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aerialimagery

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Just curious how everyone else is doing.

I had a good business doing aerial photography as a full-time business (with no other job or business) for many years.

After the advent of drones a couple of years ago it fell off a lot, though there was some declining before that. I eventually purchased my own P4P drone, hoping to be able to compete.

I like using a drone and am happy with the quality of the imagery. And there are still customers who need work done from airplanes because of their large sizes and a need to fly much higher than 400 feet AGL.

But overall, my aerial photography business has declined so much that I am having to give it up as a means to support myself and am looking into doing other things. If I get aerial photography jobs, I will happily do them, but I am no longer going to count on them, and aerial photography will have to be a side business.

I have done some work with my drone, but 90% of the work I've done has been with former customers. I have received very little work from new customers. I have been paid very well for the work I have done, but I am not doing enough of it, and it continued to become further and further spaced apart, and is now at a point where it has almost entirely dried up. I would happily do work much more cheaply if there could be a concentrated volume of work, but I have to work hard to give it away sometimes, so there is no point in going that route. I'll just have low-paid jobs spaced far apart instead.

The type of aerial photography work I've done is primarily the "pretty picture" of a large industrial plant or any other very large facility. In the past, often very large prints were made to hang in offices or lobbies. I'm not sure how much of that is being done now since I now provide the high resolution images to the customer and they do what they want with them.

In the past it seemed that I had very little competition. It takes some skill to take good aerial photos from an airplane, even if one is already a good photographer. But with a drone, any good photographer can now be a good aerial photographer. As a photographer, I wouldn't compare a drone to an airplane or helicopter--it's more like having a gigantic tripod. Besides that, there are also many bad photographers and mediocre photographers who have entered the market and who are also considered to be "aerial photographers."

I've been disappointed in that I have done some speculation work for about 5 good former customers, just to show them what I can do with a drone. I sent them some very good images to review, and I received no responses, no reactions, not even a thank you. I don't get it except that maybe they are already now working with someone locally, or maybe are even considering buying their own drone.

I believe I am a very good photographer and that I usually provide excellent work, but that doesn't seem to be enough anymore. I'm wondering if the market for aerial photography is over-saturated. That idea really hit home a few weeks ago when I saw "MY DRONE" (a P4P) for sale at Wal-Mart.

The bottom line for me is that I'm not getting business anymore. I've been turning over every rock among previous contacts and have experimented with some low-ball offers, but nothing is working anymore. I have a couple of jobs to do next month, but after that, nothing. I've tried to do construction progress, but have found construction contractors to be as chintzy as realtors (though I know others are doing well there).

Anyway, maybe this is my fault. Maybe I'm not marketing properly. Maybe I should be going out there making cold calls. Or maybe I should be thinking about the other things drones could be used for, but then that would be (for me) an entirely new business, as my interest and skills are centered in photography. Maybe I should be looking into doing video, as I do have some skills there and studied TV and film in college, but I haven't figured out yet how to get that type of client.

I'm thinking that there must be an explosion of drone sales and my question is whether others here have felt that and if your sales are decreasing as a result.

I hope you're doing better than I am. For me at this time, aerial photography as a business is dead. It's time to move onto something else.
 
Sorry about your bad luck. By the sheer simplicity and ease of "entry," drone photography was never going to be easy to build a full time business. I am retired and with other sources of income. After beginning in 2015 and finally breaking even in 2017, am now grossing ~$7K annually. Just spare change but it gets me out of the house. :cool:

When young people ask me about a career in drones I suggest to them to join the military (Army makes UAS pilots out of enlisted, if you have a college degree go Air Force) leave said military after enough years to get a few thousand hours and get a job with Boeing, Grumman, et al. They tend to hire pilots with a commercial and instrument ticket and heavy UAS time (read Predator family) not DJI.
 
On the educational side of the spectrum, I agree about the influx of new operators in the sUAS industry.

Some of my colleague that returned from InterDrone stated that at least 75% of the attendees are folks that are interested in capitalizing in sUAS work and do not have a 107. From that, the last crop of 107 students were all hoping to make a living flying drones for Hollywood. Unfortunately for them, their chances for success are very limited.

Others tend to still gravitate into doing RE videos, even though the warning signs and conversation are exchanged they still hold on to it.

For myself, being in a niche position is slowly becoming a double edge sword. I'm slowly removing myself from PV inspection and increasing focus on other inspection areas. Larger inspection companies have taken over my ability to service them since PV inspection is a low hanging fruit for thermographers. Plus with all the presentations and printed interviews articles that I've been doing, this past summer has been real short. Along those lines, I am still focused on the extending some educational courses, which will take some time to get all the logistics down but surely excited about it.

