Drone Photography

and the Re-aestheticisation of Nature 6

Verónica C. Hollman

Abstract Résumé

Drones offer the possibility to depict places Les drones, en règle générale, permettent
from perspectives difficult to achieve. They d’avoir accès à un type de vue aérienne
make visible an order of forms, patterns and rendant perceptible une organisation des lig-
relationships that, from the surface is either nes, des formes et surtout des relations
difficult or impossible to have. Although spatiales qui ne l’était pas, ou peu, au sol.
originally developed as a military technology, L’utilisation de ce type de dispositif, qui avait
and hence highly restricted to military prac- été développé, au départ, comme une tech-
tices, drones are currently more accessible for nologie militaire, n’est plus limité à ces
a wider range of users. Perhaps, drone pho- pratiques. Sans doute, le recours de plus en
tography and its recent popularisation are the plus courant aux drones pour réaliser des
most outstanding evidences of how the use of photographies et des vidéos, qu’elles soient
this technology has experienced a shift from récréatives, publicitaires ou scientifiques,
the military to the civil arena. Both, the reflète la diffusion croissante de ces engins
altitude and the proximate perspective that dans le domaine civil. L’altitude, d’une part, et
drones achieve, make the drone picturing a la proximité, de l’autre, proposent de nou-
renewed challenge. Assuming that each tech- veaux défis à la photographie. À partir de
nology of vision organises what we observe l’idée selon laquelle chaque technologie de
with our eyes, I will explore how drone prise de vue organise ce que l’on voit et
photography is picturing nature. By focusing comment on le voit, je me demande comment
on the visual universe displayed under the les drones photographient la nature. J’analyse,
category Nature on Dronestagram, a website plus précisément, l’univers visuel qui nous est
devoted to drone images, I will identify some proposé, dans la catégorie: «Nature», par le
of the mechanisms upon which drone photog- site web «Dronestragram», créé pour diffuser
raphy is reshaping the geographical imagina- les images réalisées à l’aide de drones. Je
tions of nature. propose d’identifier certains des mécanismes
utilisés par ce type de photographie et qui sont
en train de modifier considérablement les
V. C. Hollman (&) imaginaires géographiques de la Nature.
CONICET, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Instituto
de Geografia “Romualdo Ardissone”, Buenos Aires,
Argentina
e-mail: [email protected]

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 57

B. Schelhaas et al. (eds.), Decolonising and Internationalising Geography, Historical Geography
and Geosciences, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49516-9_6
58 V. C. Hollman

exceeds the military origin of this technology. In

Resumen
spite of this shift to the civil arena, academic lit-
Los drones brindan la posibilidad de ver los erature has problematised many more drones in the
lugares desde perspectivas que en algunos casos realm of warfare (Chamayou 2015; Gregory 2010,
resultaría dificultoso lograr de manera directa. 2011, Gregory 2015; Kindervater 2015).
Este dispositivo hace visible un orden en las If we accept that each technology of vision
formas así como relaciones y patrones que organises what we observe, we can think that the
desde la superficie sería dificil o incluso popularisation of the drone, as a device, and the
imposible tener. Si bien los drones fueron massive production and circulation of drone
originalmente desarrollados como una tec- photos are reshaping our geographical imagina-
nología militar, su uso actual ya no se restringe tions. Among technologies of flight, drones
a las prácticas militares. El creciente uso de enable us to have an aerial perspective from
drones para realizar fotografías y videos con closer distances. While planes fly between
diversos fines (recreativos, comerciales, pub- 35,000 and 42,000 feet, balloons between 1000
licitarios, científicos, etcétera) es sin duda una and 3000 feet, in general, commercial drones
de las evidencias más notables de su utilización should fly below 400 feet.1 From this proximate
en prácticas civiles. La altitud y la perspectiva distance, the drone offers either vertical or obli-
de proximidad de los drones proponen nuevos que perspective to see and picture the Earth.
desafíos en la captura fotográfica. Asumiendo Commercial drones provide us with amazing
que cada tecnología de visión organiza qué y images of canyons, glaciers, forests, mountains,
cómo vemos, en este capítulo exploraré cómo se deserts, oceans and wildlife. In other words, a
fotografía la naturaleza con drones. Para ello, fascinating visual experience that can feed the
analizaré el universo visual que se despliega en imagination.
la categoría Naturaleza de Dronestragam, un In this chapter, I will focus on the visual
sitio de Internet dedicado con exclusividad a la universe that a specialised website—Dronesta-
difusión de fotografías y videos realizados con gram—displays under the category Nature. I will
drones. Como itinerario de análisis identificaré identify the mechanisms upon which drone
algunos de los mecanismos a partir de los cuales photography is reshaping the geographical
la fotografía con drones está reconfigurando los imaginations of nature. Drawing on this analysis
imaginarios geográficos de la naturaleza. I will suggest that some features of this genre of
photography make viewers forget that drones are,
Keywords as any form of the device created either to look at
or to enhance natural vision (Mirzoeff 1999: 1),
!
Drone photography Aerial view Nature ! ! visual technologies that intervene directly in
!
Geographical imaginations Dronestagram
what is visible or not.

