mission bay

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Just a mile away from where we stayed in Mission Beach was Belmont Park. It was fun because everytime we drove home, it was the landmark where we knew we were almost there. And traveling with a toddler, he definietly made sure we all saw it each time we drove past. For the two weeks that we were there, we always said that we would go, but never ended up making it. Oh well, there will definietly be a next time!

One of those days that we were driving home, I was thinking about interesting places I could fly my drone. I don’t think you understand, I really became drone obsessed while I was away. So as we drove past the park, it struck me that flying over Belmont Park would probably be interesting. I envisioned a really cool lines from the rollercoaster and had no idea what else they had in the park. I just knew there was a lot and that it was big. I also knew that I wanted to do it early morning so that there would be no visitors or anything in the park just in case. So the very next morning, I woke up, hopped on a Bird Scooter and scooted my way down to the park. I went across the street to Mission Bay so I had plenty of room to take off and land but still close enough to fly.

It just so happened to be one of the only foggy mornings that we were there. I was able to capture some cool images but it really wasn’t what I was looking for. I figured I could go back on another day when the sky was a bit better so I hopped back on the scooter to go across the street to check out what it looked like on the beach. As soon as I got to the beach, the skies cleared up and I was able to capture what I had envisioned.

I love the perspective and all the cool colors and shapes. Now this really makes me wish we were able to check the park out. I love rollercoasters and fast rides.

My camera settings for this image is F2.2 at 1/100th sec and ISO 102 with my DJI Mavic Pro.

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Home from California and it honestly feels a little different being back.

Why? Because I was so used to the beautiful California weather and as soon as I stepped off the plane, all I saw was snow. So sad to have missed the first real snow we got in the Washington DC area but not sad because I had a blast on our trip.

Even though a majority of our time was spent in San Diego and we had a trip similar to this around the same time last year, it was still like our first time there. It was a different experience because this time we went with our cousins and we stayed directly on the beach. Living that beach life was so great. Sometimes instead of driving the rental car, we would just take scooters to get around. We took Frankie on walks on the beach which he loved because he had so much open space to run around and overall just looking outside the windows of our airbnb at sunset was a view that stopped you in your tracks. I loved it.

It also allowed me to spend more time practicing and capturing the city from above with my drone. By the end of the trip, I tended to reach for my drone more times than my actual camera. I love just standing on the beach and seeing different points of view with just a slight movement of my finger. It made taking pictures a little more relaxing.

This image was taken just a few steps away from our airbnb in Mission Beach one morning just after sunrise. It was cool because our view was of the ocean but right behind us was Mission Bay. It was so nice to be surrounded by water.

My camera settings for this image is F2.2 at 1/280th sec at ISO 100 with my DJI Mavic Pro