Show Notes
Greetings, you’re listening to the Liam Photography Podcast, I’m your host Liam Douglas and this is Episode 437 for Thursday January 16th, 2025. This week, lots of DJI news for you and Legendary “Miracle on Ice” Photographer Heinz Kluetmeier Dies at age 82.
DJI says it will no longer enforce “No-Fly Zones”, putting the onus on pilots to ensure they don’t fly in restricted areas.
The move is something of a surprise as a potential ban on DJI continues to linger over the company and comes at a time when drones are in the spotlight for interfering with the L.A. wildfires.
In a blog post, DJI explains the update means pilots will see DJI geofencing datasets replaced by official Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) data. The Chinese company characterizes this as “placing control back in the hands of the drone operators.”
Areas that were previously defined as Restricted Zones, commonly known as No-Fly Zones, will instead be displayed as Enhanced Warning Zones that align with the FAA’s designated areas. An in-app alert will notify the pilot that they are flying near designated controlled airspace which can be dismissed by the user.
An FAA spokesperson tells The Verge that the authority “does not require geofencing from drone manufacturers.”
DJI says that when it first introduced the geofencing system in 2013, there were very few formal drone flight rules and regulations were sparse. The company says it introduced the feature as a goodwill gesture to prevent drone operators from flying into restricted airspace such as government buildings, airports, or prisons.
“Since then, global regulations and user awareness have evolved significantly, with a greater focus on geo-awareness and Remote ID solutions which makes detection and enforcement much easier,” DJI writes.
“National aviation authorities, including the European Aviation Safety Authority (EASA) in the EU, the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), and the FAA in the U.S., have established comprehensive geographical zones for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and enforce drone regulations.”
DJI argues that the update aligns with aviation regulations around the globe — including the FAA — that it is the drone operator, not the drone manufacturer, that is responsible for complying with aviation rules.
“This update has been in development for some time, following similar changes successfully implemented in the E.U. last year, which showed no evidence of increased risk,” DJI global policy head Adam Welsh tells The Verge.
To receive the update, users must connect their flight app to the internet and click “Update” on the FlySafe pop-up notification. DJI reminds all pilots to fly safely and in accordance with local laws and regulations.
Three people have been arrested in connection with flying unauthorized drones over the Los Angeles area amid the deadly wildfires.
L.A. County Sherrif Robert Luna revealed in a press conference on Monday that 34 arrests have been made in fire evacuation areas and three of those relate to the unauthorized flying of drones.
“If you’re thinking that it’s fine to send a drone up in the area for your own amusement, or you want to get information that nobody else can get, and you do it in one of these areas that for which drones are not permitted … you will be arrested, you will be prosecuted and you will be punished to the full extent of the law,” says L.A. County District Attorney Nathan Hochman, per Fox 11 Los Angeles.
The worst incident by far is an incident last Thursday when a civilian-operated drone collided with a firefighting “Super Scooper” airplane while it was operating above the Palisades Fire. The plane was able to land safely but the incident is still under investigation.
Los Angeles County Deputy Fire Chief Robert Harris says that officials have detected 48 privately owned drones flying over the wildfires since the city-wide blazes started last Tuesday.
It is illegal to fly a drone over a wildfire as it is seen as interfering with the firefighting efforts. The UAVs can get in the way of low-flying firefighting aircraft and delay emergency responders. The Hill reports that on Friday, an aircraft trying to contain the Palisades wildfire was forced to leave the area because of unauthorized drones in the air.
“It’s a federal crime, punishable by up to 12 months in prison, to interfere with firefighting efforts on public lands,” the FAA says. “The FAA has not authorized anyone unaffiliated with the Los Angeles firefighting operations to fly drones in the (temporary flight restrictions).”
Deemed to be a federal crime, flying a drone over a wildfire is punishable by up to a year in prison and a $75,000 fine. Officials have asked the public to share information about any person flying a drone over the fires by contacting the FBI’s Los Angeles office.
Acclaimed and influential Sports Illustrated photographer Heinz Kluetmeier died on January 14, 2025, at age 82 from complications of Parkinson’s disease.
Kluetmeier is best known for capturing an iconic photo of the “Miracle on Ice” at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, one of the most important moments in American sporting history.
