When I was first considering purchasing a drone, I was concerned that it wouldn’t be as fun as I had hoped. My first drone was bought for a very specific reason – for my daily video on LinkedIn. I’ve since stopped my daily video, but my drone ownership continues to be fun because of these particular reasons.
Flying a drone is fun because it gets you outside, it can get you some amazing photos, it is an amazing opportunity to learn and help connect you to other people in various ways. Keeping a drone fun also involves evolving as a pilot as your skill level improves.
I never thought that purchasing my first drone would end up creating so many memorable videos and photos. I love looking back over my road trips and international trips and getting a birds-eye view of our campsites, accommodation, and other adventures.
I certainly don’t fly in my drone as often as I used to, but it is still incredibly fun to fly. These are why it has remained fun even after my initial use case for the drone changed.
1. It gets you outside
One thing I love about flying a drone is it is an outdoor activity. If you live in a country with an agreeable climate, your drone adventures will be much more enjoyable, and it will force you to explore new areas – at least it did for me.
My drone has encouraged me to explore new places. Whether it is my local area or a few hours drive away, I always look forward to exploring a new area.
In a world where we are constantly distracted by electronic screens and infinite scroll apps, having an excuse to explore the world is always welcome. Whenever I feel like I have spent too much time staring at my device, I plan a trip somewhere with my drone.
Spending time in a green space can benefit both your mental and physical well-being. It can help you improve your mood, reduce feelings of stress, and help you take time out. You can find out more about the awesome benefits of being out in nature at this website – click here.
You may be amazed at the number of opportunities to fly a drone and beautiful places around your home.
2. You can get amazing shots
At first, I was worried that looking at drone shots would become boring. Thanks to its proliferation across social media and TV, we have certainly got used to the drone’s eye view of the world.
The difference is that your drone shots often are linked to memories that you want to keep about a certain trip or adventure. I recently took my drone on a trip to outback New South Wales in Australia. I captured some awesome footage of our hikes and adventures, which I enjoy looking back on.
The shots I collect are very personal, and the photos of my partner and friends and the memories captured are invaluable. My photos and video probably won’t win any cinematography awards, but they are always interesting.
I am continuously trying to improve my skills, and learning the basics of photography and cinematography has helped elevate my drone content capturing ability.
3. You can build a community
One of the great things about owning a drone is that it is fun to do it with other people.
Learning to fly a drone can be relatively frustrating, and it can be a steep learning curve depending on the type of drone you have purchased. I highly recommend reaching out to common interest groups around flying and owning drones.
Being part of a community – or growing one in your local area – means sharing your excitement for a hobby that you all enjoy.
I am always amazed at how interested people are in my drone as I am flying. Children want to look at the screen, and adults are often full of questions and are intrigued about how the drone flies and operates.
Have a look at Facebook groups, meet up.com, and online forums to connect with your new best friends in your local area.
4. You can use it as a side hustle
Having a drone means that you could launch your own business or side hustle. I have not actively promoted any business activities with my drone, but I have found that many people approach me and ask if I’m willing to capture a few shots of certain landmarks.
I also am amazed that the purchase of my first drone resulted in the creation of this website, which earns me a small passive income due to the articles and information I write, and I have a YouTube channel which also brings in some passive income. This side hustle is all thanks to my experience and understanding of owning a drone. Earning money certainly makes owning a drone fun.
Also, if you find the right audience with the right offer, a drone business can be incredibly lucrative.
Drone businesses can be incredibly profitable because there are tons of people and businesses that need drone photography and videography, such as:
- Real estate agents – images and videos for house sales.
- Real estate developers – images for marketing material and to attract investors into their project.
- Agriculture – agricultural services can include monitoring, livestock monitoring, crop monitoring, spraying and other bird deterrent activities.
- TV and the media have a 24-hour news cycle and are always looking for drone shots to pad out their stories.
- Conferences – people want to promote their conference and need nice shots of the area hosting their conference.
- Local government agencies want images for their social media and any projects they want to start.
- Weddings – people want photos of their wedding that capture the day, and aerial photography and videography are becoming more common.
- And much, much more…
There is no doubt that there are plenty of people willing to buy drone photography and videography. Deciding on your niche will also allow you to focus on a profitable drone business. For example, real estate agents probably want images and videos for house sales but do not have the budget for it. In contrast, real estate developers have a much larger budget and are willing to pay more since good photography of their development site will attract more investment opportunities.
Coming up with a scalable service offering and attracting more of your ideal clients makes the drone business profitable.
5. An opportunity to learn
The great thing about flying a drone is that you are constantly learning.
Because you are flying your drone out in the environment, there are issues that you need to overcome. These issues continue to make you a better pilot. Also, if you decide to fly with a camera drone, there is a whole world of artistic development and creation at your fingertips.
Learning how to frame the shot, get the best movements from your drone, combine and edit photos for high definition and hyperreality photos kept this hobby fresh and interesting for a very long time.
Flying a drone only gets boring when you stop having a purpose for your drone missions, and you stop trying to extend your capability as either a pilot or a photographer and videographer.
