New Nature Documentary

I am now three months into filming a new documentary titled Suburban Woods. It follows wildlife interactions within a five-acre nearby wooded setting. Two trail cameras are currently deployed and moved around two to three times a month. So far they have captured opossums, raccoons, groundhogs, deer, foxes, turkeys, and even a coyote (once). A professional 4K camera is used for most other scenes, and a small drone on occasion for establishing shots.

A pair of raccoons cross the runoff creek in search of a nighttime snack.

What got me started on this venture is simple: it fills my spare time, allows for exercise, and is within walking distance. I also wanted to see exactly what animals are able to survive in such a small space, as developments around suburban areas increasing push animals into these limited areas. Some animals, like deer especially, tend to move throughout nearby wooded patches, which means crossing streets and sidewalks.

There are many challenges for these creatures: food and shelter scarcity, disease, noise, pollution, and human disturbance. Amazingly, many have learned to survive. Whether or not they thrive is to be determined.

Picking up trash early in the year that is mostly caused by stormwater runoff.

I limit my interactions by using trail cameras that allow videos to be remotely retrieved. This means sifting through a lot of squirrel footage. For other shots (creek, insects, plants, trees, etc.), I only spend about two hours a week down in the wooded space. Most birds and squirrels really don't seem to care about my presence and even venture closer. They have a curious nature, I guess.

A groundhog whisks by this little nook where the opossums hang out.

Approximately half of the documentary has been edited, with a final runtime of approximately 30-35 minutes. I look forward to what will happen in the next few months as the summer weather is certain to supercharge the location with an abundance of flora and fauna. Who knows what the cameras will capture!

The Joy of Trail Cameras

I've been an avid nature photographer for nearly 30 years. Usually, every weekend I am out on some nearby trail discovering interesting plants, creatures, and their surroundings. Sometimes it's a patch of mushrooms; other times it's colorful fall leaves that look like stained-glass. Or a blue five-lined skink resting upon a hollowed log. Whatever my subject, I carefully position my camera at multiple angles, take several photos, and move along the trail when I feel I have captured something worthy.

But what happens when I'm not there?

This is where trail cameras entered my life, circa October 2017. That is when I purchased the Adventuridge Trail Camera at Aldi, marked down from $79 to $49. Now, I'm not a hunter. That saga ended on my first outing when my father told me to retrieve the rabbit he just shot in a nearby field. Watching him gut Thumper right there on the snow-covered ground—blood staining the snow in large splatters—and feeding the entrails to the dogs pretty much told me that that was not going to be my thing. I distinctly remember telling him that I needed to sit down under a tree. It made me sick.

But what I did like, and still do today, is learning about animals in their natural habitats. Watching how they go about their day. And studying small patches of woods among suburban settings to see how bountiful they become with wildlife when day turns to night. Infrared vision lets you spy on their nighttime rituals, albeit in my experience, I've found that they are more curious than spooked by the subtle glare of the red LED lights. Raccoons seem to be most interested.

Now it is 2026, and I am upgrading my Adventuridge to a model with 4K video and bluetooth/wifi file transfers. The prices have come down substantially, although I am finding out that the market is flooded with similar-looking, China-produced models with different manufacturers' names stamped on them. As I type this, I've had to return two defective units.

But my Adventuridge keeps ticking away. It's been used for time-lapse of snowstorms, time-lapse of plants unfurling new leaves, and I've captured just about every warm-blooded creature known to northern Virginia: deer, foxes, possums, gophers, raccoons, beavers, coyotes, herons, and more.

Nothing can accurately describe the mix of emotions you have when you go to retrieve your trail camera from public land. There's the anxiety of wondering if it's been stolen or damaged, and the elation from discovering that you may have captured something fantastic. I think that's what makes them so addictive.

To date, I've only had one incident where someone wrapped my camera in orange tape. And this was way off the trail where I thought no one would ever walk. I keep it locked up at all times with a thick cable wire. But, you never know what people might do. That's why I'm glad they aren't overly expensive.

Below is a video of what I captured on one of my outings. You can also peruse my TrailCamVic channel on Youtube.

HoverAir X1: Adding Dimension with a Camera Drone

For many years my videos have been a combination of hand or tripod shots and the occasional Glidecam 3000, a low-cost "Steadicam" that I purchased several decades ago. To be honest, that has sat in a box for probably the last decade. It's just too heavy and cumbersome to set up.

Cut to the new age of handheld camera holders with gimbals that allow smooth, flowing moment throughout a scene. I'm still behind the times in that respect, but I just added a new tool to my creative toolbox, and it's going to make all the difference in my productions.

Drones have always seemed too large and intimidating to me. And costly. But a relatively new drone, the HoverAir X1, weighs only 125 grams and fits in your hand or pocket when folded up. I say relatively new even though it came out over 2 years ago, but it's new to me.

What makes this drone special is that it can track and follow you without a controller. Buttons on top of the drone allow you to set up various modes like Hover, Zoom, Follow, Orbit, and Bird's Eye. Once you select an option, you just aim the drone's camera at your face, tap the power button, and it will start up and perform the desired mode. Then it will come back to you! Placing your hand under the drone will cause it to lower and stop.

For instance, Orbit allows the drone to film around you in a circle at the distance that you set. Bird's eye will raise the drone up as high as 15 meters (49 feet) and film straight down as it ascends and descends. You can even have it rotate as it's doing so. Zoom can fly away from you and upward to achieve some pretty spectacular establishing shots.

Manual control is also possible with the phone app's virtual joysticks. That means you can film scenery with the camera pointing away from you. This opens up a whole new world of creative shots.

Here is a video of me using the drone for the first time outdoors.

If you're a hiker or biker, the drone can follow you from the front (Dolly Track) or behind (Follow) up to about 15 mph. It can also Hover in place like a virtual tripod that turns with you or remains aimed in one direction. It will even tilt the camera down if, say, you wanted to crouch to point out a flower or something nearer to the ground.

The drone comes with a phone app that allows you set up more detailed mode settings and download your footage from the built-in 32 Gig storage (about 23 Gig after firmware). The drone is capable of shooting as high as 2.7K footage. Newer, more expensive models allow up to 8K. Battery life is estimated at 11 minutes of flight time, which requires good planning of shots. You will want multiple batteries.

As if it couldn't get any better, the drone also has a feature that removes the drone noise when you record narrative audio through your phone or attached phone microphone. It's pretty amazing. This allows you to create short demonstration videos or speak about your surroundings. Just make sure the Hover app screen remains open and that you download the videos to your phone first before transferring to your computer to pair the audio. Use video editing software to realign the audio with the video if it's not synced properly. If you don't need narrative audio, you can transfer files directly from the drone itself with the supplied cable.

Note that this model should not be flown over water or all-white snow cover as the bottom sensor needs to see a good ground texture to position itself. Although this model does not have front and rear obstacle sensors, it does a pretty good job of dodging things as long as it can keep you in frame when using the automatic modes. It's made of a durable, flexible plastic that can withstand some hits and also protects the rotating blades.

You can purchase the HoverAir X1 Combo Plus, which includes 3 batteries and a separate charger, on Amazon here for under $350.

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