6.2 A New Bird’s Eye View

6.1 Introduction in the Civil Arena
Unmanned flying vehicles (UAVs), widely known
Most of the literature within geography, as well
as drones, were originally developed as a military
as critical literature in social science (Chamoyou
technology. However, the increasing production
2015), has focused on drones as a technology of
of commercial drones is making its use more
warfare and military surveillance (Gregory 2011;
common for a wider range of civil practices, and
Kindervater 2015). Briefly, research traced the
photography is the most popular use (Rothstein
2015). The massive production of drone pictures 1
and videos is a visual universe per se that largely Regarding drone’s flight altitude, it must be said that
regulations vary from country to country.
6 Drone Photography and the Re-aestheticisation of Nature 59

early development of drones in the UK during military drones in a one-to-one representation in

the 1920s, the 1930s and the 1940s as pilotless different cities of the world. This artistic project
aircraft and offensive weapons of war with the makes visible what Derek Gregory has analysed
aim of both extending the point of attack beyond as ‘the emergence of a political technology of
human pilot’s visual abilities (either under long-distance and stand-off killing (2015: 259).2
extreme meteorological conditions or during the The artist explains
nights) and reducing the risks to personnel in The Drone Shadow is not just a picture of a drone,
flying areas previously categorised as dangerous. it is a diagram of a political system. Every time we
With the Cold War, there was a re-emergence of draw one, we use it to cast light on the actors who
drone development in the United States, as a tool would prefer that the reality of their intentions and
actions remain hidden. (Bridle 2014).
for intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance.
The flying device became a tool to obtain pho- Whilst military use is still the common, it is
tographs in areas with risky or difficult access. In estimated that drone markets will triple in value
the Vietnam War, the drone was used to obtain due to civil uses between 2015 and 2025. As an
visual evidence of targets for air strikes and post object, the drone ‘is a transportation paradigm
bombing damage, as well as to distribute pro- shift, it is a flying machine, it is composed of
paganda material and electronic listening computational electronics, and it is an automated
devices. robot’ (Rothstein 2015: 1). In other words, the
The two most successful drone research and drone becomes a suitable device for multiple
development programmes pursued by the US practices within the civil realm. In fact, drone
government in the 1990s—the Predator and manufacturers have recently oriented their efforts
Global Hawk—sought to increase drone intelli- to show that this object can be extremely useful
gence, reconnaissance, surveillance and trans- for a plethora of civilian activities such as mail
mission capabilities. These programmes were put delivery, weather forecasting, crop monitoring,
to the test in the late 1990s, particularly in the US film industry, news reporting, security and police
and NATO air strikes over Kosovo. Post 9/11 operations in civilian aerospace, architecture
2001, drone research has been oriented to the projects, many areas of scientific research and
coming together of practices of surveillance and even for producing art. Israel Aerospace Indus-
information gathering with those of targeting and tries, for example, have highlighted the need to
killing. UAVs offer a promise ‘of seeing, map- discover ‘ways to make people perceive drone
ping and knowing a complex landscape’ (Kin- technology as a natural part of a future society, to
dervater 2015: 117) upon which warfare has been create positive interest in drones and to create a
organised during the last twenty years: ‘they multidisciplinary promotional campaign (Gra-
make it easier to kill than to detain because that ham 2016: 87). Open source drone manufactures,
killing remains largely hidden from (Western) in a very similar way, are emphasising how
view’ (Kindervater 2015: 49). Perhaps the most drone technology can become a useful device to
relevant issue that these researchers point out is empower social movements and their fights.3
how the drones are reshaping warfare. Derek Commercial drones can be broadly cate-
Gregory argues that the eyes of the new hunter- gorised as camera drones, racing drones and toy
killers are now constructing particular bodies as drone, varying from US 30 to US 3000. More
targets in transnational hunter-killer missions as
in Pakistan, Afghanistan or Somalia (Gregory
2010). 2
The app created by the visual artist Josh Begley also
In tune with this literature, contemporary aims at making visible a political system of killing. The
app sends to your cell phone a push notification every
artists have introduced in their artworks the drone
time a drone strike is reported in the news.
view as a topic of discussion. Among others, 3
Social movements and unions in Argentina frequently
James Bridle’s Drone shadows project consists use drone photography as a document of the social
of the shadow’s drawing of the United States support they have during protests and mobilisations.
60 V. C. Hollman

