Daily Inspiration: Meet Paul Royle-grimes

Today we’d like to introduce you to Paul Royle-grimes

Hi Paul, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My story starts on the back of a Wheaties cereal in 1978. I saved money from birthdays and Christmas gifts along with box tops to mail in and get my first camera. It was a Polaroid land camera with a cube flash interface at the top. It came with my first magazine of film which included 12 prints. I am pretty sure I used them up right away and fell in love with the idea that you could capture an image with chemicals, paper and plastic. I saved for each new magazine – they were $12 apiece at that time (which in today’s dollars would be $45). This was a steep price and took what seemed like ages to get my next magazine. All the while I was literally burning money with my other hobby – model rockets and balsa airplanes. I so wanted to be able to put a camera on a rocket and get that picture from up above my neighborhood. I took some pretty great pictures with that camera. I had no formal training, only the photos I had seen in National Geographic and Smithsonian magazines that parents subscribed to. I was able to get an epic silhouette of my father salt water fishing on a trip to California as well as some still life photos that I had conjured together on a rainy day stuck inside. It wasn’t until I had reached 14 years of age that I was able to afford a 35mm film camera. A Ricoh pocket camera with a fixed 35mm equivalent lens. I shot hundreds of rolls of film on that camera. Everything from trips to Elitch gardens to school trips and a trip to explore a wild cave near Meeker. I also had purchased a 110mm camera that looked small enough and tried to cram it into a nose cone for a rocket that I surmised would get that aerial photo that I had always wanted. Of course it didn’t work and the camera was destroyed in the process. I graduated from high school, joined the US Navy and as soon as I could save the money for it I bought a Nikon FM2. I only was able to afford one lens when I purchased it so I bought the Nikkor 1:1.2 50mm. Loved that camera and lens. Took literally tens of thousands of frames with it. All over the world from Turkey to Egypt and throughout the middle east during my deployment in Desert Storm. I still have all of these negatives. 4th of July in Boston, Fleet Week in NYC, Planes launching from the deck of the carrier, trips with friends to dine in exotic places. Throughout college that camera carried me through my photography classes and made side income taking head shots for theater students and my fellow music majors. I purchased my first medium format camera during this time. A Koni-Omega with a 20mm lens. I lost the viewfinder for it when I leaned out of the door of a single engine cessna I hired to fly me up and down the front range to get photographs. I was never able to obtain a replacement in a world without the internet. I ended up shooting that camera from the hip fort the rest of the time I owned it. When I graduated my photography took a pause. Being newly married and trying to be responsible with money to raise a family meant that film and processing was too expensive. This was also the late 1990’s at this point and digital was beginning to emerge on the marketplace. I was able to purchase a Canon sure shot when my oldest son was around 3 years old. I was extremely unsatisfied with the grainy finicky 3mp photos it took. Batteries did not last long and editing software was rudimentary at best. Years of snapshots resulted. It wasn’t until my wife bought me a 60D for my 40th birthday that I discovered that digital had not only equalled the film world but in many ways made it completely obsolete. I still have that camera and use it for a back up to this day. In 2016 I saw my first advertisement for the DJI Phantom drone. My imagination ran wild and the rest as they say was history. I have since purchased many drones with specific use cases, emerged myself in FPV, and have built a photography and videography business around my love of photography and these wonderful flying cameras.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
No. When I started my business in 2017 nobody could see what I saw in the commercial applications for the drones. When I would give someone a business card they would ask “Do you sell drones?” I would have to explain my business model of providing quality aerial imagery. My first job I shot a roof for a farmer North of Greeley for insurance purposes. When he came out to greet me he leaned up agains the bumper of his Ford truck with a 12 gauge shotgun in hand. I asked him what the gun was for and in a slow grizzly voice he said “in case that thing gets outta control….”
Needless to say the first four years were difficult to build client relationships and get enough revenue to stay current.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a generally creative person. I have enjoyed a lifetime of playing trombone professionally, and creating artworks in many mediums. Steel, concrete, stone, and ceramic. I love acrylic paints and am always experimenting with new ways to mix them. Photography is my base skill though. Everything emerges from there. What I think sets me apart is my point of view. I stretch myself to try and get the shot that will stand out in a world saturated in imagery.

Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
I am always looking for a great collaboration. This is where I learn the most about my craft and myself. Anybody wanting to try something wild – would love to be a part of it.

Pricing:

• Day rate (for anything imagery related) $1300
• 1/2 day $700
• Hourly $250
• Time for print (ask)
• Specialized drone tasks priced per quote.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.elevationuas.com
• Instagram: @roylegrimes
• Youtube: Paul Royle-Grimes