Twenty Five Years
of Island Images - November 2000 - 2024
    
    
    
    
    
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30/11/25
I'd arranged to meet
up with another local drone enthusiast to give him some spare parts for
an old DJI Phantom 2 and chose St John's as a mutually convenient location
for both of us that would also give me the chance to carry out a photography
flight.
DJI Mini 4 Pro 30/11/25
   
  
29/11/25
We were away across
in England for just over a week, and coming back on Tuesday I was full
of the cold and disinclined to venture out of the house! However,
yesterday afternoon I was feeling a bit better and decided that some fresh
air would be beneficial, so had a walk around Groudle Glen where I took
these pictures.
Panasonic TZ95
28/11/25
    
    
    
    
    
    
15/11/25
From time to time I
shoot some aerial pictures for a local publishing company, Loaghtan
Books, and had a couple of requests pending in the Douglas area.
On Thursday morning the weather looked suitable so I headed down to the
promenade initially, the brief was to shoot modern day equivalents of old
photographs for another in the excellent series of 'Then and Now' books,
in this case 'Douglas Volume 2' which should come out sometime next spring.
As always I also try to make use of these flights to take some pictures
for the website! The weather had looked promising but rather quickly
turned cloudy with approaching rain curtailing the second flight.
DJI Mini 4 Pro 13/11/25
    
    
My second 'target' for
Thursday morning was up on Douglas Head, trying to replicate an old photograph
taken from ground level. Unfortunately, the spot where the original
photo was taken from is now a scrubland of gorse and briars, but the advantage
of a drone is that you can just fly low over them. As before, I used
the opportunity of the flight to take some more picture for this website,
but I'll start of with a reproduction of a lovely painting of the area
by Stuart Green, to set the scene.
DJI Mini 4 Pro 13/11/25
    
14/11/25
After having an excellent
lunch at The Grosvenor in Andreas on Wednesday, we continued onwards to
the Point of Ayre. I hadn't intended flying there but when we arrived
there was very little wind and it seemed a shame to waste the opportunity!
There were lots of seals on the beach and I made sure to keep the drone
well away.
DJI Mini 4 Pro
12/11/25
    
   
 
13/11/25
After shooting the waterfall
and Dhoon Glen pictures on Sunday afternoon I hadn't intended to do any
more flights, but when I was walking back and came clear of the trees on
the 'outside' path I could see that conditions were completely different
to the previous day, with waves washing onto the beach and around the rocks,
so decided to carry out another flight, including flying down to just above
sea level for some shots of the beach and waterfall.
DJI Mini 4 Pro 9/11/25
    
   
In the early hours of
the 12th November, the island (and much of the northern hemisphere) was
treated to a superb display of the Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights.
It was pure luck that I saw anything, as I was just heading from bed to
the bathroom just before 04: and wondered why I could see a red glow through
the condensation on a Velux window. I investigated further through
a clearer window downstairs before heading into the back garden to see
if I could capture it, using an action camera and my phone.
Insta360 Ace Pro &
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra 12/11/25
   
Some more experimentation
with waterfalls! One that I've always found difficult to photograph
is the one that falls down into Sulby Glen from close to the Killabrega
tholtan. It's almost 400 ft in height from top to road level, but very
narrow and only has a decent flow of water for a short while after heavy
rainfalls. I wanted to try some different techniques with the Mini
drone that can shoot in vertical format, so I experimented with them on
the way out to Ramsey and Andreas on Wednesday afternoon.
DJI Mini 4 Pro
12/11/25
  
 
  
   
 
11/11/25
I'd mentioned with the
previous 360 degree panorama at Dhoon Glen that I wasn't really satisfied
with the result, so the following day I went back, this time in the afternoon
and with the mini drone, which has a couple of advantages over the bigger
one. In the end I still wasn't that happy with the end results but
for reasons outside my control! Anyway, I did get some more nice pics of
the glen and waterfall so I though that I'd share them with you.
DJI Mini 4 Pro 9/11/25
    
    
   
  
10/11/25
After taking the waterfall
pictures on Saturday morning I continued along the lesser used footpath
that runs about halfway up the southern glen hillside, until I came out
of the trees at a location around 150 ft above sea level and carried out
another flight taking pictures of the beach and bay.
DJI Air 2S 8/11/25
    
    
9/11/25
Continuing to hit the
waterfalls! This is probably the optimum time to photograph them
as the trees are loosing their leaves but there are still some lovely colours
on some. We've recently had a lot of rain which has greatly increased
to water flow in the rivers, so yesterday morning I set off to capture
Inneen Vooar, the 'Big Girl' waterfall in the Dhoon Glen. It the highest
waterfall in the island at 130 ft (40 metres) high but from ground level
you can't see it all at the same time, hence the use of the drone!
DJI Air 2 S 8/11/25
   
 
Some stitched panoramic
views.
  .jpg)
8/11/25
After walking down to
Glen Maye Beach and shooting the first few of the ground level pictures,
I decided to fly the drone for some aerial shots.
DJI Mini 4 Pro
6/11/25
    
   
7/11/25
Yesterday the weather
was much improved with higher cloud, brightness and even some sunshine,
although quite variable from one part of the island to another, as often
happens. In the afternoon I had a visit to Glen Maye, to photograph
the waterfall and have a walk down to the beach.
Insta360 Ace Pro, Samsung
Galaxy S24 Ultra, DJI Mini 4 Pro 6/11/25
Ground level shots at
the waterfall
    
Aerial views
    
Panoramic Aerial views
  
Onwards at ground level
to the beach
    
    
    
6/11/25
What to do on an afternoon
when there is only around two hours of daylight left, and your house has
been in the clouds all day with heavy busts of rain passing across the
island all day? Go out and take some photographs obviously! Just
using the little Ace Pro camera for these pics as it's supposedly waterproof
and good in low light situations. Due to the lack of time available I headed
along the East Baldwin valley and up as far as Injebreck Hill before turning
back.
Insta360 Ace Pro
5/11/25
    
    
5/11/25
The weather on the island
has been pretty poor for the last few days, with strong winds giving way
to low cloud and bursts of very heavy rain. However, as a photographer
I feel that every weather condition gives its own opportunities, so to
take advantage of the large quantities of water falling from the sky, why
not go and photograph waterfalls? My spare time yesterday was a bit limited,
so I just managed to fit in a fairly quick visit to my nearest one, at
Injebreck. Photos left in the 6x4 shooting format.
Nikon D7100 & Samsung
S24 Ultra (last pic only) 4/11/25
    
   
4/11/25
The weekend just passed
saw the last days of scheduled services on the railway network for 2025,
so on Sunday afternoon I headed up to Laxey to photograph some of the action
on the Manx Electric and Snaefell Mountain Railways.
Panasonic TZ95 &
Insta360 Ace Pro 2/11/25
    
    
    
    
3/11/25
After taking the photos
of the trains at Castletown on Saturday morning I headed back to Colby
Glen. I was equipped with my welli boots this time and the plan was
to wade into the river to get some shots of the Fairy Pool with the waterfalls.
Things didn't go quite as planned though!
Panasonic TZ95 &
DJI Air 2S 1/11/25
    
    
    
2/11/25
A quick visit to Castletown
Station to catch the trains passing on the morning of the penultimate day
of scheduled services for 2025. I left home a bit late and when I
was help up at the Ballasalla level crossing for the southbound train to
pass I thought that I was going to miss them!
Panasonic TZ95
1/11/25
   
  
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