sophisticated drones, throughout these three cat- Anderson 2018). Cheaper to have and easier to
egories, include cameras stabilisation, software operate, there is no doubt that the commercial
that opens more possibilities (such as gesture drones are also widening the experience of pro-
control), forward-facing, obstacle-avoidance, ducing vertical and horizontal images. In fact,
Wi-Fi connection and computer hardware for photography is one of the main current use in the
mapping out environments in three-dimensional civil arena (Rothstein 2015). The massive pro-
space that help to avoid obstacles. By and large, duction of drone pictures and videos is a visual
they are becoming smaller and lighter to carry, universe per se that largely exceeds its origin as a
and they are also achieving more time and dis- military technology. Suffice to say that one of the
tance flight autonomy. In general, these UAVs drone providers registered the production of
are multi-rotor or quadrotor which are much more than 500 million pictures during 2016. In
cheaper and easier to fly than helicopters. Only addition, the digital materiality4 of these pictures
recently, the miniaturisation of multi-rotor tech- promotes a wider circulation of the aerial
nology has acquired more stability and autonomy perspective.
of flight, and this change has a direct impact on
the quality of the images obtained. The quadrotor
(two sets of two propellers spin in opposite 6.3 ‘Let’s Build a World Map of Our
directions) is a relatively recent technology, and Earth with a Bird’s Eye View’
in the last few years, a number of companies
have been selling full systems for flight photog- There are many websites devoted to the diffusion
raphy, aerial mapping, and hobbyist uses. of drone pictures and videos. In 2013, Eric Dupin
Despite the increasing production and use of and Guillaume Jarret created Dronestagram ‘with
commercial drones, the academic literature has the aim of providing online resource for drone
problematised much more the use of this tech- photographers’. Dronestagram emulates a social
nology in the realm of warfare. Regarding the use network with more than 35,000 users, mainly
of UAVs in geographical research, Birtchnell and from the US, UK, Germany, Canada and Spain,
Gibson (2015) analyse the drone as a resource for where people share their drone images, as well as
teaching research. They identify the challenges tips for obtaining better images. The website also
of introducing drone technology, both in gradu- offers information about photography contests
ate teaching and social research: on the one hand, and even hosts an International Photography
by reflecting on its legal and ethical implications contest.5 In collaboration with Dronestagram,
and on how data is constructed with this tech- Ayperi Karabuda Ecer has recently edited a book
nology; on the other hand, by imagining the Dronescapes with 250 drone photographs.
topics of research that could benefit from its use. There are many itineraries available to the
Garrett and Anderson point out that drones, as visitor through the site: winning photographs,
other devices in the history of science, ‘enable us suggested places, videos (reclassified by type of
to extend our perception into new places, they drone, quantity of visitors, likes and comments),
multiply our possible experiences, and they photographs (reclassified by categories such as
reshape our geographical imaginations’ (2018: urban photos, nature, sports, social events,
346). Hence, these authors emphasise the need to countries, dronies as well as by type of drone
avoid conceptualising drones just as a tool for
research by engaging in both the piloting of 4
Digital technologies enable the visualisation of images
drones and its critical reflection. through different digital devices (computers, smart
Drawing on Rothstein’s definition, I will state phones, online distribution platforms) and different mate-
rial qualities (hard copy, different screens). Regarding the
that the drones are also flying cameras that do not
geographies of digital technologies see Rose (2016).
only enable the user to see places or phenomena 5
From 2014 to 2017, National Geographic as well as the
but also to create still images or videos from the main producers of commercial drones were sponsors of
air-space above called Nephosphere (Garrett and the International Drone Photography Contest.
6 Drone Photography and the Re-aestheticisation of Nature 61

