We were lucky to catch up with Joanna Steidle recently and have shared our conversation below.
Joanna, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s the best or worst investment you’ve made?
The best investment I have made is taking time to learn. I will always be a student striving to do better and be better. I started flying drones in 2015 with a background in computer science and visual design. At that point I had zero experience in photography and video editing. I took tutorials, found mentors and still to this day I make it a point to stop and learn additional concepts that will take me to the next level.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I’m a professional drone pilot and artist based in the Hamptons on Long Island, New York., specializing in fine art drone photography, videography and FPV flights. Flying drones since 2015, I have worked with numerous organizations, including National Geographic, Discovery, BBC, and Disney.
I started off flying small non automated drones and fell in love with flight immediately. I quickly graduated to a camera drone and found the new perspective of my home vicinity captivating. I found experienced mentors and knew I wanted to be different. I try very hard not to put out “cookie cutter” images. When I began to capture the marine life off the coast of New York, I hit my sweet spot. I invest a tremendous amount of time in editing. Sometimes one piece will take me months of work to make it just perfect in my eyes.
I found the overwhelming interest in my works and appreciate for my art to drive me even more to excel.
Most recently I was honored as a Global Woman to Watch 2022 by Women and Drones, published in Reporters without Borders 100 Photos from Around the World and received three Siena Drone Photography Awards this year. I currently have works on exhibit in England, France, and Italy.
In April of 2023 I was invited and accepted to be a DJI Creator. It was a huge dream come true! It gave me a bit of confidence, but I also found it terrifying. I quickly realized being included to fly and create with the top pilots in the world would only help excel me to improve my skills and content further. After only eight weeks in the program, I received the “Top Creator” of the month!
My passion is capturing the beauty of our earth, it’s landscape and wildlife from the sky. I use drones to offer a unique perspective of farms, waterways, marine life providing visual stories of the Hamptons most people have never seen before.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
Quality and uniqueness. Anyone with a drone can go up and take photos. Turning photography into fine art can be complex, as you need to be able to print works on a large scale which require inspecting every single pixel for quality. Uniqueness, I have found in an editing style that enthralls the viewer. The goal is to make people stare and evoke emotion.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
I have seen many rejections. Putting yourself out there in the world is often daring; you subject yourself to much criticism. Once, I presented my works to a local gallery and was told, they were “not going to cut it,” In my heart and soul, I knew he was wrong. I tried to look for the lesson and value in every encounter. This rejection catapulted me to increase my reach with high end buyers. Two months later, I sold four of those photos to a public figure who now has them hanging as conversations starters. It was my biggest and most influential sale and gets my work in front of the eyes of high-end buyers.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://hamptonsdroneart.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hamptonsdroneart/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hamptonsdroneart
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hamptonsdrone/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/HamptonsDrone
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQJhKVwVPZ_jo7fi158Izmg
- Other: DJI Skypixel: https://www.skypixel.com/users/hampton-501c4b99-d454-4d55-ba2b-78c873ba4d69 Airvuz.com: https://www.airvuz.com/user/hamptonsdrone/
Image Credits
Joanna L Steidle, Owner Hamptons Drone Art, LLC