The Ultimate Drone Flyer – Paul Nurkkala Vignette
The work being created by photographers with drones is pretty incredible. I have tried my hand at drone flying and with moderate success. I am super careful and not very fast or experienced. I have had some embarrassing crashes, especially while the family was watching me and thinking I was a genius. Now when going to family events, I am asked to leave my drone home.
For me flying a drone is a lot of updating, pairing phones to controllers and just having to think about all the data coming from the screen and trying to remember which levers do what. Half the time I’m flying backwards. But, I have to say I am getting better. But I’ll never be as good as Paul Nurkkala, of Indianapolis. This guy can fly, and his drone footage will take your breath away.
Paul flies his drone using what is called FPV, or First Person View flying. Essentially, rather than watch a drone fly and use controls to guide it, Paul uses goggles and flies a drone as if he is sitting in the drone-like a pilot does a plane. He’s one of if not the top drone racer in the country. What this guy does, we can only dream of doing with drones. Paul holds the 2018 World Championship Title for the Drone Racing League.
Michael Durr, one of our video producers, recently spent some time with Paul. Paul’s such a relaxed and fun guy. His story is one all of us dream of. Check out this video then take a look at Paul’s YouTube channel as well as Instagram account. Especially check out the video Flight of the Year – Trains, Bridges, Rapids, Mountains, Sunset, Gapping, Perching, Powerlooping, that has had over 2,276,178 views. This video is the real thing. If it were me flying, I would have hit the first tree coming out of the parking lot. This guy drives beside a train, lands on a train, goes under and then into the train. While this may not be entirely legal according to the present drone rules and regulations, it is something to see.
The Video – Length 4:30
Check out Palu’s Instagram account as well as his YouTube Channel. We’ll be doing more with Paul in the future here on photoPXL.com. For now, we hope you enjoy Michael’s vignette of Paul, and if you get a chance the link to Paul’s video. And, if you didn’t check it out in the link above click HERE for an extreme drone flying video.
Kevin Raber
July 2019
Kevin Raber
Indianapolis, IN
Photography is my passion and has been for 50 plus years. My career in photography has allowed me to travel the world, meet some of the most interesting people on the planet and see things I could never have dreamed of. My goal is to share the passion of picture taking through photographs and teaching with as many people as I can, hoping it brings them as much joy and happiness as it has me. I do this through photoPXL.com, this site, as well as Rockhopper Workshops, and other projects, as well as teaching as Artist In Residence at the Indianapolis Art Center.