used, the quantity of visitors, and the number of companies devoted to drone image production.
likes and the comments obtained). It is also They have several drones (between 5 and 15
possible to look at both the photographs and the drones) with different characteristics and this
videos by taking the world map as the initial means that they can choose the drone according
point of a virtual trip. The map embodies the will to the places of capture, the weather conditions or
to ‘build a world map of our Earth with a bird’s the type of image they would like to obtain. The
eye view’. The logo of Dronestagram appears all degree of professionalisation becomes evident
over the map and the user can zoom in and out to throughout three areas of knowledge:
different places in the world that have been (a) The use of the drone as a flight device
reached by the drone cameras. One interesting including the mastery of complex tasks such
paradox emerges from the Dronestagram map- as carrying out manoeuvres and estimating
ping: Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan almost the flight time depending on the autonomy of
appear as territories out of the drones’ view each device. This knowledge is essential to
despite the fact that they continuously experience avoid losing or affecting the operation of the
US drone attacks. In other words, Dronestagram drone. One of the award-winning photogra-
creates a geographical imagination of the world phers states:
that excludes the fact that the population of those
countries is being affected on a daily basis by Gradually I was learning drone. The more I was
military drones. learning its opportunities the more complicated my
By defining the top places for tourism, flights were. I began to fly higher, faster, perform
Dronestagram organises the visual information of complicated manoeuvres, fight against nature.
Soon I was able to launch it even from invisible
the world as a trip with global pretension from point, more than a kilometre away from me. […]
the Western perspective. The idea of making a When I got used to control drone better I started to
trip through the visualisation of pictures recreates shoot for myself. At that moment I began to dis-
the lantern slide shows that were so popular by cover things. […] Drone became more than just
a device for me, it became my friend and “co-
the end of the nineteenth century in the UK writer” for my stories. Wherever I’m going it’s
(Ryan 2011). However, the computer as the always with me. (Maksim Tarasov, In: http://www.
medium of visualisation reshapes the act of see- dronestagr.am/blog/interview-maksim-tarasov/ My
ing as an individual experience. The organisation underlying)
of global contests, as well as the publication of (b) Photography as a technology involves the
the winning photographs in well-known practical knowledge of the cameras (their
magazines, such as National Geographic potentialities and limitations), as well as the
clearly demonstrate Dronestagram’s aims to visual training to identify accurate objects
reach a wide and global audience, not restricted and situations to picture from the Nepho-
to the community of drone photographers. sphere. Photographers, for example, fre-
quently use Google Earth (another
technology of vision) to search for the areas
6.4 On the Production of Drone to picture from the drone. They also recall
Photography their desire to re-create an image they
remember either from a previous flight
Dronestagram is frequently presented as a website experience or from aerial photographs they
for non-professional photographers. However, it have observed before, suggesting that the
is a site in which highly trained photographers visual memory is crucial in the production of
publish their work. Their trajectories show that drone photography. It seems that training the
most of them were professional photographers vision is as important as the training to
before getting into the world of drone photogra- operate the drones.
phy, and some of them have even set up
62 V. C. Hollman

