5/12/24
Suitable 'windows' for
drone flying tend to decrease during the winter month, with short days
and often bad weather, but on Tuesday afternoon conditions were good and
I decided to carry out some dusk aerial photography from the Douglas shoreline.
DJI Mini 4 Pro 3/12/24
    
I shot three 360 degree
panoramas with the intention of using two, but in the end couldn't decide
which, so here are all three!
  
The second flight was
conducted from further south, taking a look at the illuminated Tower of
Refuge first.
    
    
 
6/12/24
Sunrise on Wednesday
morning, just shot through the window from home. All three pictures
were taken within two minutes, as the sun rose over a neighbour's roof
on a bearing of 129 degrees (southeast). I had to clone out a bit
of a chimney and a few tree branches!
Panasonic FZ82 4/12/24
  
The sunshine didn't
last long and all too soon it had clouded over with rain and strong winds
threatened later. However, I did have an appointment for late morning,
for an escorted tour around St Luke's church, Baldwin. After my previous
set of aerial pictures at St
Luke's on the 26th November, the church Warden, Sue Sayle, had contacted
me to see if they could use some of the pictures on their own FB page and
I was only to happy for them to do that. I did ask Sue if it was
possible to visit the church again for a guided tour and she agreed to
show me around. Sue is a font of knowledge on the history of the
church and I really enjoyed my visit. I was particularly fascinated
to find out that the church used to be divided into three sections on weekdays
by moveable wooden partitions, one of which is still in place. The
eastern third was always the church, but with the partitions moved into
place, the centre section became a boys school and the western section
a girls school, each with their own entrances. The eastern partition
has gone now, but the western one remains and is still openable, although
more usually closed.
Insta360 Ace Pro &
DJI Mini 4 Pro 4/12/24
    
    
    
8/12/24
Last Thursday the weather
didn't seem at all promising for photography, with strong winds and torrential
rain persisting into the afternoon. However, I really fancied a trip
and and consulted the very useful 'Windy.com' program where it appeared
like there might be a fairly short period suitable, with the rain stopping
around 3 PM and before sunset at 4 PM. I decided to try a trip to
Peel, and although it was still raining when I was getting ready to go
out, the sky was starting to brighten in the west. I reached Peel
by 3:30 and the sun was shining on the castle! I had a good walk
around the town and finished my photography at around 4:40, by which time
it was getting quite dark. Fortunately, the Ace Pro camera is very
good in low light situations!
Nikon D7100 & Insta360
Ace Pro 5/12/24
    
    
    
    
    
   
10/12/24
A stroll in Groudle
Glen yesterday afternoon. A lot of the island's glens and plantations
have been affected by the recent storm, some being closed to the public
due to trees falling. I only discovered this after returning from
my walk, but fortunately Groudle Glen has been largely unaffected by the
storm.
Insta360 Ace Pro 9/12/24
    
    
    
   
11/12/24
It was when I saw the
sunlight filtering through the trees on the far side of the Groudle Glen
Viaduct that I had an idea for another location, visiting Lonan Old Church
(St Adamnan's) which is situated in open countryside not too far north
of Groudle. Reached by a generally very narrow and twisting road,
the first church here was a typical keeil, probably built in the 5th century
AD. It was altered and extended several times, becoming the parish
church of Lonan, but by 1733 the parishioners petitioned Bishop Wilson
for a new church, complaining that the church was too remote. The
new church was finally built 100 years later in 1833, but still in a remote
location, which is possibly the reason that it is now disused, whist the
old church was restored in the late 1890s. The current building is
in two halves, the unrestored western end dating from around the 12th century,
with the eastern end was constructed later and restored from a ruin between
1895 and 1897.
Insta360 Ace Pro 9/12/24
    
    
    
After leaving the old
church, I had a quick dash up the road to see if there would still be enough
light for some pictures of the 'new' (but abandoned) church.
    