Since owning a drone, I have learnt to:
- frame a photo or video
- colour balance footage and photos
- learn how to edit drone videos
- learn about the manual settings on a DSLR camera, including iso, white balance, focal length, and more
- learn how to compose a photo
- and much more
One of the most exciting components of flying a drone is continually learning and getting better with practice. Each drone flight is very different, and it certainly teaches you to roll with the punches and adapt and overcome issues throughout your flight.
Over a few months of regular practice, you will certainly get much better at various drone flying skills.
6. You can expand into many different areas
Even though our online drone experience is of aerial photography and videography, drones can be so much more than a camera.
Keeping your drone hobby fun requires you to explore the limits and purpose of your drone flights continually. If you want to know more about what you can do with your drone, you should check out my other article – click here – where I go through everything beyond the usual.
I have also highlighted seven things that you can do with your drone in my YouTube video.
Drone flying is not just about capturing awesome footage. You can also learn to fly your drone for racing, search and rescue, helping monitor wildlife, and much more. Exploring the different elements and aspects of flying a drone will help keep it fun and interesting for much longer than you think.
7. Flying fast and high
One of the fun aspects of flying a drone is placing a bit of technology in the real world and flying fast and at high altitudes.
Once you leave the ground, your drone enters a world with very few limitations and obstructions. As long as you are flying within the limits and local regulations, whizzing around the sky and getting a sense of what it would be like to fly is super fun.
If you want to get a true perspective on what it is like to fly, you can invest in some drone goggles. These goggles will give you a heads up display and a first-person view of what it would be like to soar throughout the sky. Just make sure that your local laws allow you to fly with goggles, as most require line of sight throughout your entire flight.
8. Helps break down barriers
Anyone can fly a drone.
I love flying my drone because I am entering a community where it doesn’t matter if you are old, young, skilled, not skilled, or identify as a member of any minority group. Everyone who flies a drone is flying because they enjoy the hobby and want to get better.
Also, as I am flying my drone, I often get curious people coming over to ask me questions (and very rarely tell me off).
No matter what stage of my flight I am in, I try to answer their questions as well as I can while flying my drone, and I often welcome the distraction. Speaking to anyone about something they are interested in always helps break down barriers. I have always enjoyed my interactions with people who want to know more about the drone hobby.
9. Easy to grab and go
I have always got my drone set up to be ready to grab and go. I have found that flying a drone regularly relies on reducing the barriers of getting out and flying. I am not a big fan of hobbies that require a lot of setups, equipment, or time investment in travelling to faraway places.
Flying on a drone is one of the simplest hobbies and is fun because all you have to do is have all of your batteries charged. If you do not want to pre-plan your flight, you can always purchase a car charger or portable charger to connect to your drone batteries.
Always having your drone ready to fly means that you can spontaneously fly or grab your drone on the way and out of the house.
The only downside is that you should carry a battery charger that connects to your car to charge your drone on the way to your destination. Otherwise, you have to do this at home.
10. People’s reactions
One of the best and most fun components of owning a drone is seeing people’s reactions once you reveal photos of them or share some of your footage on social media.
My brother is a cinematographer, and I am always interested to hear what he thinks of my drone footage and photos.
I am not a professional, but I always like it when he is complimentary towards my content, and it helps me understand what a professional looks for in drone shots.
Capturing the world from above is something that was previously limited to people with access to a helicopter. With a drone, this new viewpoint is available to anyone and sharing that with others often results in surprising reactions and “wow moments”, which will keep the drone flying hobby fun for you for much longer.
How to keep it fun
As you get more accustomed to your drone images and hobby, you may find it getting less and less fun. I certainly do not take out my drone as often as I used to, but here are the things that I have discovered keep it fun and interesting irrespective of the number of times you go flying.
Expand your creativity
Keeping your drone hobby fun means expanding your creativity continuously to capture footage and photos that you are proud of. There is no perfect photo or video, but trying to get there relies on constant practice and being critical about your work.
Creativity isn’t just limited to photos and videos. You can also use a drone for earning money in new and exciting ways. If I ever get bored of my drone, I often look at new ways to use it or new services that I could offer to people looking for a drone.
Have a purpose to fly
Having a purpose and reason to fly is the number one thing to keep your drone hobby fun.
Purpose is different from passion.
Sometimes I don’t feel passionate about drone flying, but I always want to fly my drone to achieve a purpose. Whether it is to make my YouTube videos better, capture some memorable footage of a holiday, or to try out new features or software additions, having a purpose means it is always fun and interesting.
Make time for it
Making time for flying your drone seems to be an excellent way of keeping it fun. No one wants to do an activity that gets in the way of everyday life.
You will certainly find it more fun by budgeting in time and planning a couple of hours out of each week for drone flying.
Even if you are not sure what you want to do with that time – making space for a drone in your life will help you keep it fun and interesting for much longer. Some of the flights I was least looking forward to having ended up becoming one of the most exciting flights due to things outside of my control.
Make time for flying your drone, and the adventure will follow!
Summary
In this article, we have gone over all of the reasons I think flying a drone is fun and included how you can keep your drone flying fun for much longer.
Many people are selling their drones online because they have got bored of them. These people need to understand that a drone is a tool and is only as useful as the task you are using it for. Being creative with your use cases and having your purpose clearly defined will ensure your drone adventures continue to be fun.
Now get out there and look for the drone adventure of a lifetime.