Get a lot of practice but start with understanding pristine nature. On the contrary, the three pictures
the basics of photography. Just because it’s with a depict highly transformed or produced natures.
drone doesn’t mean you don’t have to understand
how light works, composition and editing (Jerome One of them depicts a lavender field that occu-
Courtiel, en: http://www.dronestagr.am/blog/ pies the totality of the visual composition.7
interview-jerome-courtial/). Another, shows a route tracing a sinuous shape in
the midst of a forest.8 The third one depicts from
(c) Software for photo editing and video. Pro-
above multiple fragments of ice in the midst of a
fessional photographers recognise the digital
blue matrix, perhaps one of the most acknowl-
edition as part and parcel of drone photog-
edged effects of climate change.9 Secondly, the
raphy production. They even point out the
beauty of the visual composition captures our
use of more than one image editing software.
eyes and provokes an emotional engagement.
In spite of this practice, Dronestagram’s
Beauty has definitely defined both the production
users frequently point out visual details
and the selection of each of these photographs.
supporting their suspicion of the digital edi-
The slogan of the contest sets a return to the
tion of pictures.
classic correspondence between beauty and nat-
In short, nothing is improvised or random in ure. However, both the perspective chosen and
the production of the most viewed and liked the organisation of the visual composition makes
photographs in Dronestagram. Drone photogra- the social intervention and modification of nature
phy involves training in the handling of a system as a sine qua non condition of its beauty.
of devices, previous survey of the area, an ‘If it wasn’t on Dronestagram, I would have
accurate selection of the place and time to take thought it was a painting! Great job’, writes one
the photograph, as well as the drone to be used, of Dronestagram’s users. This comment suggests
the angle and the most appropriate point of view that drone photography provokes pleasure anal-
for each shot. The visual training of the pho- ogous to the one experienced by looking at a
tographer also shapes what and how they decide landscape painting. Perhaps one of the most
to picture. However, the production of drone outstanding features of drone photography is
photography goes on with the digital edition of how colour contributes to the creation of this
the image, with software such as Ligthroom or visual pleasure. As Philip Ball puts it, ‘colour
Photoshop. Drone photography is the result of speaks to our feelings; however, culture shapes
careful procedures that photographers carry out its meaning’ (2013: 41) and compares its effects
before, during and after shooting the photo. In with music ‘[…] it comes by a shortcut to our
the following section, I will analyse how all the senses and feelings’ (2013: 15). Besides, this
drone is picturing nature. aesthetic pleasure the colour gives the viewer
clues to identify shapes and the existence of
different patterns. The colour also contributes to
6.5 Painting Nature with Drones reinforce the homogeneity of a pattern and at the
same time, it highlights its uniqueness. Taking as
I would like to start by focusing on the three an example a drone photography of a field, the
winning photographs in the category Nature of colour indicates areas with a homogenous land
the Dronestragram 2017 contest, sponsored by
the National Geographic magazine.6 Two aspects
called my attention from these three pictures, not
individually but precisely in their dialogue. First 7
First prize category Nature 2017 Contest: Provence,
of all, nothing in these photographs refers to a summer trim. Photographer jcourtial.
8
Second prize category Nature 2017 Contest: Infinite
6
Stephanie Hawkins (2010) has analysed the impact of route to Transylvania. Photographer Calin Stan.
9
this magazine on the nation's visual literacy with a Third prize, category Nature 2017 Contest: Ice forma-
creative blend of scientific and aesthetic modes. tion. Photographer Florian.
6 Drone Photography and the Re-aestheticisation of Nature 63