Lastly, there is a potential that I would be working a day job doing R&D and traveling to do sUAS development work. In this particular company I am qualified to fill 2 positions in 2 different department, which is rare to say the least, but this opportunity recently came up and, if hired, will help design, build sUAS prototypes at a senior level title with the ability to travel to provide POC's to potential customers.

If employed, I do not know what would happen with my original plans, but at least I will still be around sUAS in the future.

That is how is business is going.

:)
 
I currently have my own UAV business and I have two jobs for my local City Council namely Events and I am working on a third job doing promotional video of the City area, I also help a fellow UAV Chief Pilot with a Progression Inspection for his City Council.

I also do a 2 Hour - 1 on 1 Introduction to Drones for those who have either just purchased or been gifted a drone and are a bit unsure on how to use it and what the legal ramifications are with using a Drone in Australia [Had one on Sunday and another one tomorrow].

In Jan of this year I completed my CASA certified Remote Pilots Licence [RePL] which also included my Aeronautical Radio Operators Certificate [AROC], I have since then in June of this year obtained my RPA Remote Operators Certificate [ReOC] which means I am able to run my own business and hire RePL pilots. I do have an aim that my UAV business will be my main source of income in the near future, however in the mean time I am also the full time career for my Wife and on a Careers Pension as my wife is on a Disability Pension due to Breast/Brain Cancer.

We are a bit more regulated for Commercial UAV here is Australia, with only ReOC holders been able to get Liability insurance, mine is at $20,000,000 AUD. As a RePL pilot you will need to have a ReOC sign off all of your Jobs which means there will be some monetary compensation given to the ReOC holder as they are also responsible for the RePL's actions while they fly that mission/job.
 
I've been hearing that real estate photography has been oversaturated and it continues to get worse. Drone are, however, being adopted in many other industries. If you have the time and resources, maybe pick up some other skills that you could offer other potential clients. Here is an article (not US-specific) that shows where the money is trending in the drone industry: Telecom operators in the age of drones: Preparing for the new era
 
I had an accountant whose husband built and sold gold mining equipment. He made money doing that. His gold-mining customers were all broke. I should have figured out a way to get in on selling drones.
 
Just curious how everyone else is doing.

I had a good business doing aerial photography as a full-time business (with no other job or business) for many years.

After the advent of drones a couple of years ago it fell off a lot, though there was some declining before that. I eventually purchased my own P4P drone, hoping to be able to compete.

I like using a drone and am happy with the quality of the imagery. And there are still customers who need work done from airplanes because of their large sizes and a need to fly much higher than 400 feet AGL.

But overall, my aerial photography business has declined so much that I am having to give it up as a means to support myself and am looking into doing other things. If I get aerial photography jobs, I will happily do them, but I am no longer going to count on them, and aerial photography will have to be a side business.

I have done some work with my drone, but 90% of the work I've done has been with former customers. I have received very little work from new customers. I have been paid very well for the work I have done, but I am not doing enough of it, and it continued to become further and further spaced apart, and is now at a point where it has almost entirely dried up. I would happily do work much more cheaply if there could be a concentrated volume of work, but I have to work hard to give it away sometimes, so there is no point in going that route. I'll just have low-paid jobs spaced far apart instead.

The type of aerial photography work I've done is primarily the "pretty picture" of a large industrial plant or any other very large facility. In the past, often very large prints were made to hang in offices or lobbies. I'm not sure how much of that is being done now since I now provide the high resolution images to the customer and they do what they want with them.

In the past it seemed that I had very little competition. It takes some skill to take good aerial photos from an airplane, even if one is already a good photographer. But with a drone, any good photographer can now be a good aerial photographer. As a photographer, I wouldn't compare a drone to an airplane or helicopter--it's more like having a gigantic tripod. Besides that, there are also many bad photographers and mediocre photographers who have entered the market and who are also considered to be "aerial photographers."

I've been disappointed in that I have done some speculation work for about 5 good former customers, just to show them what I can do with a drone. I sent them some very good images to review, and I received no responses, no reactions, not even a thank you. I don't get it except that maybe they are already now working with someone locally, or maybe are even considering buying their own drone.

I believe I am a very good photographer and that I usually provide excellent work, but that doesn't seem to be enough anymore. I'm wondering if the market for aerial photography is over-saturated. That idea really hit home a few weeks ago when I saw "MY DRONE" (a P4P) for sale at Wal-Mart.

