By Krystal Smalley
ksmalley@wbcowqel.com
Is it a bird? A plane? Superman? Nope, it’s just James Hall, swooping across the fields and streets of Crawford County with his drone and paraglider.
Hall is the force behind the popular local Facebook page, Crawford County Aerial Photography. Filled with photos of spectacular sunsets poised over towns, eagle-eye views of construction projects, and quaint scenes that harken back to a Mayberry kind of life, Hall has become a welcome addition to the creative community in Crawford County.
Hall said it was never meant to be a business, though he freely admits that it has turned into one now.
“It originally started as a hobby,” he explained. “I’ve been doing it since 2001, roughly, with a paraglider and whatnot. It all started because I just wanted to share what I was seeing with everybody else.”
After the drones came out, Hall said it became an extra tool to photograph his unique bird’s-eye view.
“Better than hanging on to two brakes and trying to snap a shot at the same time,” Hall said as he contorted himself into a semblance of what he looked like trying to take pictures in the sky with his paraglider and camera. “It’s just another tool for kind of the same thing I’ve been doing.”
Hall’s work became very popular on Facebook after he took photos of Good Hope Lutheran Church.
“Everybody was really interested in that,” Hall said with a bemused smile. “I’m like, well, if people like seeing that stuff then I’ll start recording stuff in town.”
He followed those up with other notable local structures and nighttime drone videos of downtown Bucyrus. He also received requests to do a motorcycle event in Galion and the Graffiti Cruise in Bucyrus.
Hall’s quest to reach for the big blue sky started early. Though not a native Crawford Countian, Hall grew up not far away in Caledonia.
“If you were to ask my mother, at three or four years old I used to run around the house in a Superman cape. I never grew out of that. This is the extension of that,” Hall laughed. “I never grew out of that whole wanting to fly deal.”
Hall may like seeing the final results of his architectural photos but admitted paragliding has always been his first passion. His favorite moments come during harvest season when he gets the opportunity to swoop in near to the ground, weaving in between the bales and up over power lines with a camera on his head, capturing every moment.
He’s spent years buzzing around with his paraglider but recent changes – specifically the ease of using a drone to photograph – has moved his creative focus toward the use of a DGI Phantom drone.
“I really hate to admit it but it’s so much cheaper (than a paraglider),” Hall said. “But that’s (paragliding) what I got passion for. The drone is a tool.”
A tool that also takes better pictures than what Hall can get with a camera and his paraglider, much to his dismay.
“I’m discovering things out here that I think are neat and then I’m also figuring out what’s important to other people and I go and take pictures of them,” Hall explained. “That’s one of the things I hear a lot: ‘Wow, our town looks so nice. You’d be surprised.’”
Hall seems to be set on proving just how nice Crawford County is.
“I’ve lived a little bit of everywhere. This place is great. It’s got some problems but this place is great. I like going around and just kind of learning what everything is. When I share that stuff, I learn things.”
Hall said it’s not unusual when he posts pictures to Facebook that people will give him a little history lesson of the subject in the photo. He sees it as an adventure.
The area has also turned into one of his favorite places to paraglide.
“You can up to a few thousand feet if you want to, creeping along at 25-30 miles an hour and the scenery’s not moving because you’re going so slow, you’re up so high,” Hall explained. “Down low . . . I’ll take off and I’ll see people out mowing their yards and doing whatever. I’ll come in like 10 feet off the ground (and say hi). That’s like my favorite thing to do.”
He said being able to swoop in or buzz around a tractor and say hi is exactly why he likes paragliding so much.
“I just enjoy that, I get a kick out of that,” Hall said. “What is really comes down to is I like interacting with the people. It’s probably why I like sharing the pictures and whatnot. It’s kind of like bringing a little piece of what I experienced home and sharing it with everyone else.”
Hall is not selling the photos in an official capacity at the moment but he has occasionally had people ask him to do photos of the family farm or something similar. He doesn’t charge to fly but he will charge for any post-processing work he does with the photos and videos after the fact.
Hall can be found on Facebook at facebook.com/crawfordcountyaerialphotography or on YouTube at http://tinyurl.com/na9fsre.