Even if you don’t know Tony Vidler, chances are you know his work.
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The surf-mad digital imaging specialist has made a name for himself in the scene through his skills as a drone operator and photographer.
Most recently, he has supplied mind-melting footage to the Macksville and District Chamber of Commerce for their Nambucca Valley promotional video.
If you haven’t seen it yet, you can check it out here:
The Trent Munro Surf Academy, LoggerHeads Malibu Club, and Nambucca Valley Property have all made good use of Tony’s “eye in the sky”.
And his panoramic canvases hang on the walls of more than a few businesses, including in the restrooms at the BP service centre, Craig Bellamy’s Indulgent men’s gift shop, Coastal Curves, Guardian Pharmacy, and Tamara McWilliam’s naturopathy centre in Macksville.
And it was Tony’s drone that was heard buzzing over the Phillip Hughes Bridge at the public walkover.
Tony’s also currently working on a project for the Visitor Information Centre.
“But I’ve been playing with panoramics since the time you had to take heaps of photos and stick them all together with tape,” he said.
Tracing his timeline, it wasn’t too hard to see how Tony had found himself in the cutting-edge drone game.
His passion for photography started while studying it at Macksville High in the eighties, and not long after came a love for flying.
He used both sets of skills while working in the skydiving world in North Queensland.
And with 15 years in a cockpit translating the myriad dials and displays, he took to the-sometimes-bewildering controls of drone photography like a duck to water.
“And working as a pilot I got the chance to work with TV crews and got a feel for how they did a lot of stuff,” he said.
“I just love it … It’s a perspective you can’t get with a plane, helicopter or a camera on a stick.
“So now I can get in the air without leaving the ground.”
Of course this means that Tony is now able to shoot a lot of the more complex moving sequences – which once would have required a plane, a pilot and a crew – solo.
His eyes gleam when he tells of some of the outrageous stuff he’s seen through the drone’s lens.
“I was filming my mate on a jet ski once and he crested over a wave and landed right on a shark. The shark did a double take and kept on swimming,” he said.
“And birds have a go at the drone all the time – a white-bellied sea eagle tried to take it out recently in Indonesia.”
While the technological revolution has democratised the photography world, saturating the market with ‘instant photographers’, Tony is non-plussed.
“You can go to the hardware shop and spend a thousand bucks on tools and it doesn’t make you a carpenter,” he said.
“There’s an element of creativity required in everything, both in composing the shot and in editing.”
And both creativity and talent definitely can’t be bought.
But Tony also keeps himself up to date with all the latest advancements – he’s just finished work in Mullumbimby where he used photogrammetry software to create incredibly high-resolution contoured and volume-specific maps.
And he’s currently waiting for a mate who’s inventing a new underwater robot that can both clean and scan underwater pylons, so that the pair can get started on charting unclaimed photographic territory.
Until that time comes, he’s happy to take on any new projects that locals need help with.
To find out more about his services you can check out his Air Vids Facebook Page, or call 0414 480-783.
Mel Leigh Dee
Mel is a journalist at the Guardian News and is based in Macksville.
Mel is a journalist at the Guardian News and is based in Macksville.
