The age of drones is upon us – another technology that is moving faster than we are.  If you take a short nap, Rumpelstiltskin, it will catch you unawares.  Yesterday the Town of Somerville in Massachusetts sent the drones out to locate roofs in danger of collapse from all the snow – this rather than the dangerous and painstaking process of sending firemen up to “check it out.”

Well, we’ve spoken about this before, and there are many reasons to be concerned.  There is the bad side of drones and their ability to deliver bad things.  There is the disappointing fact that the US Postal Service is certain to miss the boat or drone and continue its downward spiral.  We can obsess about potential accidents with aircraft, cars, and pedestrians or about being attacked by irate raptors.  But the truth is that the same was said about bicycles and cars and airplanes.  And honestly, friends, as Pierre Curie could attest horse drawn carriages caused accidents as well.

But of more immediate, and artistic interest, in terms of photography are some truly stunning photographs of a frozen Niagara Falls taken from a drones.  We are assured, btw, that the falls have too much water to freeze completely.  A century ago people were assured that hydroelectic works on the Niagara River would never tap more than 5 % of the flow.  My understanding is that we are now up to about 50 %.  Back to the drones, these devices, a kind of floating or flying tripod, are now quite affordable for hobbyists and enthusiasts.  So as a tool of photographers, the everlasting search, for new perspectives, this is truly something spectacular – a real game changer.

So I am going to have to default once again to my standard that you can’t fight or ultimately control technology.  As a result, you had best embrace it and open its potential.  And right now, at this moment, I am going to revel in these glorious images of the falls that played such a significant role in the dawn of the electrical age a century ago.