The Flight Of The Phoenix
When Rob and I set up Aerial back in 2014, we wanted to showcase the best places in Ireland to see from the air. One place that we absolutely adore is the Phoenix Park and as it is a big open space with nothing else nearby we thought it would be super easy to fly there- boy were we wrong!
The Phoenix Park has multiple sections of prohibited air space, this is also referred to as a ‘No Fly Zone’. We are planning on talking about other zone’s in upcoming videos.
The Phoenix Park’s Restricted zones. (Map from www.flyryte.com)
Flying the Phoenix Park was something that we had dreamed of for such a long time. I’m so happy to tell you the story of how we managed to do it!
At the start of Autumn 2021 we were contacted by a client looking for photos of the park and their sports club which is based at the park. We finally had a place to take off from at the park! The next step was applying for permission to fly there. We applied (as normal) to the IAA.
A few days later I got a phone call from a Garda asking me if I knew why he was calling (that always freaks me out), I didn’t, but he soon explained that it was in relation to the shoot. A few days later two plain clothes detectives came to visit Rob and I at our office. They were extremely pleasant and couldn’t have been easier to work with. They asked us a lot of questions about our plans for the material captured and the flight itself. It all went very well, they took copies of our ID’s and details of where we lived etc. It was clear that a background check was going to happen. A few days later we got approval for the flight.
Next on our list was the OPW who run the park. We contacted them with all the documentation from the IAA and the Gardaí. They went ahead and cross checked the paperwork and then we were good to fly.
While we are always weather obsessed here at Aerial, I feel that we went overboard waiting to see the perfect day for this job, but we were patient and it finally happened. We got out to the park ahead of sunrise. We let the rangers know that we were about. We really got lucky with the sunrise and got some incredible shots of the city with the Wellington Monument, some great stock shots of the Phoenix Park and some great shots of the sports club too.
Wellington Monument
A selection of stills of Civil Service Cricket Club
We charged the batteries and went back for sunset. The thing that I absolutely love about aerial photography is they way you can redefine the city in a way that hasn’t been seen before. We got a photo that shows the length of the Liffey from Heuston Station and Guinness all the way to Poolbeg and the lighthouse beyond. Capturing the Luas and the ferry in the one frame.
From Heuston to Poolbeg
We also got to capture some classic park views from a different angle such as the long Chesterfield Avenue which cuts through the park.
Áras an Uachtaráin among the oaks in the distance.
The Wellington monument at Sunset along side a top down view of it. Do I suspect one of Rob’s classic #whereami coming along?!
We had agreed that we would share the photos and video with the Gardaí for approval prior to releasing the images, they were super sound and didn’t hold anything back.
As always our stock libraries are open, just drop us a line and we can give you the login for an upcoming project. The libraries contain all the Phoenix Park photos and videos while also containing lots of other shoot from over the years.