Drone Photography of Kutaisi, Georgia

With only a few days spent in Kutaisi, I knew I wanted to get a few aerial shots of things, ranging from the riverside to the cityscape. It was a bit of a difficulty to find the time with the shorter days as things got darker much earlier, and the weather wasn't always on my side. Kutaisi sits a little shy of the Caucasus mountains, so it's generally a more windy and rainy environment. Particularly the case of cities that have huge rivers that run through the middle of them. Though there was plenty I wanted to capture in that city and its surroundings. Many of which I didn't get a chance to capture, though I fully intend to return at some point, perhaps for a much longer stay. It was a beautiful place though, with a mixture of pre-Soviet and Soviet architecture within its various little districts. From large residential homes up in the hills with beautiful gardens full of tangerine trees, to Soviet apartment buildings with mosaics on their sides, beautiful patterns surrounding the windows. A few too many things to see within just a few days. Most of the photographs I took with the drone detailed the older district in the very centre, as well as the slightly more abandoned outer areas. I had the intent of capturing the industrial zones there with the drone as well, though that's something for another time.

With the wind being quite strong over the few days spent there, my DJI Mini 2 wasn't all that happy with trying to fly in that environment. Especially over the river where these gusts of wind are met with the pulling pressure by the water. If you don't have a drone, imagine how the force of the river's direction of flow has an invisible force of wind above it, also pulling in surroundings. This meant that the drone above the water would constantly be pulled downward towards the water, a constant fight against the forces that can mean the death of a drone if you aren't careful. I was a little spooked about flying in these areas, but I had specific shots I really wanted to capture. Not all of them came out as intended due to the weather. After all, that Mini 2 is getting old. It's a fragile little thing with a weak battery against nature's strengths. Ideally I'd have flown all over the city and above the river, capturing the contrast between its natural surroundings and the more urban. I've been mentioning for a while now how much I want to upgrade the drone, perhaps that DJI Air 4 will be out by the time I am prepared to do so. Too many upgrades needed to everything I own lately! Anyway, the drone still did alright. The main problem wasn't necessarily the weather but more the incredibly strong light. I had to use a really high shutter speed and the lowest possible ISO of 100. It didn't do much, especially when the Mini 2 has relatively poor dynamic range under brighter environments. So the sky is often blown out. There is no aperture function on the Mini 2.

My initial goal was to shoot the city from its highest point by the old church and also the old amusement park that the city's only and oldest cable car runs to. I aimed for views as high as I could get, but the wind that day was too intense. And the online maps weren't that useful in finding the way to the park by foot. With little light left, I opted for older buildings and less busy environments to take off from to begin with. We found an old building that was abandoned by the river, it looked like it would've been beautiful. An old walkway that was there was clearly intended to be something of leisure for the locals and tourists back during the Soviet Union, but had since lost its interest and funds. Abandoned, covered in broken glass but fortunately not the usual drug needles that otherwise plague Tbilisi. It felt like a sad cultural place gone to waste, and part of me wanted to shoot that, but the trees around made it a difficulty. Walking around rustic buildings, old wood, and crumbling stairways. The usual experience in a post-Soviet nation that has done nothing but waste away since. That usual feeling of wasted opportunity as you roam through, questioning what went wrong and why such places never found their footing again. I think I'll do a separate post on the abandoned area I found given how extensive it felt.

A short walk up to the old church a little bit later, stupidly windy but somehow oddly bright and warm with all the gear and coats. The weather of Kutaisi was brutal in that sense. You would feel cold, stupidly warm, and then freezing as the sun finally began to set. An unforgiving environment that you can't really dress for due to its constantly changing behaviour. The church was a bit of an underwhelming experience, and I'll have a separate post on that at a later date. But the view was nice. Winds as strong as ever, but many tourists surrounding, mostly looking out over the city and enjoying that view of Kutaisi with those massive Caucasus mountains towering in the distance like a wall that stopped at the end of the Earth. The sun felt even more intense here despite the wind, so strong that it hurt the eyes to look around. Everything felt bright, void of shadow. The walls of the church were almost vibrant. I tried to get a few videos and photographs around it, though at one point the gusts of wind (which are stronger obviously the higher you go) kept my drone at a total standstill. It wasn't the suitable environment at all for what I wanted, but you can see what I took despite that. It was only later that the environment was a bit more suitable, as the sun began to set.

My favourite series of shots were taken just around golden hour, not really from the point of view that I had been previously scouting -- the cable car's route was a little too close for comfort. A previous test had me worried about getting caught up in something not worth the risk. Especially with that less predictable wind. Drone flying is all about assessing that environment before you throw it up! And if you do a bit of scouting beforehand, then you can take a few more risks in more populated environments providing you know how to be safe, get in and out with as less noticing you as possible. Perhaps that's me and my more paranoid nature with the drone. But yeah, safety of those around me is the deciding factor, then the safety of my drone comes up second. In the very centre of the city was an old alleyway with many people, and a few stray dogs. I decided with some confidence that this would be where I took off from, with the intend of capturing the reconstruction of one of the city's older buildings from around 1900. With the drone up in the air I got this beautiful golden hour view of the city, beautiful lens flares of pink and orange hitting the drone's sensor. Definitely my favourite photographs of the trip.