Beijing from Above

[Randy W]

Beijing From Above, and The Story of How I Was Detained by the Police because of my DJI Quadcopter (link to YouTube)

 

 

link to the story here - http://www.stuckincustoms.com/2014/06/19/dji-quadcopter-china-detention

Edited June 20, 2014 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

Quote from the story

 

Quote

After the little photo partay, he gave me back the quadcopter and said, “Okay, here you go, but please don’t fly it inside the first or second ring of the city.” I said, okay, cool. And then we made our hasty egress.

Apparently, the news kind of spread around to another group with which I was working in Beijing. They showed up at my hotel the next morning to confiscate the quadcopter, obviously not trusting me not to fly it any more. They agreed to bring it to the airport before I left Beijing. I doubted I would ever see the thing again, but, sure enough, they showed up! I threw the sweet beast in my bag then jumped on my flight back home to New Zealand. Shwew!

Other Photos from the Quadcopter

Here’s some of my other favorite photos that I took with my little toy http://1-ps.googleusercontent.com/h/www.stuckincustoms.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif.pagespeed.ce.Tc4KHB2wv1.gif

 

Edited January 3, 2021 by Randy W (see edit history)

[dnoblett]

Great story, with a happy ending the secret police treated him very well and with understanding, they used common sense.

[Randy W]

I thought it was some pretty impressive photography, especially from a camera mounted on a quad-copter. This is from his About-Me page

 

 

Quote

Briefly… a photography-centric bio

I’m best known for, well, I suppose, this site, StuckInCustoms.com, which has become the #1 Travel Photography Blog on the Internet. I started early with the sharing, and as you can see on the right, Google has tracked billions of views, which is mind-boggling to me! At least a few of those views are from my mom, who visits the site many times per day! My work first became popular after I had the honor of having the first HDR photo ever to hang in the Smithsonian. After that, I was fortunate enough to be represented by Getty (who I have since dumped because they take 80%), been featured on the BBC, ABC, FOX, CBS, and NBC, and have had numerous showings around the world. I am known generally for the unique way in which I capture and process the world around me. I have my own “take” on HDR Photography, and you can see my free HDR Tutorial right here.

I grew up blind in one eye and this might have changed the way I view the world. I don’t know. It’s hard to be objective about the way one’s brain was wired. My background is in computer science and math, so I bring an algorithm-like process to capturing the scene in such a way that it evokes memories in a palpable manner. Whatever that means. My promise to you: One New Photo Every Day. Probably.

 

Edited January 3, 2021 by Randy W (see edit history)

[dnoblett]

I saw you had posted this in crazy videos, I was contemplating splitting this one off into its own thread, you beat me to it.

[dnoblett]

One candle member ran into this with his drone in one of the US National parks, had a talking to with a park ranger.

[Guest ExChinaExpat]

That's DAMNED AMAZING!

 

And brings back every memory or the entire day it took to walk through the Forbidden City. It revolutionizes photography in a way never before seen.

 

Interestingly enough is that the sky has only been as blue and clear as these videos one or two times in the last twenty years. How did that happen?

Edited June 20, 2014 by ExChinaExpat (see edit history)

[tsap seui]

LOL....I thought that about the amazing clear air too, Jesse. Of the times I was in, or on a layover waiting to catch a flight out of Beijing I only saw blue sky and didn't feel like I was breathing the exhaust right out of a 1962 DeSoto's exhaust pipe only ONE day. Cough, cough (pun intended) maybe he "airbrushed out" the smog.

 

I liked the guys photos, they were phenomenal.

 

I gotta say, if Mr. NZed tried that stunt in Washington, DC...he'd most likely have gotten himself SHOT. Good Lord help his young ass if he ever tried to fly that thing over the White House, or some of the other "delicate" areas of Washerton. He would have had his brains splattered all over Lafayette Park from a headshot, or double tapped in the torso post haste....questions to be asked later.

 

Say what anyone wants to about the harshness and fearfulness of the Chinese secret police....our "secret" police aren't taken in by the novelty of aerial photos, and unlike their Chinese counterparts, there would be no smiling, laughing, and calling in their buddies to take a look at the beautiful photos n' such...."if" he survived he would have been answering questions from a gurney in a hospital's emergency room full of doctors and nurses trying to keep him alive.....LOL HOmey don't play no games in "Murica!!!

 

tsap seui

Edited June 21, 2014 by tsap seui (see edit history)

[Randy W]

According to his blogs, most of the shots were actually taken on the June 4 Tiananmen Square anniversary.

[dnoblett]

LOL....I thought that about the amazing clear air too, Jesse. Of the times I was in, or on a layover waiting to catch a flight out of Beijing I only saw blue sky and didn't feel like I was breathing the exhaust right out of a 1962 DeSoto's exhaust pipe only ONE day. Cough, cough (pun intended) maybe he "airbrushed out" the smog.

 

I liked the guys photos, they were phenomenal.

 

I gotta say, if Mr. NZed tried that stunt in Washington, DC...he'd most likely have gotten himself SHOT. Good Lord help his young ass if he ever tried to fly that thing over the White House, or some of the other "delicate" areas of Washerton. He would have had his brains splattered all over Lafayette Park from a headshot, or double tapped in the torso post haste....questions to be asked later.

 

Say what anyone wants to about the harshness and fearfulness of the Chinese secret police....our "secret" police aren't taken in by the novelty of aerial photos, and unlike their Chinese counterparts, there would be no smiling, laughing, and calling in their buddies to take a look at the beautiful photos n' such...."if" he survived he would have been answering questions from a gurney in a hospital's emergency room full of doctors and nurses trying to keep him alive.....LOL HOmey don't play no games in "Murica!!!

 

tsap seui

My thoughts exactly, it seems the police in the states want to shoot first and then ask questions, the Chinese police though stern at first easily understood that he meant no harm or was not spying and let him go with a warning, and followed up by taking his drone promising to return it to him when he leaves China which the did. All in all excelent treatment, something that would not be the case in the states.

 

According to his blogs, most of the shots were actually taken on the June 4 Tiananmen Square anniversary.

All the more to expect negative reactions by Chinese security, but they proved to be quite kind and honorable.

[Randy W]

Technology was a little different in 1930

 

Peking - The Imperial City 1930