The New View From Above
Aerial photographers flock to the photo-sharing platform Dronestagram
Not long ago the best views one could get were from mountain summits or the tops of skyscrapers. People have been tethered to this earth, twisting their cameras at extreme angles to lend the impression of having escaped gravity’s clutches. But now drones have broken through the commercial barrier from avid garage tinkerers to geeky weekend warriors. And the plummeting barrier to entry has created a new category of photography.
A technology promising new vistas needs a new venue for people to share their photos. And so Dronestagram was born, launching in the spring of 2013.
Its founder, Eric Dupin, had followed the growth of UAVs, upgrading his radio controlled planes in 2012 to begin shooting pictures with an A.R.Drone, then a DJI Phantom. A year later he kicked off his drone news site Smartdrones, but still felt something was missing.
“Last year I was at a conference in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and at the end of the event we had a group picture,” says Dupin. “A drone came up from the sky, hovered over the field near the group, and took pictures and videos to be filed on the event website. I asked myself, ‘Where can I see the pictures, is there a platform that gathers pictures made with drones?’ The answer was ‘nope’ and the idea was born!”
People were quick to hop on-board the aerial photo sharing platform. Within a year there were enough active users to hold a contest and the company collaborated with editors from National Geographic France to pick the best images from some 1500 submissions.
Today the site averages 200,000 unique visitors a month, predominately from the United States. Viewers from Dupin’s native France are next in line, with western European nations rounding out the top five countries of origin and Brazil, Japan, and Mexico all in the top ten.
As expected landscapes dominate users’ portfolios, split between the great outdoors and shots from above cities around the world. Dupin has begun to notice the ascent of a new style of photos: “Dronies”, or self portraits from above.
Between managing several drone-centric sites Dupin manages to get out and shoot his own photos from time to time. His last session took place in the skies over his home of Lyon (not pictured).
“I took my Phantom with a GoPro flying over some famous places early on a sunny July morning,” he says. “When I took the microSD memory card off the GoPro and discovered the images — video and stills — I was really astonished at what I discovered.”
One of his shots was picked up by the city’s official Facebook page which used it as its banner for a couple of months.
While Dupin considers Dronestagram a success as it is he’s hoping that people use the site to connect in real life. Groups of UAV flyers heading out en masse would fulfill the promise of Dupin’s vision as it blossomed in St. Petersburg. Helping to nurture both hobbyist and professional communities is a current goal of the company. So is turning a profit.
Right now Dupin is one of only three people running the site and they’re operating at a loss. Figuring out ways of generating ad revenue and adding premium content are both high priorities, as are keeping meetings with investors on either side of the Atlantic.
With the wider adoption of personal drones and quad and octocopters, the play for a niche photo sharing site makes sense. And even those without drones themselves can enjoy users’ contributions.
To submit your own photo, head over to Dronestagram and sign up.
