On set at The Salmons

Above is a picture of the drone on our deck. I like the brightly colored landing pad the film crew brought along. The camera is suspended on a frame beneath the drone, and the contraption is controlled remotely from gear set up inside our house.

Film crews in the neighborhood was a routine happening when we lived in LA. However, it came a surprise one day in February 2017 to find a note in our mailbox on Quaker Bridge Rd in Ossining. The note read:

I'm working with a team of filmmakers in the Ossining area on a narrative documentary, Backyard Wilderness, exploring our backyards here in the area and the affect of technology on our connection with nature. We are doing some drone shots in the area tomorrow and need a good vantage point of Croton. It seems like flying the drone from your backyard would be perfect and we were wondering if that would be possible?

Out of curiosity, we agreed to be a part of the process.

Gear setup in our living room

View of the Hudson River from our back deck, flying drone is a speck in the middle

Movies of the drone filming process at our house

• Liftoff from the deck
• Drone footage seen from gear set up on our couch

I haven't seen the final movie which is called Backyard Wilderness, so I don't know if any of the footage shot with this drone is in the final cut.

The directors/producers, Susan Todd and Andrew Young, gave a talk at the Chappaqua Library on October 12, 2022.

Last Updated: October 13, 2022