The bottom line for me is that I'm not getting business anymore. I've been turning over every rock among previous contacts and have experimented with some low-ball offers, but nothing is working anymore. I have a couple of jobs to do next month, but after that, nothing. I've tried to do construction progress, but have found construction contractors to be as chintzy as realtors (though I know others are doing well there).

Anyway, maybe this is my fault. Maybe I'm not marketing properly. Maybe I should be going out there making cold calls. Or maybe I should be thinking about the other things drones could be used for, but then that would be (for me) an entirely new business, as my interest and skills are centered in photography. Maybe I should be looking into doing video, as I do have some skills there and studied TV and film in college, but I haven't figured out yet how to get that type of client.

I'm thinking that there must be an explosion of drone sales and my question is whether others here have felt that and if your sales are decreasing as a result.

I hope you're doing better than I am. For me at this time, aerial photography as a business is dead. It's time to move onto something else.
I've been keeping my nose to the grindstone ever since getting my 107 ticket in SEP2016. Hung my shingle out there - web and other places. After coming up for air recently and taking a look around, business has picked up considerably in the last 2 months. Word of mouth and asking for referrals is by far the most productive route. Hand out a biz card to anyone who you think is even remotely interested or knows someone who is. Where your logo on your shirt. It shows commitment, professionalism, and sets you apart from the yahoos. It works. Stick to it! Being able to adapt to every opportunity that comes before is also a key to success. If you limit yourself to just one area, you'll fail for sure. The drone doesn't know what it's capturing. It simply listens to you and doesn't ask questions. Make it work for you.
 
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There are too many drone pilots cutting rates on 'drone research sites' that let drone operators bid on jobs, its a rush to the lowest bid. Realtors are getting their own 107s and drones and doing the pics themselves. I have been in Video and TV for 25 years. When a Broadcast TV camera cost $50,000 and you were filming for TV your rate was $1500 to $2500 per day. Then came digital video and youtube, now the rates are $150 a day. I added drones to my "camera bag 5 years ago" I already was working in TV, Drones were so new and I was one of the only guys in my field doing it, I started getting those crazy $1500 day rates again, but the drone prices came down, a mavic air shoots 4K, you don't even need to prove you can fly to get a 107, just take a written test and now my rates to be competitive are just $500 per day. Crashed "no pun intended" by over $1000 in just 4 short years. On the bright side, Drones are so new that I am sure we will see prices for good s and services go up and down all over the place. My thoughts are if you are using drones for a business you already have, and you are using them as added value an extra sell or tool or up-sell great. If you are thinking you can jump in and just have a drone biz.... Im not so sure about that anymore.
 
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What I was trying to get at in my original post was whether the growth of your (addressed to no one in particular) drone business is out-pacing the growth of competing numbers of people entering the market. Or is it taking a hit because of the increasing competition?
 
I'm someone who probably has no business trying to start / run a business; due in part to my shyness and chronic lack of confidence in my abilities. For me, it kind of fell into my lap when one of the owner's of the construction company I work for saw me practice flying my P3P around an empty parking lot. I gave him another demonstration inside the office itself. He was so impressed he suggested that I go film a new hospital building that we had recently completed. So I put a video together with some over-the-top music; and next thing I know they're asking me to film all the buildings that they're proud of using their choice of music which to me usually sounds like humpback whale funeral music. About a year later (I suppose to limit liablity for themselves) they've contracted out with me--which (up until this year when they had cash flow issues from trying to double the number of field employees in less than 6 months) was pretty decent extra cash--about $3,000 for a completed 3 minute video averaging about 7 videos a year. I realize I'm one of those annoying guys who thinks he can video because he has a drone. I'm not quite that pretentious; (I think) in part due to having a brother who's been in the videography business for over 30 years and makes sure I understand how bad my videos are, and how easy I have it now with modern technology and video editors. I do at least have an aviation background (CFI, CFI-I, Multi-engine Commercial Instrument, A&P, etc) and a love for RC flying since I was a kid.

I've offered my video for free to the architects / GCs and owners of the buildings as a means of trying to get permission to film the buildings for my primary client (and garner good will on behalf of the construction company I work for). I've had at least one University use my stuff for their promotional videos (at least they told me); and several students--all for free as part of my original deal.

