Scenic Concepts Aerial Photography

[Duds13]

This weekend I had a woman drive up my driveway and proceed to exit her car with an aerial photograph of my property taken on 10/18/24. Beautiful picture, nicely matted and in a nice frame but I was thinking to myself this is very weird and not sure how I feel about a company flying around taking photos of properties then trying to sell you the picture for $349! The woman was nice and wasn't pushy at all. I did some research on the company and a lot of the negative reviews mentioned that the salesman wouldn't take no for an answer, so thankfully I didn't have to deal with that.

Has anyone else had an experience like this?

 

[drizler]

That was ll fine and well back in the 1980s when they had to hire a plane and pilot to take their pictures. Today you can buy your own for far less and do it yourself. Besides there’s no skill required anymore. Just digitally snap away till you find a keeper, it’s free.

 

[Duds13]

Not a fan of the concept at all and the price is outrageous. Plus, strangers driving up random driveways these days isn't a great idea.

 

[John0829]

Many, many years ago, maybe 20?, we had someone like that come though but declined. Now days if I want an aerial I just send up the drone and have done so as a favor for some neighbors. As for the taking pics there is nothing you can do about that, there was a big discussion about this on another site concerning drones flying over. And while you own the land and they cannot/should not trespass on it you DO NOT own the air space above your property so they or anyone with a drone, plane or helicopter can fly over the property. Beside pics are taken all the time from satellites, many with much higher resolution and we never give that a thought.

 

[Duds13]

Many, many years ago, maybe 20?, we had someone like that come though but declined. Now days if I want an aerial I just send up the drone and have done so as a favor for some neighbors. As for the taking pics there is nothing you can do about that, there was a big discussion about this on another site concerning drones flying over. And while you own the land and they cannot/should not trespass on it you DO NOT own the air space above your property so they or anyone with a drone, plane or helicopter can fly over the property. Beside pics are taken all the time from satellites, many with much higher resolution and we never give that a thought.

Yeah unfortunately there's not a damn thing I can do about it!

 

[MossRoad]

This weekend I had a woman drive up my driveway and proceed to exit her car with an aerial photograph of my property taken on 10/18/24. Beautiful picture, nicely matted and in a nice frame but I was thinking to myself this is very weird and not sure how I feel about a company flying around taking photos of properties then trying to sell you the picture for $349! The woman was nice and wasn't pushy at all. I did some research on the company and a lot of the negative reviews mentioned that the salesman wouldn't take no for an answer, so thankfully I didn't have to deal with that.

Has anyone else had an experience like this?

That used to be a 'thing' around here, especially farms and lake properties. I'm guessing the salesperson has a total of 2 frames in case they sell one. Otherwise, they switch photos out between each potential property.

I wonder how many they have to sell to break even.

 

[dodge man]

They’ve done that around here in the past, my in laws have one hanging in their house. I think it’s died out in this area.

 

[RjCorazza]

That was pretty common in my area 20-30 years ago. It was always a guy in aviator style sunglasses.
I guess the value in your current sales person is the image being printed (presumably larger than a typical laser printer can print) and framed.
I spend a fair amount of time on Google Earth measuring fields and just looking around. It's kinda fun going through the historical imagery to track changes over the years.

 

[BackRoad]

I recently did the Google Earth history as Mr. RjCorazza mentioned.

Amazing how much change in just 40 years (talking circa 1985, which to me seems not that long ago) to today!

Acres of wide open cow grazing pastures, now grown up "woods" and thickets...

 

[ronjhall]

40 years ago I got one of those for my place. Was less than $100. Today i fly my drone for a picture.

 

[LHF2019]

All the time. Here you can look at what would have been offered in the past. Been going on for decades. And when they stopped the farm picture was purchased. I will someday purchase all of the past pictures of our property. While drones has probably has made it hard to compete now and in the future having the ability to purchase past flyovers is priceless.

Vintage Aerial | historic aerial photography of rural American farms and homesteads

Over 18 million aerial photos documenting the history of rural America spanning five decades.

vintageaerial.com

 

[EarPlug]

This appears to be a legitimate company. They do hire independent sales reps to go door to door.

Scenic Concepts – Aerial Photography

 

[MossRoad]

Some friends of ours have a photo of their farm like that from a few decades ago. I believe they found it in the house when they bought it.

 

[EscapedSuburbia]

I can see the value in a picture like that. When we moved into our current house we found an aerial photo taken soon after it was built in the 1970's. It was farm land split up into 3 lots for the farmer's children. The photo shows the recently planted trees which are all mature now. I have a J3 Cub and just flew over for the first time yesterday to get some pictures. I'll take some more this winter when the leaves have dropped.

 

[bigtiller]

I bought 4 of them between 2001 and 2014.
they each cost me $50.

I'm not buying any more from strangers. But a few friends with drones might do it once for cheap.

 

[paulsharvey]

About 20-18 years ago, we were building apartments around the SE US, mostly low income, but also some student housing, low rise, 2 and 3 story stuff, in mostly smaller cities. We would often hire some progress aerial photos, at like 90 days/180/270 days. At the time, I think it was like $300-500, and it was like 12 pictures. No, they didn't get framed or anything.

Now, it's drones. Was on a job a few months ago, demolition, old church dating from 1880s, kinda historic, but in danger of falling down. There were multiple drones in the air, Jacksonville TV station, local "newspaper", demolition contractor, ect. Demolition guys, it is part to protect themselves, showing were debris falls, that the buildings 10 ft away were Not hit, ect.

 

[paulsharvey]

But, as a nice piece of wall art, a well-done aerial does look good, and it beats some random "bed bath and beyond" print of a landscape hanging there.

 

[BleedingOrange]

Can you talk these folks down on their asking price ? ANd what do they do with the pictures of properties that aren,t purchased ?

 

[Duds13]

Can you talk these folks down on their asking price ? ANd what do they do with the pictures of properties that aren,t purchased ?

I didn't try. The photo alone with no frame was $250 I believe. She tried to sell me on the type of paper used for the photo and how it wouldn't fade. I asked what they do with the picture of my property since I wasn't buying it and she said they keep them on hand in case I change my mind.

 

[paulsharvey]

BTW, if you wanted to hire a drone, and have the pictures printed, it likely would be that much or more. Different if you own the drone, or have a friend with one, but for the to drive out, fly it, and even just send digital files, I would expect to pay $300+