Josh Haner flies a UAS (drone) on the Greenland Ice Sheet. HOLD FOR TIMES INSIDER. NOTE: This photo is cleared for all uses as though a staff member took it. OK’d by email to Josh Haner. OPTIONAL CREDIT: Gavin A. Sundwall NYTCREDIT: Josh Haner/The New York Times
Editor’s Note: As drones have become commonplace, the laws governing them have not always kept pace. While the FAA has – for the moment – developed regulations, local, state, county, and city regulations do not always agree. Photojournalists are at the center, and forefront, of drone use, and, typically, best practices.
Cross-posted from cjr.org
[By Travis Fox]
The images, taken by photographer Josh Haner from about 135 feet above the smoldering remains of a subdivision decimated by a wildfire in Santa Rosa, California, are mesmerizing.
In Haner’s video, the camera glides smoothly over the jagged landscape, close enough to make out details—partially burned palm trees, a lone fire truck—but high enough for viewers to get a sense of the scale of the disaster.
And the story was inarguably worth covering: According to The Washington Post, the nearly 9,000 fires that ripped across Northern California in the fall of 2017 burned more than a million acres, destroyed almost 11,000 structures, and killed at least 46 people.