No, I am not back in the biz...

The photography biz, that is.

A friend asked if I'd take photos of a new church dedication.  Like most friends, we have traded favors back and forth... and we don't keep track.

What he was looking for was the congregation gathered in front of the church.  I suggested that it might be best done by drone.  Weather dependent.

When I got up this morning, the wind was blowing around 20 at our house.  The drone limit is about half that.  The new church is in a small town about 50 miles away - no idea what the weather is doing there.

We were up early to get ready.  I tried to order us a breakfast burrito to go from our favorite breakfast place here in town - the first 3 times I called, the number was busy; the next 3 times, they didn't answer.  Yeah, it is Mother's Day... no doubt they are slammed.

So, it was a fast food grab on the way.  Overcast skies, which isn't a problem.  In fact, when photographing people, it is my preference.  Just for fun, Mother Nature dropped a few rain drops on us.  Fortunately, it was just a few.  When we got to the church (about a half hour early, so I could look over the situation), still a gray sky, nothing falling from that sky, and the wind was blowing around 12, occasionally gusting higher.

When my friend, Pete, got there, he asked, "Is it too windy?"

"It is going to be close."

I brought along a ladder, in case we couldn't get the quadcopter stable enough for good images.  We started gathering the people...

Up with the quad, some rockin' and rollin'... the higher I took it, the more the wind affected it...

I got the shots they were after, and brought the quad down.  In one piece.

While we put away our equipment, Joan said, The wind is kicking up - good timing!"  I did take a few shots from on top of the ladder, as a back-up, but the perspective is better from higher.

Good clean living on my part.  ;-)

I thanked my dear sweet wife for helping me.  On Mother's Day.  This church isn't too far from where we store our motorhome, so we dropped in to check on it - all good.  And on the drive home, Joan got to visit with Steph.  We made a great kid.

Back home before noon.  I'm on deck for grilling steaks for our Mother's Day dinner.  If I can keep the grill lit in the wind.

Happy Mother's Day to my lovely wife, and all the Mothers who might be reading here.  We wouldn't be here without you.  :-)