It was almost one of those days in which I didn't get outside. It was as if the world was just trying to keep me in: first off, my alarm didn't go off at my usual time. As of late I have been getting up at the great time of 6:30AM. A time that is a bit early for me, but I find the early morning peace is really motivating, and that at this time I feel as if I can fit in a number of interests of mine into the day without rushing, I like that the days end up feeling longer as a result. I get up, brew my coffee, and sit in the kitchen as I do the first few tasks I have setup for the day. If there are none, I draw. Something simple that sort of kickstarts some creativity and productivity, though I wouldn't consider myself someone that really works hard in that capacity. The alarm not going off meant I missed that entire foundational part of the day. Next up, the landlady was to appear at the apartment at an unknown time to help try to figure out why the washing machine results in totally ruined clothes that imply rust somewhere either in the pipes or the machine itself. Stains that just refuse to leave. A bit of annoyance, but I was looking forward to something being done, even if it was just an initial acceptance of a potential problem from those that own the place. But I didn't know what time they'd be arriving. And this kept me inside even more for that most part of the day.
What followed with this was a lack of knowing what I wanted to do. Everything felt like I had no time for. Whether it was art, watching things, or wanting to get out. Even trying to work. Nothing really seemed fitting as I just had no idea where the day was going or how. I simply could not find the mental capacity to just sit still and figure something out. As if my brain was telling me: go outside, shoot something.
After the landlady came and went, I still felt that feeling that I had no idea what I wanted to do. I looked outside and saw the view of the sun slowly setting. Looking at the time on my laptop as I realised it was getting later. I had done nothing all day. I felt like shit for it. For having no control over the day and myself. So, with things barely charged up, I got up and went outside. Grabbing the drone and an external battery to charge the drone batteries on the commute to somewhere. Though I had no idea where I would go. I just knew I had to go outside for a bit and fly the drone. I ended up at the edge of the city again, in an area I hadn't been to before. Where a few Soviet era buildings stood, belonging to students of the nearby university. The university, back in the Soviet Union, even gave these students a cable car as a manner of transport between the canyon as to help them get to the main buildings. There wasn't a bridge at that point. Such an odd concept to me, to see such development and innovation at that time, to help students of all people instead of residents. Though this was no residential area then beyond student housing. It's such an odd concept for me to see such a thing, to which I really wanted to photograph the cable cars themselves. Though I had no idea they were still functional, almost under the assumption they weren't.
I flew the drone around for a while and captured the space. The light as it began to disappear. The natural landscape in the area and capturing some hyper lapse shots of the road nearby. And just as I finished the flight; I landed the drone and packed it up, turned around and saw a cable car moving over the canyon. It was still functional! But at this point I knew it was too late, I couldn't race it. It'd be at the end by the time I was done. Though it gave me the idea of trying it out sometime. To see if I could ride it from one side to another. Quite an interesting experience to have.
Even so, capturing the surroundings was a great short time. The views and the light were beautiful. And I had so much fun being a bit more confident under the wind. I saw how others had disregarded the battery life online, and I felt I needed to do so as well. That the battery rapidly decreasing isn't always indicative of the battery draining, but more a general tool that says: "Hey, maybe don't fly out too far against the wind. This may kill the battery and give you limited time to return." Instead I took it as a general thing to note down and keep an eye on, and so I flew it around the area, over the canyon, into the mountain and over the roads. I shot a few different things and it really motivated me to keep doing this going forward. Really looking at pushing the potential beyond and not giving in to fear. It made flying the drone a lot more fun when I just wasn't so concerned that it won't return. I knew it would return, and I knew I could get it back even if it didn't. And the result was a much more pleasant flight and results with it. I'm looking forward to getting out a bit more, maybe I should make it a bit more of a habit to do so once the sun starts to set. To both admire beautiful light, as well as enjoy the fact that it isn't so scorching hot.
Either way, the whole fun of photography is just getting outside and enjoying the process.