use but it also defines different types of crops picturing. Cosgrove and Fox (2010) suggest that
within farming use. The colour can also change finding and identifying shapes are activities
according to the precise moment in the crops’ directly associated with aesthetic pleasure. The
development, and therefore, it draws a temporal perception of shapes is a structuring element of
pattern. thought as it offers a degree of generality that
Drone photography is the domain of digital allows it to be applied to more than one object
colour. This means that the reflected light by the and can be recognised with relative ease. Draw-
objects is recorded into a matrix of data instead ing on Cognitive Psychology, it is possible to
of being reflected on emulsion paper. Digital understand that when we see an object we can
programmes analyse the different parameters of only perceive it if we are able to refer it to an
the colour from data obtained. Photographers can archetypal form (Arnheim 1997). This is why
edit the image by choosing to modify parameters shapes are so crucial in the construction of the
such as hue, saturation and brightness. Hence, it visual composition of drone photography. Inter-
is reasonable to state that much of the intensity esting shapes means either recognisable or with a
and the brightness that characterise the drone unique characteristic.
photography is due to its digital processing. In The three winning photographs of the 2017
addition to this digital production of colour, contest, organise the visual composition around
computer monitors, as one of the main spaces to shapes, more or less regular but very defined.
exhibit drone photography, also affect the Even if nature’s shapes are in general irregular,12
brightness of the colour. Paradoxically, the the drone photography is particularly accurate to
intensity and the high definition of the colour show the fitting of regular and irregular shapes as
make audiences feel and believe that they are part of the same entity. In one of the winning
looking into reality.10 The light blue of the photographs of the 2017 edition, for example, a
ocean, the light purple of a lavender field or the sinuous route fits the regular pattern of the forest
white and green of a snowy forest are perfectly in such a way that it resembles a meandering
and beautifully composed with the outcome of river running through a wooded valley. The
the hyper-realism effect. To give another exam- colours let the viewer know that the sinuous
ple, the first prize winner photograph of the 2015 object is not a river but a route. However, the
contest, shows a couple of snorkelling in the route’s shape is so well defined and it fits so
midst of the light blue of an ocean.11 The human perfectly in the visual composition that leads the
couple and the sharks swimming nearby have viewer to look at the route as the feature that
that light blue ocean as a shared space. The makes that naturally beautiful.
colour gives transparency to the image and As a result of taking a distance from the
reinforces the realism of the scene: the viewer objects, drone photography changes the size, one
has the feeling of seeing that aquatic landscape of the attributes of the shape. In addition, it has
without any kind of mediations. two other effects on perception. On the one hand,
Besides the colour, one of the winning pho- the change in the angle of observation, more
tographers highlights that finding interesting evident in the case of vertical shots, provokes the
shapes is one of the central tasks of drone distortion of the shapes, and therefore, their
perception becomes more complex and chal-
10 lenging. On the other hand, as it happens with an
I would like to point out that there are other possible
outcomes of colour digital edition even if they are not part abstract design, taking distance from the surface
of Dronestragram visual universe. For example, the artist
Florian Maier-Aichen’s edition of the colour consists 12
Although I am referring particularly to the nonlinear
precisely of leaving traces of the digital intervention. In patterns of natural vegetation´s distribution in comparison
other words, this artist makes visible the digital edition on to the linear patterns that cultivated fields have, I would
the visual composition of the image. like to acknowledge the symmetries hidden in nature as
11
First prize winner, category Nature 2015 Contest: well as the dynamism, instability and complexity of its
Snorkelling with sharks. Photographer Tahitiflyshoot. behaviour (Prigogine and Stengers 2004).
64 V. C. Hollman

