology. There seemed to be something important happening in a these areas, Something unseen and unfelt. Like water surrounding a fish. But unseen because it is a new environment. These are always unseen.

I posted some blogs on Midnight Oil exploring this new sense I felt for drones. Through online lists of media ecology groups I met a professor of media ecology who had written a book on the topics I had been thinking about. The professor’s name was Julia Hilderbrand, and, she was a drone pilot and avid enthusiast! Her book titled Aerial Play: Drone Medium, Mobility, Communication, and Culture (Palgrave, 2021) was a brilliant book that explored ideas I had been thinking about. I decided to write a review on the book that was published in New Explorations Journal, a media ecology journal from Toronto.

(Contnued)