Flew a helicopter

On an aerial photo shoot, I got the chance to man the controls of the helicopter. I flew us there, and flew us back. It was so cool. I was terrified and excited. David Brocklehurst was my pilot. He's a cool guy.


terrified


excited

From flying so much, I knew what the controls did, and between racing motocross and producing virtual tours I have a good understanding of how roll, pitch, yaw and acceleration effect an airborn object. What I didn't know however was how difficult it would be. I have a new respect for those pilots who fly me around, especially those who can fly OGE for me.

These were still frames from a video documentary that Brad and I are putting together. Documentary video post coming soon!

-Jonny Carroll
Photographer

jdonut photography, LLC
Dallas Aerial Photography
We Make Virtual Tours
Denton Wedding Photography
UNT Photography

A day at the Arboetum - macro

I took a day off for Sarah and I to go to the arboretum. We took public transportation the whole way there. That was a lot of fun.



I borrowed a macro lens from my good friend Ryan Moore. This was my first time to shoot macro really. "But what about those sunflower pics just a few posts ago." one might ask. That was the same day, like 6am in the morning.



Reading tips online, some great macro photographers suggested that people only shoot the "pretty" flowers, but that there can be beauty in wilting and dieing ones as well. I took that to heart, and I think I was able to really capture that concept in this shot.



I am obsessed with water droplets. I discovered. If I get a macro lens of my own. Which could seriously happen. There will be many more water droplet shots... just wait.





All in all, it was a great day. My first trip on a dart bus, (been on the train several times) my first real attempt at macro, and I got to spend the day with Sarah, who would become my fiance the next day.


JUMP
See more of my macro pics from the day here
Sarah took pictures too. If she'll make a darn blog post, I'd link to her page also.


-Jonny Carroll
Photographer

jdonut photography, LLC
Dallas Aerial Photography
We Make Virtual Tours
Denton Wedding Photography
UNT Photography

Connor Moore - a maternity shoot

Eric and Julie expect another addition to the family in just about a month. Actually, this is be an addition to my family as well. Julie is my future sister-in-law. Sarah's sister.


Jessalyn is their first born. Here she is hugging the belly, aka Connor.


The shoot was at Veteran's park in Arlington, TX. It's a pretty place.


The due date is Sept 5th. There just might be more photos.


JUMP
to see more pics from the shoot go here.


-Jonny Carroll
Photographer

jdonut photography, LLC
Dallas Aerial Photography
We Make Virtual Tours
Denton Wedding Photography
UNT Photography

Virtual Tours and Real-estate photos in Plano

Along with some real-estate photos of a house in Plano, Texas. I shot some virtual tours. Many people don't know that I do these. See below. Just click and drag the mouse over the image to "move" around the room. Careful, go slow or you might get dizzy


VIRTUAL TOUR: If you can not see the Virtual Tour, click here.
If you're not sure what to do, click and drag slowly on the image. You can also click the + and - or press Shft and Ctrl to zoom in and out.


JUMP
to see more pictures of the house, visit my facebook album.


-Jonny Carroll
Photographer

jdonut photography, LLC
Denton Wedding Photography
We Make Virtual Tours
Dallas Aerial Photography
UNT Photography

Aerial Video

While I've dabbed in aerial video a tad for fun and personal short film making, this was my first time to do it professionally.


Here's the set up. That's a Canon XL2 (video camera) attached to a gyro, which is plugged into to a battery pack. Still handheld, and it's really heavy. Inside the gyro (which is mounted to the bottom of the camera) something spins at an enormous speed. This spinning causes stability and smooth motion on the pitch and yaw axis. If you wanted stability on the roll axis, you could simply mount another gyro below and perpendicular to the first gryo. (sorry if that's confusing, I really tried to explain it simply, and it's a very simple device).



I flew with Epic helicopters. The pilot shown is Brian, but I actually flew with Kevin. and we even flew in a differnt helicopter all together. See that spiffy shirt he's wearing tho. I got one of those now!


-Jonny Carroll
Photographer

jdonut photography, LLC
Denton Wedding Photography
We Make Virtual Tours
Denton Wedding Photography
UNT Photography

Hey look, sunflowers

and a yellow polka dotted bug.


