Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark

Chickasaw Bricktown BallparkOklahoma City's Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark with the downtown skyline in the distance.

Ever since the rehabilitation of Oklahoma City's Bricktown and the opening of the ballpark I have had this photograph in the back of my mind. The location of the ballpark makes the perfect foreground for a skyline image of downtown OKC.

On previous visits, the weather and the skies had not cooperated while I was in the area. Then in May a few years ago everything finally came together. My most difficult hurdle was trying to find a place to park and launch the drone. Since there was no game going on the ballpark's parking lot seemed like the logical place. Amazingly, it was open and there were only a few other cars much closer to the entrance to the ballpark. This was a really easy scene to capture since the drone only went straight up about 100 feet. I did move around a bit working on different compositions but this one was my favorite.

I originally created this image with the idea of submitting it to my stock photography agent. They, sadly, turned it down citing a potential for copyright infringement of the architect. That came as a big surprise to me but they do get to call the shots with the images they license. I intentionally flew on a day when there was no game scheduled. I'm not sure how it works in AAA baseball but in the major leagues, there are temporary flight restrictions within a few miles of the stadiums so my drones don't fly.

I still like the image and it's part of my portfolio of architectural and real estate services. The drones offer a lot of new possibilities and have become a consistent tool in creating new points of view, perspectives, and compositions. When I first decided to invest in a flying camera I thought it would be a boon to my landscape photography. While it has offered new points of view, sales of these photos for home decor have been almost non-existent. They have become a great addition to my stock and magazine submissions, however.