Deal, NJ (Ty Poland)

New Jersey resident Ty Poland is a real estate photographer, but he likes to explore his photo subjects beyond the realm of real estate.The 22-year-old was first introduced to drone photography a few years ago as a student in college. “It wasn’t until after my junior year, however, when I was working with a wedding photographer buddy of mine, Tom Harmon, who was actually building his own drones at the time,” Ty Poland told weather.com. “When I returned to school my senior year, we watched a video on an aerial photographer who captured images from other countries,” he said. “After seeing the video and talking with Tom, I took whatever money I had and bought my own drone to see what I could do with it.”Handling a handheld camera and a drone allows a photographer the flexibility to experiment with perspectives. “Ever since I really got into photography, it has challenged me to show photos of the world we live in, in a way we do not normally see,” Poland said.

(MORE: )When he’s working on producing photo and video for real estate, he’s using his drone to photograph nature. He recently wrote onthat his interests lie in roadways, water and railroads. “I feel like these things interest me because most of the time they show humans interference with nature,” he said. “These roads, railroads, cars, boats and bodies of water are essential to our development as humans. As harmful as we may be to the environment sometimes, we can still appreciate all it does for us and I like to show that in the work I do.”It’s one thing to be a nature photographer, but another to do it whilst battling weather conditions. Drones are susceptible to malfunctioning if the weather isn’t “perfect.”“The ‘ideal’ weather basically comes down to the image I have in mind,” Poland said. “For my landscape style photos…I tend to like a softer light where there are little to no shadows.” He added that he prefers to shoot on an overcast day with little wind. There are days, though, when he opts for harsh light to create dramatic shadows.At the end of the day, the decisions Poland make help him express his passion for photography. “To me, photography is almost a way of remembering things, it is my view of the world, my creation,” he said. “Photography is an adventure, a universal language that I myself am able to create and share with the rest of the world.”