makes invisible some details and makes visible tourism, and it is appealing to a global audience
patterns: the patterns of colours, the patterns of engaged in a wide range of environmental dis-
shapes, the patterns of textures. These two courses. As Cosgrove and Fox (2010: 87) state
changes provoke the viewers need to keep on ‘in the popular imagination, aerial images of the
looking in order to decipher what the photograph earth’s surface and landscapes have come to be
is showing. In other words, drone photography framed almost exclusively through an environ-
shows its audiences a nature that they already mental lens’. This popular imagination arises
know and that they have already seen but in a more complex the tensions, as some of the users’
new way. Whilst the vertical or oblique prox- comments reveal:
imity perspective makes the image memorable Reckless and irresponsible photography wins a
through the changes on the perception of natures’ prize. Great.
shapes, the digital production of the colour gives No explanation is good enough to defend the risk
clues to identify shapes and patterns, as well as to of manoeuvring a drone near a bird (or any other
wild life for that matter). What would the conse-
reinforce the perception of the real through the quences be if there was a collision? This is irre-
image. Either through the shapes or through the sponsible and should be treated as a criminal
colours, the vertical or oblique proximity per- offence! Stiam Jakobsen15
spective contributes to show the beauty of highly
Comments like these openly put into question
produced natures.
the environmental engagement of this photo, as
well as the ethics of the photographic act. Whilst
Dronestagram users recognise the image’s
6.6 The Circulation of Drone beauty, they are also pointing out the responsi-
Photography or Its Co- bilities that the production of a drone photogra-
production phy entails.
The main mode to exhibit images in Dron-
The ‘most amazing aerial view’ of the 2014
estagram, whether still images or videos, is as a
contest, was awarded to a drone photography that
mural or as the composition of images indexed
shows an eagle in flight which seems to be
by categories or tags. The murals of drone ima-
looking at both the drone and the landscape of
ges, in general, have three or six columns and
the Bali National Park (Indonesia).13 The pho-
almost infinite number of rows. Edward Tufte
tographer explains:
(2012: 105) explains that ‘multiple images reveal
The photo was taken on 2012, we were working on repetition and change, pattern and surprise’ and
aerial photos for eco-tourism spot at Bali Barat furthermore ‘amplify, intensify, and reinforce the
National Park (west Bali, Indonesia). We were
taking vertical aerial photos using autopilot. Sud- meaning of images’. The adjacent exhibition of
denly the eagle came and chasing our drones, so I multiple images helps to detect contrasts, corre-
decided to take over and switch to manual control. spondences, analogies and patterns. If categories
After few minutes we discovered that the eagle did and tags shape the interpretation of the drone
not attack the drone but chasing and playing with
it. So we decided to do manual flying (with fpv) images, the murals constructed by Dronestagram
and make the eagle chase the drone and do produce visual subjects to make sense of those
manoeuvre so the eagle positioned just in front our categories and tags. Beyond the meaning imag-
camera. So it just a huge luck and a perfect ined by the photographers, I will suggest that
moment combination.14
Dronestagram is not only a site to publish and to
The picture was taken in a national park, view the drone photographs, but it is also
insinuating either nature appreciation or eco- involved in the production of modes of seeing
them. In effect, through the composition of
13
First prize winning photography 2014 contest. Photog- groups of images, Dronestagram presents an
rapher: Capungaero.
14 15
https://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/first-international- See this and other comments at http://www.dronestagr.
drone-photography-awards-and-the-winner-is. am/bali-barat-national-park-indonesia/.
6 Drone Photography and the Re-aestheticisation of Nature 65

