The Future of Photography is Here and It’s Being Shot At!

The future of photography is finally here and someone is shooting at it. According to Fstoppers, a photographer was flying a drone on July 4 in Colorado. He was just taking pictures of the beautiful Colorado sky and all of a sudden, his expensive flying camera was shot down.

Toby Harriman, an experienced drone camera pilot, was celebrating with friends and family on the 4th and decided to take his drone out for a spin to capture some shots of the fireworks. “I consider myself a pretty considerate and cautious drone pilot,” Harriman said. “I try to follow all the rules given for flying, as well as any that exist in a given area.”

Harriman operated a DJI Inspire 1 camera drone, which costs close to $6,000. He flew the drove at a high altitude above a few houses and then defended down toward Aspen. The drone was over two houses when he heard two gunshots and then watched as his drone fell to the ground, crashing into hundreds of pieces. Harriman ran to the spot where the drone landed and gathered as many pieces as he could but he was nervous that there would be more gunshots.

The next morning he inspected the drone more carefully and noticed a bullet hole inside the casing of the Inspire 1. If Harriman were to have been firing at the time, he could have captured what exactly happened. He was only moments away from remotely turning on the camera.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) continues to announce that it is illegal to shoot at any aircraft and that includes drones.

Times certainly have changed because now we have to look out for stray bullets hitting our flying camera. If you’re in search of local photographers, family photographers, or any other kind of photo professional, it’s probably best to find out if they use drones for their photography. If they do use drones, it’s also wise to make sure they know all the aviation rules, are experienced drone pilots, and will not in any way put you or your family in direct gun danger.

You would think that goes without saying… but clearly it doesn’t.