Welcome to dronereporters.org
This site offers practical, field-tested guidance for journalists using drones in visual storytelling.
I’m Mitch Tobin, a multimedia journalist and FAA-certified drone pilot, and I created dronereporters.org to share tips for creating and using aerial imagery in environmental journalism.
Drones offer a fascinating perspective on the world, revealing views that are impossible to see from the ground.
For journalists, drones can engage and educate audiences by providing them with helpful or unusual vantage points.
In my own specialty of Western water issues, I’ve found the drone’s-eye view to be invaluable for telling the story.
For the past seven years, I’ve used a drone to capture photos and videos of key water-related locations in the American Southwest as part of my work for The Water Desk, a journalism initiative at the University of Colorado Boulder’s Center for Environmental Journalism. This imagery is available for free download through our multimedia library.
I created this website to share lessons learned while flying my drone in the Four Corners states of Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico. Although my portfolio focuses on water issues, nearly all of my advice applies to any subject matter. The site is designed primarily for journalists and visual storytellers, but many of the practical lessons will also be useful to other drone pilots.
dronereporters.org is organized around four themes:
Principles: the basics of flying a drone, such as getting certified by the FAA, finding interesting locations to photograph, and operating your system in a safe, ethical manner.
Gear essentials: a description of the equipment that I’ve been using, from the pre-flight checklist to the landing pad, plus other pieces of technology that are helpful.
Photography tips: the basic concepts of photography still apply when using a drone, but some ideas are especially important when your camera is flying.
Video tips: there are many ways to move your drone and steer the viewer’s attention, so I offer examples of useful techniques.
More about me
I’m a Durango-based science writer, multimedia journalist, and FAA-certified drone pilot. I’ve been flying a drone for the past 10 years.
I’m primarily a landscape, nature, and wildlife photographer, and I’m especially fond of aerial imagery, created not only with drones but also while flying in a plane or a helicopter.
My goal as a photographer is to continually see the world in new ways and help others do the same.
I welcome suggestions and questions. You can email me at mitchtobin@colorado.edu or find me on Bluesky, Instagram, Facebook, X, and LinkedIn.
