About Us

Dogwood Aerial Imaging was founded in 2022 following a lifelong passion for aviation and photography. We provide photography services for residential and commercial real estate, marketing, job site monitoring, and general events, and are starting to invest in more technical areas such as mapping. Dogwood Aerial is located in rural New Kent, Virginia and serves the greater Richmond and Williamsburg areas. Veteran owned and operated (go Navy!), FAA Remote Pilot Certificate (Part 107), fully licensed and insured.

I've had a passion for aviation since I was young, which led me to pursue aerospace engineering in college. I flew my first R/C aircraft in an undergraduate aircraft design course with a balsa wood/nylon wing my team designed and built (and promptly crashed into a tree), and I've enjoyed flying newer unmanned aerial systems ("drones") as the technology has quickly evolved.  I've been a longtime hobbyist photographer and transitioned from shooting film SLRs in high school to DSLRs, and now use full-frame mirrorless systems exclusively.  I've also used photographic measurement techniques professionally (e.g. photogrammetry, particle image velocimetry and high-speed imaging) during a 10+ year role as a rotorcraft researcher in the wind tunnels at NASA Langley and have a number of relevant peer-reviewed publications. With my experience as a Navy Aerospace Engineering Duty Officer coupled with my educational and professional background (MS and BS degrees in aerospace engineering), I'm keenly aware of the benefits and difficulties of aerial imaging and will bring a technical perspective to any project to ensure success. When not working, I enjoy spending time with my wife and two young daughters, hunting, playing bass in my church's band, going to metal shows, woodworking, cold Hefeweizen, and the Oxford comma.

As a resident of Virginia for all but the first few years of my life, I've always admired the dogwood tree and this was the first thing my wife and I planted at our house in New Kent nearly ten years ago. The four petals of the dogwood flower resemble the common quad-rotor design of most modern unmanned aerial systems, and it also represents our commitment to serving not only our local population but the entire Commonwealth as our business grows.

Aerial cameras:

DJI Phantom 4 Pro v2.0; 1" CMOS, 20MP, C4K/60p

DJI Mavic Air 2S; 1" CMOS, 20MP, 5.4K/30p, 4K/60p

DJI Mavic Air 2; 1/2" CMOS, 12MP, 4K/60p

Traditional cameras:

Sony α9; 35mm full-frame interchangeable lens camera, 24.2MP, 20FPS, 4K/30p 

Sony FE PZ 16-35 f/4 G

Sony FE 24-105mm f/4 G OSS

Sony FE 70-200mm f/4 G OSS

Sony FE 28mm f2

Sony FE 50mm f1.8

Software:

Adobe Illustrator 2022

Adobe Lightroom Classic

Adobe Photoshop 2022

Adobe Premiere Pro 2022

Sequator

Serif Affinity Photo

Skylum Aurora HDR

Skylum Luminar AI

Skylum Luminar Neo

WebODM