I knew there was some promise from going to the nearest actual green space in Yerevan when it came to wanting to fly the drone around. I had previously looked on Yandex Maps for the most appealing locations in the city to capture with the drone but also without being too out in the open. I wrote a post the other day on how I have had to rebuild my drone confidence here given the generally sensitive atmosphere surrounding drones. Though looking online, plenty of people still fly them around, in far more populated areas than me. Though I knew for my own safety it was best to remain in these more isolated areas, hidden away beneath the trees where nobody knew I was there, where the drone could take off and land likely unseen the entire time.
I packed up the batteries and the drone and headed down to Victory Park. Shutterstock, Adobe Stock, and a few others show just over 100 general drone videos listed on there, so I felt it was also a good idea to add to that and increase some chances of generating a few sales. This park is dedicated to those who had lost their lives throughout various conflicts in the nation's history, mostly relating to the Second World War. Named Victory Park for that reason: the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany. From here a large amusement park resides, with plenty of little attractions for families. Though there's also a war museum lurking beneath the tall and proud Mother Armenia statue which is seen throughout much of the city below. She stands above, grasping a sword that protects the nation.
I tried to capture the large Cascade which remains unfinished from the Soviet Union, but the wind picked up shortly after I started flying and I knew the batteries wouldn't quite hold flying against the wind like that. I didn't want to have to run off to that more populated area to capture a drone that had managed to run out of battery and not make it home. That would've defeated the whole purpose of remaining hidden from view the entire time! Though it revealed something quite interesting to me: for all the time I have been in Armenia, I have heard of how the Cascade had never been finished, and that maybe one day the nation might fund it to completion. This is the most popular tourist destination for the country and to no surprise it's the thing that stands out the most, again towering over the city in its unique Soviet architectural design, while also offering similar views to that of my first picture in this post.
Well, the shots showed some construction vehicles at the unfinished area, signally that development had finally started. Though whether the final design once completed will bring justice to the rest of the Cascade, I have no idea.
I flew around the highway and captured a few shots of the area, though I was generally happy with what I had captured, I managed to get some unusable videos because of a few people lurking around not too far from me, which was visible in the videos. Including one what I assume homeless man just casually laying out in the open. At first I thought it may have been a body, fortunately that wasn't the case given some movement was visible towards the final frames of a clip I thus thoroughly inspected to ensure I hadn't actually witnessed something far more sinister. All I wanted were some cinematic shots of the traffic going in varying directions with that top down perspective!
I don't think I went there at the right time, the wind was picking up and the light was all over the place. I think I'll have to revisit it and capture it around sunset, which is sort of what I had in mind. Where the mountains in the distance are more visible and some of the artificial lights of the Cascade and Victory Park have turned on. But this was still really fun. I had missed capturing such environments, trying different things and finding the best ways to capture them. I do think the confidence is returning, but not enough to go flying down there in the middle of the city anytime soon.