I've also had a vendor contact me wanting to use my videos that featured buildings that used their product; but in the end I realized they were hoping I'd share for free. I also had a major landscaping company (from a city a few hours drive away) contact me when they saw one of my videos for an office campus I had done in their area. They asked me how much I'd charge to film about a dozen of areas they do landscaping for in their area. This was before LAANC; and I explained that most of their areas they had listed I couldn't even fly over until I got a waiver which could take a few months to get. I then quoted a price for the others; which I thought was on the very low side of things that would barely cover my travel and time spent filming (not even editing); and I never heard back.

I was recently given the opportunity to film some full-scale aircraft pilot training for landing short soft field one-way approach runways in the mountains; so I did that for free--mostly for fun and because I thought it would add a unique experience to my resume of chasing airplanes with a drone; and they were a non-profit organization that didn't have much extra cash for promotional work anyway.

In any case; I've got a website, Facebook page, YouTube and Instagram presence; business cards, t-shirts... I haven't given up yet--as I know in part the biggest obstacle I have is not knowing enough or skilled enough to be a great videographer; and that part I can still try to work on (some things are just hard to practice for in a local park). However, I do agree (like others have suggested here); that I think most jobs (like mine) are more or less going to be in-house... or result from in-house work; and after seeing the OP's situation, I realize I may never get to quit my day job.
 
Nice post skyboysteve. My experience doesn't have to be yours. My floundering could be entirely my own fault. You might figure out ways to things a lot better. If you have a "day job" you have the luxury of using your spare time to build your business and increase your skills. I was trying to continue to rely only on aerial photography to support myself.

I hope you don't mind if I make a couple of comments about your videos, which I did find to be interesting. And please take my comments with a grain of salt. These are my "opinions." Also, these comments apply to some other drone videos I've seen.

When super-8 cameras and then video became popular, people tended to overuse the zoom control. If you're going to go from a wide shot to a close up, it's better most of the time to do that with two separate shots, cutting from one to the other, rather than with a continuous zoom. Likewise, with drone videography, IMHO, people tend to overuse the movement the drone provides. If there is a beautiful scene of a river and a bridge in the distance, viewers don't need to fly all the way to the bridge to see the nice close up of the bridge. Instead we can show the long shot while possibly slowly and imperceptibly moving towards the bridge, and then cut to a closer view of the bridge. If there is a building we wish to feature, we don't always need to fly around it at a high speed. Why not instead do a very subtle lateral movement, or in or out, just enough to help separate the foreground from the background and give the view some depth, and do the major "movements" in the editing process? (Or maybe no camera movement at all). What I think should be striven for is drone video that doesn't scream THIS IS VIDEO TAKEN FROM A DRONE. Those kinds of shots ought to be used sparingly. On the other hand, when you're tracking a subject, such as boat or a train, and keeping the subject relatively in the same position, the movement of the drone is very effective and "invisible" to the viewer as the subject captures the attention while the background seems to move behind it.

Anyway, I didn't write that as well as I could have. I did enjoy watching what I saw of your videos and was just offering some constructive criticism, and am not implying your skills are not viable as they are. And I'm sure your brother could give you much better guidance.

Good luck with your business.
 
Thanks for the advice, aerialimagery. I think I've started lately (okay only once or twice on my last video) on using more cuts for closeups vs fly ups (though as you've noticed I definitelyl have done much more of the latter); in any case thanks for reinforcing that concept as something to keep in mind going forward.

I do find it interesting that you suggest trying to make a presentation that's not obviously taken from a drone. Obviously I like to try to prevent seeing a shadow of myself etc... but at the same time I've thought that making a clip that was unique to what a drone could do would be interesting too--vs just a periscope / tripod in the sky.

I think it's kind of funny how we often strive to present something in a way to hide our methods. For example, I have some experience with 3D animation; and it seems in that world; artists are always trying to mimic physical cameras with their limitations including lens distortion; while videographers using real cameras use profiles in their editors to get rid of lens distortion...
 
There are too many drone pilots cutting rates on 'drone research sites' that let drone operators bid on jobs, its a rush to the lowest bid. Realtors are getting their own 107s and drones and doing the pics themselves. I have been in Video and TV for 25 years. When a Broadcast TV camera cost $50,000 and you were filming for TV your rate was $1500 to $2500 per day. Then came digital video and youtube, now the rates are $150 a day. I added drones to my "camera bag 5 years ago" I already was working in TV, Drones were so new and I was one of the only guys in my field doing it, I started getting those crazy $1500 day rates again, but the drone prices came down, a mavic air shoots 4K, you don't even need to prove you can fly to get a 107, just take a written test and now my rates to be competitive are just $500 per day. Crashed "no pun intended" by over $1000 in just 4 short years. On the bright side, Drones are so new that I am sure we will see prices for good s and services go up and down all over the place. My thoughts are if you are using drones for a business you already have, and you are using them as added value an extra sell or tool or up-sell great. If you are thinking you can jump in and just have a drone biz.... Im not so sure about that anymore.

