As the autumn atmosphere still rolls on in within Armenia, I've been planning a few more trips to the north where the mountainous small resort town of Dilijan sits. A small town that is mostly housing and has very little else to it. This environment is mostly famous for its historic Soviet resorts, but still remains popular to this day for the natural landscapes and hiking trails that both natives and tourists admire. I haven't done the majority of the hiking trails here, and the area remains new due to the natural size of the parks and mountain ranges. I was there the other week and always pull out the drone when I can to get those aerial views.
Though one of the main fears of flying in a place like this is the wildlife and nature itself. Strong winds that roll over the winds suddenly. Gusts that could wipe the drone out of the sky given how fragile and small mine is. Though I have more anxiety over the arrival of the environment's predators. While here, we saw a wild fox, a little land animal that was quite gentle. Though within these mountains lurk bears. Hawks. Eagles. All kinds of animals that could cause some serious damage if they wanted to do so. For my drone, the main fear is the flying wildlife. I've seen hawks and eagles in the distance before in Dilijan, at the same time I have been flying the drone.
Flying over the dense forestry, it often capture the attention of the birds. I often see a few curious birds flying around the camera, sometimes capturing some really beautiful shots of them in the process. Other times it's more my visual line of sight that causes a bit of anxiety, seeing all kinds of huge birds in the distance that could spring up out of nowhere and wipe my puny drone out of the air. But that's another thrill of flying it in the wild. Not knowing what might happen. Seeing the true wildlife and sometimes capturing those moments. Making me feel more excited about the riskier shots I take that result in flying a bit more out of my comfort zone.
Here I mostly shot around a lake. Capturing the lake itself, a little tourist boat over it. As well as flying around the mountains and capturing the horizon in which larger mountains reside. At some point in autumn and winter I want to return. To capture the trees changing colour but also the beautiful sight of low clouds rolling on in between the trees. A bit of a bucket list shot! And one I've been growing closer to capturing as of late with the changing of the weather, seeing those low clouds clinging to the mountains as the temperature drops, the wind increases, and the clouds rolls down those mountains.
Anyway, yeah, I'm super looking forward to the season really changing and capturing all of this as it turns all brown and orange! A first time experience for me, coming from England where we don't have such vast mountainous regions and such dense forestry.