Kluetmeier’s remarkable image was the only one to ever run on Sports Illustrated‘s cover without a caption, and readers voted it the storied magazine’s most iconic cover ever in 2014.
Team USA’s improbable 4-3 win over the legendary Soviet Union hockey team on February 22, 1980, at the Olympic Center in Lake Placid, New York, remains one of the greatest upsets not only in American sports history but all of sports. The victory came amid a backdrop of the Cold War, and the win galvanized Americans.
“For millions of people, their single, lasting image of the Lake Placid Games will be the infectious joy displayed by the U.S. hockey team following its 4-3 win over the Soviet Union last Friday night,” wrote E.M Swift for SI in 1980. And the lasting image Swift references? Heinz Kluetmeier captured it.
When asked in 2008 what his most memorable Olympic photo was, Kluetmeier replied, “I would have to say the Olympic hockey photo from Lake Placid. That’s the only cover we ever ran without cover language. It didn’t need it. Everyone in America knew what happened.”
The German-born Milwaukee-raised American sports photographer covered nearly every Olympic Games from 1972 until his retirement in 2016. He had over a hundred Sports Illustrated covers to his name and served two separate stints as the magazine’s director of photography.
Beyond being well-known for his Miracle on Ice photos, Kluetmeier was also known for inventive photographic techniques and equipment. He set up remote cameras at the finish line of the 1980 Moscow Olympics — summer and winter games occurred in the same year back then. At the time, he was the only photographer to have a remote camera setup. He was also the first photographer to use underwater cameras to capture swimming events in 1992.
Heinz Kluetmeier won a Lifetime Achievement award at the Lucie Awards in 2007. The Lucie Awards notes that Kluetmeier became passionate about photography at a very young age, having started shooting for the Associated Press when he was just 15.
“I think that technique and technical stuff is absolutely irrelevant to the picture in terms of what you do as a photographer. I think the most important thing is to have a vision, to have an emotional feeling, to care about what you’re photographing, and to have something that’s already there in your heart, in your eye,” Kluetmeier said.
Meteorite Striking Earth Captured By Ring
For the first time, a Ring doorbell camera has captured the sight and sound of a meteorite crashing to Earth.
Prince Edward Island, Canada resident Joe Velaidum and his wife Laura had just left his home to take his dog for a walk when the incident took place. While firsthand accounts of impacts have been heard before, they haven’t been captured—until now. Velaidum’s Ring doorbell camera happened to capture the impact, which shows the meteorite darting to the ground and exploding in an impact near his front door. According to the time stamp on the footage, the incident took place on July 25, 2024.
He says his wife’s parents live nearby and heard a “large bang” while the two of them were out walking the dogs.
“As we were cleaning it, they came over and Laura’s dad thought immediately that it could be a meteor. We were both skeptical,” Velaidum says. “But when we went onto the video cameras, we saw that something hit with a tremendous force in the exact spot I was standing just a few minutes earlier. That’s when we contacted Chris Herd, the well-known meteor specialist from the University of Alberta.”
Velaidum sent samples of the “star-shaped” fragments left on his sidewalk to the University of Alberta’s Meteorite Collection to verify its authenticity and curator Chris Herd confirmed that it was a meteorite.
“It is surreal to think about just rare and how close this encounter was. I was standing right at the point of impact, just minutes prior,” Velaidum says. “It’s mind-blowing to think that this hunk of rock traveled hundreds of millions of miles and landed on our front doorstep where I was standing, exactly, a few minutes prior. My partner Laura and I decided to take the dogs for a quick walk. There was nothing unusual about that at all… except that I stopped on the walkway to move a dog leash because the landscapers were scheduled to come and mow the lawn later that day, and the dog leash was on the grass. So I thought I would help. I never stop in that spot.”
Velaidum says that looking back on it, if he had stayed in that spot just a minute or two longer or had taken his time going there, he would have “certainly’ been hit by the meteor and likely been killed.
“So, when I was innocently moving that dog lead, a meteor was hurling towards me. We didn’t know this until we came back from the walk. When we came to the walkway it was covered with black rocks. They were everywhere.”
Herd believes that this is the first time ever that both the sights and sounds of a meteorite impacting the ground has been captured on video.