organisation of the visual universe of drone identify and analyse all the things that these
photography producing meaning and shaping the images are leaving out. The politics of drone
modes of seeing. images operates precisely through a composition
The contests are also another type of montage of silences and absences. Let me give an example
widely used in Dronestragram that make users to demonstrate the politics of these images within
associate the drone images to narratives and the civil realm. Last year, just a few hours after a
discourses. The contest ‘Small drones, big young man of a Mapuche16 community was
changes’, to take just an example, was launched murdered in the southern Argentinean province
one month earlier to the 21st Session of the of Rio Negro, the newspaper La Nación pub-
Conference of the Parties to the United Nations lished on its online edition an article entitled
Framework Convention on Climate Change ‘Villa Mascardi from a drone: This is the tourist
(Paris, 2015). Besides the slogan of the contests, area that today concentrates the Mapuche con-
the winning photographs exhibit consists of flict.’ The visual part of the article was a drone
visual pairs that present problem/solution. The video. In less than two minutes the video was
visual parallelism is what makes visible the showing a smooth flight over a paradise in
connection between a particular environmental Patagonia: the lake, the mountains and the forest
problem and a possible way to tackle it. Hence, were beautiful and captivating. The proximity
this contest forces the viewers to interpret each perspective (combining vertical and oblique
photo of the visual pairs within an environmental images) contributed to make the readers believe
discourse. Without this context, some of the that the drone view did not leave anything out of
photographs could perfectly fit in the category of their eyes. However, neither Mapuches people,
Nature (and in fact the user can find them in this who were claiming the right over an ancestral
category) or become the cover of an architecture, territory, nor the police, who were involved in
industrial design or engineering magazine. the murder, were part of the drone video. I should
stress that although the video had the character-
istics of a Patagonia’s touristic destination
6.7 Concluding Remarks: The advertisement, the article’s visual narrative pre-
Politics of the Drone Images sented only the tip of the iceberg of a conflict of
land appropriation in Patagonia. Instead of
Harun Farocki and Kaja Silverman focus on one acknowledging the long history of Mapuches
scene in Godard’s film Le Gai Savoir (1968) in land’s rights, the drone video puts forward the
which Patricia, one of the main characters of the idea that indigenous communities are not part of
film asks ‘What is a false image?’ and she that territory. I think that the editors’ choice to
answers, ‘There, where the image and sound include a drone video as part of that article is
[seem] true’. Farocki and Silverman point out: directly related to the status that drone images
‘She thereby suggests that an image or sound is have acquired in the popular visual culture:
false not when it misrepresents reality, but when people believe they can find the truth through
it seems adequate to reality—when we are able to these images.
assimilate it to ourselves. An image or sound is Analysing how the aura of transparency of
true, on the other hand, when it manifestly fails this genre of photography is constructing nature
to represent us’ (Farocki and Silverman 2016: may allow us to contemplate both the regimes of
187). By looking at the visual universe of visibility created through this technology and the
Dronestragram, in this chapter, I tried to argue politics of the drone images within the civil
that we need to put drone images into question realm. As Doreen Massey has put it: ‘Not all
within the civil realm too. views from above are problematical. The
The hyperrealism of drone images is simul-
taneously the base upon which they are consid- 16
The Mapuche people are the original inhabitants of the
ered faithful images, and what precludes to Southern territories of Argentina and Chile.
66 V. C. Hollman

problem only comes if you fall into thinking that Cosgrove D, Fox W (2010) Photography and Flight.
vertical distance lends you the truth’ (Massey Reaktion Books, London
Farocki H, Silverman K (2016) A propósito de Godard.
2007: 107). In other words, we need to analyse Caja Negra, Buenos Aires
how we look at drone images in civil practices, Garrett B, Anderson K (2018) Drone methodologies.
too. Taking flight in human and physical geography. Trans
I have also argued that the montages of the Inst Br Geogr 43:341–359
Graham S (2016) Vertical: the city from satellites to
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possible montages aiming to put into question danger: culture and power in the everyday. University
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Hawkins S (2010) American iconographic: national
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acknowledging all the silences that these amaz- Kindervater KH (2015) Lethal surveillance. Drones and
ing images have. the geo-history of modern war. Phd Dissertation.
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
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