BoatPix

[Butch]

Well I have had my boat for 4 yrs and for the first time , this helicopter is over us while fishing in the Miles River and than when we were zooming back home. (Not doing tooo much zooming with a algae bottom). So I filled out the questionaire to receive the pictures and I am still waiting. I heard that the pics are expensive. Has anybody delt w/ this picture program. Oh Yea I wish all the members a very HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!. It is our very favorite holiday

[jcollins]

Butch,
The weekend that we were cruising the upper bay after the hurricane (Hanna?)they took some photos of us. We were in the middle of a poker run with go-fasts. I don't think this guy was boatpix.com but the same idea.
The pictures were 250 or 3 for 500.
We took a bunch of him at no charge.

[Mariner]

Hmmm.... this isn't a bad idea to make a few bucks. My buddy is a helicopter pilot, and I've got a good camera.

I'm not a professional photographer, but do you really need to be?

Sounds like an idea worth pursuing in the summer when the sound is full of boats.

There was a guy who used to do this with waterfront homes when I was growing up. Some day during the summer, he'd fly over, then a few weeks later, he'd come by with framed pictures to sell. Most everyone bought them.

[Elizabeth Ann]

If you have a way of searching registration numbers your in! Just mail samples to their home.

[Mariner]

If you have a way of searching registration numbers your in! Just mail samples to their home.

That might be the challenge. So far, all I've found is places that will sell you the information for a fee, and it probably isn't up to date.

But with houses, you can just look up the info on the county website. I suppose if you do the houses, and snap a few of boats while you're at it, maybe you can find the info on some of the boats to sort of add to your income.

I'm not saying this would be a full time job, but it might pay for some flight time. And if you've ever been up in a helicopter, you know that it can be addictive. Anything to get more flight time!

[jcollins]

Hmmm.... this isn't a bad idea to make a few bucks. My buddy is a helicopter pilot, and I've got a good camera.

I'm not a professional photographer, but do you really need to be?

Sounds like an idea worth pursuing in the summer when the sound is full of boats.

There was a guy who used to do this with waterfront homes when I was growing up. Some day during the summer, he'd fly over, then a few weeks later, he'd come by with framed pictures to sell. Most everyone bought them.

They fly around the bay on a busy day taking pictures. Boatpix.com is on the helicopter. You go to their website and enter your information. They contact you.

[Veebyes2]

It is not easy to get a good pic of your boat, especially when it is on the move. Those wonderful wake crossing magazine cover shots take some doing with good timing to get the perfect shot.

We did these a couple years ago. Wish I had had a larger wake to cross & crossed it a little closer. It sure looked close from my helm position.



The cat did much better off my wake but he did not cross very close

[Mariner]

Ironically, my friend the helicopter test pilot mentioned boatpix to me last night, before I even brought it up.

He said that this is how it works. Boatpix is nationwide and leases helicopters from local owners. Most helicopters are not owned by individual pilots, but rather companies that own large numbers of certain models, which helps keep maintenence costs down. If you only own Robinson R-44's then you only need to keep your mechanic up to date on that model, rather than 20 different models. Most of these owners also own, or lease their birds to, schools that train helicopter pilots. There are a fair number of students who are working their way through these schools and trying to build hours. But at a rate of $200-$1,000/hr, it's not easy to get stick time. Boatbix is aware of this and pays to lease the helicopter only (which includes fuel). Pilots who want stick time are willing to do the flying for free (or even pay a small amount). They get two pilots at a time and they take turns flying and taking pictures and give the pictures to boatpix. Boatpix typically arranges a shoot of several boats at once either for magazines, manufacturers, or just vain owners. Then, the pilots/photoghraphers are expected to shoot pictures of any other boats they can, to increase the revenue from the flight.

It's an interesting business, but my friend said it was a pretty raw deal for the pilots because boatpix keeps all the profit and has cornered the market on aerial boat pictures nationwide. He said it's virtually impossible for anyone to do it independently on any scale that would provide consistent income. He also said that they use extremely low-hours pilots, often a beginning instructor and student, or two recent private-license recipients.

[pcthornton]

We were running from Block Island, RI to Newport on July 5th this year. This was our shakedown cruise on the new boat. I heard this muffled cluck-clucking noise and momentarily, I had this sick feeling that it was a noise coming from my Yanmar. I think I saw the shadow of the BoatPix chopper and was relieved to see a helo right behind me at maybe 100' up with a photographer hanging out the door snapping shots of us. As soon as I got access to my computer I logged on to the BoatPix website. I filled my name and address into their "Did we photograph your boat?" page. I think if you don't notify them first as I did, they'll find your home address based on the numbers or name and hailing port on your boat.

They do require you to provide a credit card before they'll send you the pictures. Low and behold I received four high quality 16X20 awesome prints of my boat about six weeks later. Unfortunately, the ocean was like glass that day so the photos aren't very action-packed, but still very nice.

The pricing was $250 for one, $400 for two, $500 for three and $600 for four pictures. After deliberating for about 9 of the 10 days that they give you to either purchase prints or mail them back, I decided that I really wanted two of them, although I wasn't crazy about $400 (wifey didn't want to buy any). I called them and offered them $300 for the two pictures (since they were only going to throw them in the barrel if I sent them back) and to my surprise, they took the $300 without counter-offering!

I told my wife that the pictures will be my Christmas gift this year. Of course, I still have to get them matted and framed!

I don't think you could get better pictures of your own boat running and that's why people pay the high prices for the prints.

Again, I would definitely make them an offer if you decide to buy some prints.

[DBM]

I bought my brother a picture that was taken the spring rockfish season before last's or his new fortier we were fishing on. The photo I bought and framed for him. I think it was a couple of hundred dollars but it was worth it.

DBM

[RobS]

Matt Hanna took this one. I only wigh I had unraveled my AOG burgee. I was recently in a 20 knot head wind and the thing was taken a beaten so I had rolled it up.

Sure looks like I'm gonna sit her down right on his transom. A little zoom is a good thing.

[Mariner]

I'm not surprised to hear that they negotiated with you. I would think that they'd be willing to accept just about anything since all their costs are sunk. The only motivation to not accept any crazy offer would be avoid word getting out that you could talk them down to any price, and risk having future revenues jeapordized.

I will say this: When we needed up-to-date aerial pictures taken of a waterfront property my family had for sale, I was able to pay my friend to take me up. I paid just $225 for the aircraft rental and got an hour of flight time. This was more than enough time for me to take about 20 pictures of the property from every different angle, as well as a bunch of other sightseeing pictures of the surrounding mountains, water and Seattle skyline. We flew with the door off, so it was easy to get clear shots. As a bonus, it was a very fun and exciting thing to do.

I was fortunate in that I didn't have to pay for the pilot. But had he charged me his normal rate, I'm pretty sure it would have been another $50-$100 per hour on top of the $225 I paid.

So, my point is, if you hire a local pilot with a Robinson R22 (the cheapest helicopter to maintain and fly), and know someone who can operate a camera that isn't afraid of heights and weighs under 240# (max seat weight), you can probably achieve the same or better results for the same or better price. Plus, your friend gets a free helicopter flight. Or, if you trust your friend at the helm of your boat, you can be the one in the bird.