
Yesterday was a pretty exciting day! Guy Fortier, a realtor based out of Saskatoon, hired Anikio to create a virtual tour and take photos for a sprawling, 3600 sqft acreage about 20 km west of Prince Albert. This was Anikio’s first out-of-town shoot. It was the first home above 2000 sqft that we’ve shot. And it was the first time we got to take some aerial photos!
Yes, Anikio has a drone. And a drone license, by the way. You may not have known this, but Dean is actually a private pilot, so navigating a drone is pretty straightforward. The real challenge in Saskatoon is the extremely conservative rules for use ‘around’ an airport. It is certainly possible to have some drone photos taken in city limits with planning and depending on the location, but it’s not a given that it can be done legally. On the other hand, an acreage 20 km from a town or airport? No problem at all! And this acreage really benefited from the aerial photos. There is just no way to capture the grounds and such a large home together otherwise.
One thing we didn’t account for is how much time this would take. The home faces south and is mostly glass, featuring some beautiful views of the pond outside as well as sunlit rooms. This makes for a lot of post-photography work to make sure that we capture those views well, especially in the virtual tour. On top of that, the size of the home required 45 (!) 360 degree photos for the virtual tour. That’s about double what a more typical 1600 sqft home would take. Photos? The same and more. Not to mention the drone photos, which we offered this time for free since Guy has been a great supporter of Anikio. All said and done, it was a learning experience in terms of time requirements for a home this size.
But we’re really happy with the results and it was a lovely day to spend in what felt like a quiet, remote lodge up north. Especially after being cooped up hiding from COVID for some time.