14 DAY TRIAL // Selfies, those photographs that people take of themselves, could soon be a thing of the past, as with the latest technological advancements this viral fad is taking to the skies. So, forget about selfies, the dronie is all the rage now.
What's a dronie, you might ask. Let me enlighten you on this one: a dronie is a selfie taken by a drone – a new trend that involves capturing aerial shots from a remote controlled camera. However, there is a difference between the two: while selfies are still images, dronies are short videos.
And how did this new craze came to life? Amit Gupta, an inventive entrepreneur in San Francisco, is the one who took the first aerial selfie with a camera mounted on a drone. He has been experimenting with snapping the ultimate self-portrait for months, and has finally managed to up the ante for the selfie phenomenon with the dronie.
Gupta, who runs the photography accessory store Photojojo, and New York Times journalist Nick Bilton, took the first documented dronie in Bernal Heights Hill in San Francisco using a DJI Phantom drone with a remotely controlled camera attached to it. You can see the result at the end of this article.
After Amit Gupta uploaded his dronie online, more and more people took on the challenge and navigated their remote controlled devices to take self-portraits from afar. And soon enough, a Vimeo channel dedicated entirely to dronies has been set up. Take a look at the short videos, as some of them are really beautiful.
However, you will notice that this trend hasn’t grown to selfie proportions just yet, and it would probably take some time before it replaces the so-familiar self-snaps, if ever. There are several reasons why dronies have not yet been embraced by the entire planet.
First of all, not everybody owns a drone, as they are expensive flying toys. Secondly, dronies are a lot harder to master, they require more skill and practice, and things don’t always go well. Moreover, you have to pay more attention to the selection of the appropriate surroundings to make a really beautiful dronie.
Don't worry though, as Mr. Gupta came with an idea to help people who cannot afford buying a drone. His company, Photojojo, is going to rent drones starting this month to those who would like to try out the dronie trend without investing too much money.
On the company's website, visitors can also find a brief tutorial for capturing the best dronie. So, all things considered, I guess I'm not wrong if I say that visiting your local park without taking a dronie will soon be a waste of time.
Bernal Hill selfie from Amit Gupta on Vimeo.