In focus
Drone photography: New possibilities and new challenges
This image of the Westerheversand lighthouse, taken using a photography drone, won first place in this year's Wiki Loves Monuments competition
When Marco Leiter, a man from a little town in southwest Germany, bought his new photography drone after a visit to a model airplane fair with his family, he instantly knew he had found a very cool new hobby. The Leiters live in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, a wine-growing region full of hills topped by medieval castles intertwined by rivers with ancient towns on their banks.
Marco, or Phantom3Pix, as would later be his pseudonym, wanted to photograph these sights from above with his drone. Step by step, he mastered his high-tech toy and made plans to document the famous monuments in his area: Ehrenbreitstein Fortress, Montabaur Palace, Marksburg Castle, and many more. Marco soon learned that things don't whizz so easily for drone photographers, however. Germany regulates the use of these unmanned aerial vehicles quite heavily, and laws differ from state to state.