This week I’m sharing photographs I’ve taken with a drone — a tool that completely changed the way I see the world as a photographer. Before drones were available to consumers like me, I used to wonder what it would be like to climb to the top of a tree or become a bird for a moment, just to see my subjects from a completely different angle.
When drones arrived, it felt like someone had handed me that dream. Suddenly, the world opened up — new perspectives, new compositions, and new ways to tell the story of a place.
This photograph is of St. Marks Lighthouse, taken several years ago in the Big Bend region of Florida, less than an hour outside Tallahassee. Back then, the gate to the park wasn’t locked at night, so I could drive all the way out to the lighthouse before sunrise. On this particular morning, a massive thunderstorm was rolling in, and the sky was a swirl of color — soft pastels in one direction, dark clouds gathering in the other.
From the ground, it was beautiful. But from above, it felt like something else entirely — quiet, powerful, and almost cinematic. Without a drone, I never would’ve been able to see this lighthouse from this perspective, suspended over the Gulf as the day broke open.
This lighthouse has been standing here for well over a century, watching the world change around it. The original tower was built in 1831, and the structure standing today dates back to 1842 — meaning it has witnessed nearly two centuries of storms, wars, migrations, and the unfolding story of Florida’s Gulf Coast. Every time I visit St. Marks Lighthouse, I’m struck by that sense of place and history. I always find myself wondering what it has seen, what it has endured, and how many lives have passed by its beam. It’s one of the reasons I love photographing it — it reminds me that some things stand steady, no matter how the world shifts.
#DronePhotography#AerialPhotography#StMarksLighthouse#FloridaPhotography