Alaska Sunset: Continuous Drone Shot

This was one continuous drone shot. No cuts. No narration. Just the DJI Mini Pro 4 lifting off above Salamatof Beach and gliding out over frozen Cook Inlet on a February evening in 2024.

I wasn’t ready to use my voice yet. I was still too nervous to talk to a camera.

The shot is sunset light spreading across cracked ice. Reflections sitting in the gaps between frozen plates. The Chigmit Mountains across the inlet — Mount Iliamna and Mount Redoubt clear on the horizon against a sky full of gold and amber.

One continuous shot doesn’t let you skip ahead. There’s no editing around the slow parts. You either watch it at the pace it happens, or you don’t watch it at all. That’s probably why this one stuck with me. I love the steady glide over the water, revealing more as it goes.

I’m not a patient person. I fill every margin. I move to the next thing before the current thing is finished. My life, Alaska, winter has a way of correcting that tendency in me. Standing still and paying attention is harder for me than staying busy. It’s a challenge every time… but I feel more fulfilled when I do.

I was still early in this learning process when I filmed this. Two years later, I’m just getting back into it after a long break.