We went from getting roughly $3K/day to a LOT less now. It was good while it lasted.
 
I do not understand what is going on.Im based in Miami, In where u can assume lots of things to shoot.You name them...Real Estate,Boats,Construction,events.Nothing of that is working for me.Im a TV professional with a good eye,performing post production services to showcase whatever you make me shoot.Instagram worked for me one time.Got an email from UK asking me for a raw footage of a piece I already published.I said to my self,this is the way.Nothing else happened,right after that.I sold single On Demand of certain Miami Landmarks for a very well known sports channel,nothing else happened,right after that call.One mission for Real Estate,was just that one mission.That was outside/inside fly in a castle,located in FT.Lauderdale.They did not call me anymore and the job was super top.We do not have houses like this very often,they said.Roof inspections for Betterview at $70,I flu 3 of them until they did not call me anymore.Dronebase has a lot of footage of mine,never saw a dollar of it.Shutterstock the same story,not a dollar from the footage I already uploaded.Yesterday is was practicing on the beach,until a guy came to me and start insulting and threatening,just him on the beach.Not a word from me,my concern was to retrieve my drone,while having this out his mind guy filming what I'm doing.Then he left,while throwing objects to my bird.People are scare about us and the use of the drones.Maybe the guy does not know that I was in a public area and not spying him,the one and only at that time on the beach.So guys I do not have a clue where to go to run my commercial license in a professional/profitable manner.Too many regulations are grounding us,believe or not.
 
Business is very good. A tad slower than last year but just part of the normal ebb and flow. Quite franky if your business model is "flying a drone", with few exceptions its a model destined to fail.

What's happening is businesses are buying their own drones. I wasn't about to pay someone else for the imaging I needed when I could get my own bird.

Using a drone as your business is like using ANY tool as a standalone model. Would you hire someone to show up with a flashlight to light up your work? How about someone with a jack so you could rotate someone's tires? Photography? Even with that, technology has created apps and software that could produce decent imagery from a novice.

As goofy as that sounds that's exactly how some think they should be able to make a living. Neither your drone or your license = a business. Maybe that worked for a bit when the technology was new but those days are largely gone.

That's exactly what's going on... You're standing still while the model is changing.
 
The only thing I disagree with in the above post is that photography skills cannot be substituted with software and apps. It takes real skill and an eye to compose a good photograph, whether on the ground or from the air. But there are types of photography where that skill is not so necessary such as roof inspections, construction progress, and basic real estate photos, etc.
 
I think there is an element of truth to what you are saying. But the company I work with is doing very well. We do construction documentation; and the major construction companies don't want to have their own drones, or their own people to fly them. Construction documentation is a lot more than just flying a drone, it is supplying the client with both still and video documentation of the entire project. That includes interior documentation.
The money is very good, but there is a lot more to it than just taking pictures or videos. Check out Multivista, they have been very successful.
 
Our business model has performed very well thus far. Even though we intentionally have cut our sUAS projects way back this year (sick family members and deaths) we are still well in the GREEN and even added 2 new aircraft to our fleet just last week.

I'll say this much... if you're trying to build a business strictly on Real Estate Aerials you've already painted yourself into a corner in 90% of the country. Johnboy (Realtors long lost nephew/cousin etc) is going to take your bread money day in and day out. Unless you can tie up a market with great customer service, superb products, and clients willing to pay for those differences you need to branch out yesterday.
 
As BigA said, real estate is a tough market to make any money in. I just was offered 60 dollars to do a video of a property over an hour from my home, needless to say I declined the offer. The offer came from a company that posts on this site. To me that is an insult to even make such a low ball offer.

The one thing that many drone pilots want is to just fly their drones and take pictures, that is fine if you can get enough work. I just work two days a week, fly about four hours each day, and then spend another four hours traveling, indexing, uploading photos, and editing video. It is a supplemental to my retirement and my play money, but I certainly couldn't live on it.

I suppose a lot has to do with a persons location and the amount of competition for what you have to offer. One thing I think may prove to be a good gig is agricultural dusting, and crop surveying. I think the trick is to find something that others will have a difficult time competing with.
 
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