Close-up photos of St Peter’s Church roof have been taken by a radio-controlled camera mounted on a 50ft tripod!
Photographer Dave Bond said, “My hobby is flying radio-controlled helicopters, so I mounted a camera on a helicopter and use it to photograph buildings from the air. But when the helicopter is in the garage, I use this tripod.”
The tripod is made steady with adjustable feet and the telescopic sections are pumped up with a hydraulic pump. The digital camera can be moved round and focused by a radio-controller, which also has a switch to take the shots.
Why did we want to photograph the church roof? – to assess the damage to the tower, which is too high for inspection from a ladder. The shots reveal loose slates, some of them dangerous. The photos will be used by our architect in his report to English Heritage.