Red Hen's Website Host Streamwerx Picked to Film the Last Shuttle Lift-off

StreamWerx has just completed aerial filming for its Fall Foliage Air Safari from North Carolina to Wisconsin. Owner Decker Campbell shot with the same technology used in BBC's The Blue Planet while lying in a Robinson R-44 helicopter, mounted with a Cineflex V14 HD Sony HDC 1500 Camera Gimbal.

Streamwerx Fall Foliage Aer ial Safari

Decker used Red Hen Systems VMS-HD recorder to keep up with the GPS data of the video footage. StreamWerx gathered stunning stock footage using this technology while traveling at the peak of the fall foliage. From the beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains to the awe-inspiring lighthouses of Sturgeon Bay, the new stock collection contains many sights along the way, including vast Midwest farmland and cityscapes of Cincinnati, Chicago, Indianapolis and Milwaukee.

"It is worth every penny," Jon Jarosh, Director of Communications and Public Relations for the Door County Visitor Bureau, said of the Cineflex system. "It delivers incredible footage. It's just so smooth!" 

StreamWerx is a full service media production company and certified aerial photography studio based in Charlotte, North Carolina. StreamWerx specializes in helicopter aerial cinematography from Florida to Alaska. 

StreamWerx also shoots with a portable, side mounted dual KS-12 gyro stabilized video platform which caught NASA's attention.

"After seeing the quality of our footage on our website, NASA enlisted our help filming the final launch of the space shuttle, Atlantis on July 8, 2011", Decker said, "They wanted us to shoot with a NASA camera on a stabilized system that was inside their Huey helicopter. They flew us around the shuttle, as well as the entire area where crowds were gathering to support the final launch. It was truly an honor to have been a part of it."

Decker filming the last lift-off

To keep up with its growing stock footage library, StreamWerx uses Media Mapper software and Red Hen's plug-ins to Google Earth. This allows for simultaneous viewing of flight paths while viewing and cataloging footage.

Working summers with Alaska Aerial Technologies, StreamWerx offers custom aerial production while collecting stock footage for Alaska Air Safari.com.

Story and photos compliments of Decker Campbell

Upcoming Geospatial Events

The Red Hen on Wildlife Conservation Mission in Africa

 

Petri Viljoen of South Africa is a well noted wildlife biologist who often flies with Peter Ragg of Conservation Air Patrol.

 

Viljoen uses the Red Hen Blue2CAN mounted on his Nikon D-300 to capture high resolution oblique shots of wild herds.

 In April of this past year, Viljoen was responsible for the survey planning of a fixed-wing, sample area count of Liuwa Plain National Park in Zambia and the surrounding area using a Cessna 206 from Sky Trails Ltd in Lusaka the aerial platform. This survey was commissioned by African Parks Network (APN). APN currently manages the park on behalf of the Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) through a lease agreement.

Liuwa Plain National Park (3,360 km2) in Zambia's Western Province is a protected area that includes the vast floodplains between patches of woodland. 

It is an important conservation area for several large mammal species such as wildebeest, tsessebe, zebra, red lechwe, and oribi. Large numbers of birds such as wattled crane, various species of geese and duck also live in this magnificent and unique ecosystem.

More than 42,000 wildebeest, 4,400 zebra and 1,200 red lechwe were counted during the survey. This is now the largest population of wildebeest in Africa after the well-known Serengeti wildebeest population that can number up to nearly 1.5 million animals.

Oblique aerial photography formed an integral part of the aerial survey to record large groups of animals as well as habitat features. A Blue2CAN from Red Hen Systems was used with a Nikon D300. 

The more than 3,400 aerial photos were then loaded into MediaMapper for sorting and analysis. MediaMapper's html export facility was also used to create a DVD with a photo album that included all of the 3,400 photos superimposed over an area map. This DVD with MediaMapper's photo album was a perfect tool and companion to the survey report, for the client to view not only the distribution of large herds, but also to evaluate various habitat conditions and human activities along the fringes of the protected area.

Story and photos compliments of Petri Viljoen