12/12/24
Whilst I was carrying
out the flight to shoot still pictures and 360 degree panoramas at Douglas
on the 3rd of the month, I also took the time to shoot a couple of videos.
This is the first one, a gentle fly around the Tower of Refuge at dusk.
DJI Mini 4 Pro
13/12/24
After the storms and
strong winds of last weekend, the forecast for drone flying was looking
good for the end of the week so I was planning on a trip out for Thursday
afternoon. Unfortunately, although the light winds materialized,
it also stayed very dull and overcast but I still decided to give it a
go and selected Port Erin as a good area. I use tide tables a lot
when working in coastal areas and Port Erin is a good location in the low
tides predicted for my flying times.
DJI Mini 4 Pro 12/12/24
    
    
    
  
14/12/24
A bit of industrial
archaeology for you today! Yesterday afternoon I visited Beckwith's
Mine, in the hills above Foxdale, to hope fully do some aerial photography.
It rained on and off on my way there so I wasn't that hopeful, but I was
lucky and it stopped by the time I arrived. Beckwith's opened in
1831 and was worked until 1879, reaching a depth of 185 fathoms (1,110
ft). There are substantial remains but eroded over time by weather
and trials bike riding unfortunately. The site is now closed off
to motor vehicles although rather ominously it looked like somebody has
been laying out a course for some reason recently and disturbing the site.
Just a few conventional
pictures but no less than five 360 degree panoramas for you to explore
the site from different angles.
DJI Mimi 4 Pro 13/12/24
    
  
 
26/12/24
Sorry for the gap in
new pictures, but we were away on a trip to the UK the day after my last
upload and on our return it was a bit hectic getting ready for Christmas
in just a few days! Anyway, I hope you all had a good Christmas Day,
I had a little trip out in the morning and shot these pictures at the bottom
of Druidale, at the Montpelier Plantation. A bit of a dull day with
no sunshine while I was there, but at least the winds were light and there
was no rain!
DJI Mini 4 Pro &
Insta360 Ace Pro 25/12/24
    
  
    
    
I also shot a few video
sequences of the streams in the woodland. Sorry about the wind noise
towards the end, not the Ace Pro's best feature!
27/12/24
Yesterday the dull weather
continued, with the added bonus of almost continuous drizzle! In
the afternoon I decided that despite the weather I needed to get out for
a bit, so chose the nearby Summerhill Glen for a stroll. I walked
up the glen from Summerhill during daylight hours, then killed a bit of
time at the top in order to be able to walk back down and enjoy the winter
illuminations.
Insta360 Ace Pro 26/12/24
    
   
    
    
    
    
29/12/24
The weather wasn't great
yesterday, with a lot of low cloud around, but based on the forecasts it
looked likely to be the last day of the year when it would be possible
to carry out any drone flying. I also fancied some exercise so set
of to climb up Peel Hill in the afternoon. It was a bit bit breezy
up there but I found a more sheltered spot to fly from just below the summit,
although the DJI 'Fly' software refused to let me shoot any 360 degree
panoramas up there! After the first flight I walked back down and
found a much lower location where 'Fly' allowed me to shoot a 360 panorama.
DJI Mini 4 Pro
28/12/24
    
    
 
31/12/24
As I sit here on the
morning of the last day of 2024, there's a gale buffeting the house with
rain battering the windows, the boats to the UK have been cancelled due
to the conditions at sea and a Loganair aircraft is sitting in the hold
above Ronaldsway Airport hoping that conditions improve having failed to
land from its first approach with the wind gusting across the runway and
above 40 Kts. Overall it is looking unlikely that I'll be going out
today for any 'end of year' photographs!
This is the current
wind map from 'windy.com' - red is winds above 35 Kts increasing to 45!
Anyway, a look back
over 2024. At the end of 2023 I said that this would probably be the final
year of Island Images in its current form after a quarter of a century
of continuous operation and me celebrating my 70th birthday. I had
hoped to find an easier way of sharing my pictures for 2025 and onwards
as the current website is a bit labour intensive, but I've not found anything
that suits so it looks as if I'll be continuing onwards with more or less
the same format. A few changes though, the Screen Backgrounds are
going and the separate Railways and Aircraft sections with be closing (but
remaining) at the end of 2024. During 2024 I added 2,466 'scenic'
pictures to the site plus thirteen videos and I hope to continue with these
during 2025. Grand total of the 'scenic' pictures is now just under
25,000!
In recent years I've
tried to leave you with a last picture from the last day of the year, but
with today's weather I've instead complied a series of pictures spanning
the twenty five years that Island Images has been running, selecting one
picture from the December of each year.
Twenty five years
of Island Images in December. 2000 - 2024.
    
    
    
    
    
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Best wishes for 2025
and I hope that you keep coming back for more pictures!
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