“It’s not anything we’ve ever heard before. From a science perspective, it’s new,” Herd tells CBC.
After analyzing the 95 grams of fragments recovered from the impact site, Herd concluded that the “Charlottetown Meteorite” originated in the asteroid belt. It was found to be composed of ordinary chondrite, the type of space rock that most commonly strikes Earth, CBC reports.
“It’s really awesome. It’s actually the first and only meteorite ever found on the Island, and what a way to make that discovery,” Herd tells CBC. “Every time that this happens, it’s a new sample from space. It’s from the asteroid belt… between Mars and Jupiter, so it’s come a long way.”
Westcott’s two new strobes offer full power flash in a compact, lightweight design for demanding on-location shoots.
Westcott unveiled the new FJ800 and FJ400 II strobes today — two compact yet powerful all-in-one flashes for location shoots and demanding field work. Both models are lightweight, wireless with long-lasting battery options, redesigned with initiative touchscreen controls, and should be able to handle any conditions thrown at them.
The FJ800 features an 800-watt-second strobe with a recycle time of 0.01 to 1.8 seconds and a nine-stop power range. It supports a high-speed sync of a 1/8,000 shutter speed but also includes a Freeze Mode that allows the flash head to reach an impressively quick 1/25,000s flash duration. The strobe is calibrated to 5,500 Kelvin and uses a self-monitoring cooling system to maintain performance while allowing the flash to keep going at full power.
The smaller FJ400 II is a 400-watt-second strobe that can still pack a punch on location. It has 0.01-0.9 second recycle time and can reach flash sync as fast as 1/24,000 using Freeze Mode. At 5.3 pounds (2.4 kilograms), it’s lighter than its bigger brother FJ800, which is about 7.5 pounds (3.4 kilograms), and shares many of the same features. It offers the same color performance, calibrated to 5,500 Kelvin, meaning it can pair well with the FJ800 or work great on its own.
Both strobes feature a Bowens mount and Rapid Box Switch Insert, meaning they can work with Westcott’s entire line of light modifiers and many third-party modifiers. The bracket also includes a nine-millimeter mount for umbrellas.
Westcott released a number of accessories to accompany the FJ Strobe system. The strobes come with the FJ Pro AC/DC battery, rated for over 550 shots for the FJ400 II and 250 for the FJ800. There is also an optional FJ Max battery, which almost doubles the shooting capacity on a single charge, for 1000+ shots for the FJ400II and 550+ for the FJ800.
Several kit arrangements are available, including single strobe, 2-light kits with a travel bag or hard carrying case, and options with and without soft boxes and modifiers. Additionally, each of the strobes are available with a multi-brand trigger, or a Sony-specific trigger that uses Sony’s multi-interface shoe to send settings data between the camera and trigger.
The base FJ800 kit, with the strobe, Pro battery, reflector, frosted dome, a set of magnetic gels, and case is available now for $999. The base kit for the FJ400 II with the same accessories starts at $600.
Photographer Loses Home and Gear
A Los Angeles-based photographer has lost his family home in Altadena after the Eaton Fire tore through it and destroyed all of his gear.
Marcus Ubungen tells PetaPixel that last Tuesday evening he arrived home from work to find the power had been cut. At approximately 7 p.m., Ubungen, his wife, and two children received word that a fire was in the canyon near his home.
“We were constantly getting updates on evacuation orders on the Watch Duty app, watching the notifications get closer and closer,” Ubungen says. “With the power out, we could see the glow of the fire in the sky behind our house over the tree line. So it was then we decided it was time to leave.”
Ubungen grabbed two carry-on-sized bags and stuffed them with important documents like passports, social security cards, and the kids’ birth certificates. When he returned, his house had been reduced to rubble.
“I lost nearly all of my photo and video gear. I made it out with the two digital cameras I already had in a backpack from work that day, and quickly stuffed my Leica M7 and my grandfather’s lens into a small case that had my Pentax 67II in it,” Ubungen explains. “But I lost my 8×10 camera, 4×5 camera, lenses in every format, all my lighting gear, a full Canon R5 kit, and a Sony FX9 Cinema package. And there’s the stuff around that stuff — all the accessories, my film processor, printer, paper, computer setup, and flatbed scanners. It was quite a bit.”