These are one of the best things about North Texas summers.
While all the other plants die from heat, lack of water, pollution or whatever goes on in North Texas, these bad boys just eat up the sun and grow tall.



Now, I'm pretty sure these are not real 'sunflowers' (Beth help me out) but the name still seems to fit for me. Either way, they're beautiful and grow everywhere where I live. Sometimes you just have to look for them.



I shot these while on my way to photograph a property a 7am. The light was wonderful. For the relatively short amount of time I spent there, I feel like I got some great images. It was hard just narrowing it down to 5 for this blog. I chose 5 that I thought were all different from each other.



Next time your sitting in traffic, complaining, look out the window you might find something pretty. I even saw some of these growing taller than some cars on the loop 288 construction area in Denton, TX. That just goes to show how long it's been since they've done any construction work on that one area. haha. No JUMP for this post, sorry.


-Jonny Carroll
Photographer

jdonut photography, LLC
Denton Wedding Photography
We Make Virtual Tours
Denton Wedding Photography
UNT Photography

Amy and Nathan engegement shoot

Amy is an old friend of mine from church, back when I lived in Plano. It happened so quickly, I feel like I'm getting old, everyone's getting married. But I'm happy to see that she's found happiness.


We went to downtown Dallas, where he proposed. I got to play a lot with reflections, water and glass, it was a lot of fun as a photographer. I posted one photo from each outfit change.


I enjoyed shooting their engagement pictures, but unfortunately I'm already booked on the day of their wedding. I'm high demand, baby! -just kidding. All in all, a good shoot. I'll probably be shooting her bridals sometime in the next month if she decides to get them. Looking forward to it.


VIDEO

If your don't see the video, click here.


JUMP
To see more pictures from this shoot visit my facebook album.


-Jonny Carroll
Photographer

jdonut photography, LLC
Denton Wedding Photography
We Make Virtual Tours
Dallas Aerial Photography
UNT Photography

I'm getting Married!

As many of you know, I own an aerial photography business. I fooled Sarah into thinking I was shooting an Arlington, TX hotel lit up at night for a client and that I had to take the larger helicopter because it was 'after hours'. I told her there was an extra seat, so come on up.

photo by Justin Tennison

We flew in an R-44. We flew out of Addison airport. Our pilot was Geir Stensland, I've flown with him three times before, so I know and trust him. He's a great guy and he was so great to Sarah. I also hired a photographer, Justin, to hide and shoot us getting on the helicopter and taking off. Then he took pictures when we landed. He also did a great job.


We first circled around dallas, which was just beautiful. Then we headed toward the (fake) hotel site. Along the way we saw fireworks shooting off. (as planned, Saturday 5th of July). Then once in Arlington, we (the pilot and I) acted as if we kind-of stumbled upon her parents house. The house where she grew up.

She was looking down, waving at her parents who knew we "might be flying over if we have enough time", and then I said "look here". I was holding the ring and she freaked. Her initial responce was "your joking". hahaha, but in a split second it all kicked in. She started to cry but the wind from the helicopter wouldn't let her, it was the cutest thing ever. Oh and of course she said yes. :)



The flight back was so much fun, both our cheeks hurt from smiling so much. We're both so happy. We've been dating just shy of 2 and 1/2 years up to this point; and the wedding will be shortly after we both graduate in spring 09.


JUMP
Sarah made a great post on her blog. Click the link below to see it.
http://chalkonthesidewalk.blogspot.com/

More pictures from our engagment here.
Pictures from the engagement party.




-Jonny Carroll
Photographer and husband-to-be

jdonut photography, LLC
Dallas Aerial Photography

A couple seniors

A different kind of shoot for me. I shot them individually as well as together for senior pictures.


The were a very cute couple. I didn't post any of the individual shots, but you can see them in the jump. We got a good mixtuer of grungy, "seniory", sexy, cute, formal and creative images.



Sarah came along as my assistant on very short notice. Thank you Sarah.


JUMP
to see more pictures from this shoot click here

-Jonny Carroll
Photographer

jdonut photography, LLC
Denton Wedding Photography
We Make Virtual Tours
Denton Wedding Photography
UNT Photography