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Remote-control Drones

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Remote-control drones have made waves in the photographic community over the last few years, with many people trying them out to see what they might be able to add to their portfolio. But Tim Wilde took it one step further and made aerial photography a core part of his business. A combination of landscapes, weddings, housing surveys and even being a main dealership for radio-controlled equipment means that he is fast becoming a leading expert on the subject.

'It was something that I read about initially' Tim tells me when I ask how he discovered drone photography. 'I thought it was quite literally a new perspective on things, because I have always sold landscape photographs as part of the business.' After going out and picking up a drone for himself, Tim quickly realised that he would also need his commercial pilot's licence in order to be able to use it in the ways he wanted to. 'It costs several thousand pounds to go through the training programme to get your CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) permission for aerial work.

'A two-day ground school with an exam is the first part, and then you have to write an operations manual that covers your specific drone and your business practices. It's not an easy thing to write - it lists safety procedures, operating procedures, managing and maintaining your craft, and lots of risk assessments!'

After about a year of hard work Tim obtained his licence and has been putting his drone to work at every opportunity. 'People often want aerial images of weddings and just as they would hire a videographer in addition to their main photographer, they will often hire us to shoot aerial photography'. Of course it's not just Tim who works in the business - his wife Alison also is the official observer for all of their aerial operations. On top of that she manages their shop and does all of the accounting, meaning that Tim can get on with the job of taking photos!

Tim is very clear that he won't do aerial camera work if he has been hired as the main photographer though: 'You often get as little as an hour and a half with a client on a wedding day to shoot the pictures that they want, and that hour and a half would be completely taken up with preparatory work. Crew briefings, people management - all of those things get in the way of concentrating 100% on shooting the images you've been hired for. So for me, I won't do them together and if I'm commissioned to shoot aerial photography at a wedding, then that's all I will do.'

It's landscape photography that is Tim's real passion, and he takes every chance he can to be out with the drone shooting; 'Aerial photography has inspired me with landscapes again! I think everyone cuts their teeth in photography with landscapes, it's often the first thing you have a go at, but I just found that I wasn't being challenged anymore.' However, after a long five years away, Tim's interest in landscape photography has been reinvigorated! 'I've decided to shoot aerial landscapes for my Associateship panel. I've been working for about a year now shooting sunrises and sunsets and I've really just got to visit another couple of locations and then edit them down'. Tim also enters many of the monthly competitions hosted by The Societies and sees them as an excellent opportunity to improve his work; 'By entering the competitions and qualifications you become so much more critical of what you do. The mentoring, the competitions, everything about the organisation helps you to become a better photographer'. www.wildephotography.co.uk



Updated 27/04/2026 16:44:22 Last Modified: Monday, 27 April 2026