Ubungen shared a heartbreaking video to his Instagram page showing the devastation wrought to his former home. “Walking through the ashes was heartbreaking,” he says on the video. However, he notes “small signs of hope” such as a single blooming rose, the fruit tree that still stands, and the children’s playhouse that was somehow unscathed.
He tells PetaPixel via email that he is currently staying with family “until the air quality gets better in L.A. and we can secure housing.” He says until that happens shooting pictures is on hold as he prioritizes his family and shelter.
A fundraiser has been set up for Marcus and his family via Gofundme. You can check out Marcus’s work on his Instagram page or website.
China May Sell TikTok To Elon Musk
With the impending TikTok ban set for January 19, a report has emerged that Chinese officials are weighing up selling the app to Elon Musk.
Musk, the world’s richest man who already owns X (formerly Twitter), is being linked with the sale owing to his close ties with the incoming Trump administration.
Bloomberg reports that Beijing officials would prefer TikTok to stay under the ownership of ByteDance. But with the U.S. Supreme Court signaling their intention to uphold the ban, officials are ready to consider a sale.
The article published by Bloomberg details that senior Chinese officials are discussing the best way to work with Trump’s second presidency and a high-profile deal with one of Trump’s closest allies holds potential appeal to high-ranking members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Musk, who spent over $250 million on Trump’s re-election campaign, is set for a role improving efficiency across governmental departments.
The path for this deal remains unclear with Chinese officials reportedly yet to reach a consensus. It’s also unclear to what extent ByteDance knows about these preliminary discussions and whether Musk has been involved. Bloomberg reports that one scenario being discussed is that Musk’s X takes control of TikTok U.S. and the businesses are run together. TikTok and its 170 million users in the U.S. could massively bolster advertising. Musk has struggled to keep advertisers on X since he took it over.
Musk has not commented on the speculation but tweeted in April that he believes “TikTok should not be banned in the USA, even though such a ban may benefit the X platform. Doing so would be contrary to freedom of speech and expression. It is not what America stands for.”
A Bytedance representative calls Bloomberg’s report “pure fiction.” However, the news outlet reports that the talks being held in Beijing means that the app’s fate may be out of ByteDance’s control. China’s government holds a “golden share” which influences ByteDance’s operations.
Bloomberg analysts estimate that TikTok U.S. could be valued in the $40 to $50 billion region. Musk paid $44 billion for Twitter in 2022 and is still paying off loans from that deal.
Musk’s ties to Trump are not the only feather in his cap, the sprawling Tesla factory built in Shanghai has also bought the billionaire goodwill in China where he has established Tesla as a player in the vibrant Chinese EV market.
Multiple U.S. agencies and public officials have stated that TikTok poses a national security risk to the United States because, at any time, the Chinese government could compel the company to hand over a huge trove of US citizens’ personal data.
The law that called for the Chinese-based parent company Bytedance to divest or be banned was passed last year and signed by President Joe Biden. TikTok has since sued multiple times in an attempt to overturn the law, but appeals courts upheld the ban — it was denied an emergency bid to stop the ban from taking place on December 16, 2024 — to this point which has led to it appearing before the Supreme Court.
“Congress has passed my legislation to strengthen our national security and send a message to the world about the power of American leadership: we stand resolutely for democracy and freedom, and against tyranny and oppression,” President Biden said last year when the bill was signed into law.
TikTok has faced scrutiny and bans from both sides of the American political aisle. Before President Biden’s term, then-president Trump attempted to ban the app via executive order which was found to be unconstitutional. In response, congress worked to pass the ban as a law in 2024. Trump has since flip-flopped, now saying that he vows to overturn the law once sworn in.
“We believe the facts and the law are clearly on our side, and we will ultimately prevail,” TikTok said in a public response to the passage of the law last year.
“The fact is, we have invested billions of dollars to keep U.S. data safe and our platform free from outside influence and manipulation. This ban would devastate seven million businesses and silence 170 million Americans. As we continue to challenge this unconstitutional ban, we will continue investing and innovating to ensure TikTok remains a space where Americans of all walks of life can safely come to share their experiences, find joy, and be inspired.”
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