I (re)discovered drone pilot and photographer Eric Thurber the way many San Franciscans discover hidden gems in their city — scrolling through Reddit. His stunning shot of the Golden Gate Bridge stopped me mid-scroll, and when I learned it wasn’t even captured with a drone, I knew I had to talk to him.
What followed was a fascinating conversation with one of the Bay Area’s most successful drone photographers, whose Instagram feed @thurber_shots has amassed roughly 120,000 followers thus far and has attracted top-tier clients like the Golden State Warriors, Waymo, UCSF and even drone light show company Sky Elements.
What makes Thurber’s story particularly compelling is that this wasn’t the plan. A retired IT professional, he turned a photography hobby into a thriving second career — one where the work now comes to him rather than the other way around. But it didn’t happen overnight, and it wasn’t without lessons learned the hard way.
Here’s our interview, which you can catch in video form or read below. (Editor’s note: this interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity).
Photographing iconic landmarks — without a drone
Sally French: Let’s start with that Golden Gate Bridge shot that initially caught my attention. You used a 360 camera, not a drone. What inspired that creative approach?
Eric Thurber: The beauty of a 360 camera is that in post-production, it’s what you can do that matters. You’re capturing everything, so you don’t have to think about composition while shooting. I took a suction cup, stuck it to the roof of my car and drove across the bridge. Later, I could turn it and manipulate it however I wanted.
It’s a great way to showcase the Golden Gate Bridge in an amazing visual format without breaking the law — because you can’t fly drones over the bridge. A lot of people do, but I’m glad I don’t.
Following the laws (which are especially tricky in San Francisco)
SF: You’re clearly committed to flying legally, and your video stood out to me because you don’t really see many interesting shots taken in between the Golden Gate Bridge just because it’s illegal to fly drones there.
Now speaking of — flying legally isn’t always easy in San Francisco, which has so many regulations. Can you talk about navigating the regulations?
ET: I could talk about this stuff all day because I live in the regs. Half my days are spent filling out waiver requests and dealing with the city, dealing with parks and rec, all of that stuff.
The thing is, the FAA is in the business of educating you, not busting you. If you work with them, everything works out. I’m very familiar with DHS, the police — who really don’t have anything to do with drones but I know them — the FAA, the local FSDO, all of that. I carry Part 107.145 and Part 107.39 waivers for operations over people and moving vehicles, plus $2 million in drone insurance through Skywatch AI. I have whole coverage, the whole thing.
But getting permits from the City of San Francisco for commercial work? That’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. In fact, I have yet to personally get a permit approved from them because their requirements are absolutely stringent and unrealistic. They want me to guarantee coverage for every person that the drone flies over from the city government, and Skywatch won’t underwrite it.
SF: Is San Francisco more strict than other cities you’ve worked in?
ET: It’s strict in a sense if you’re going to do commercial work. If I wanted to shoot Outside Lands, for example? I couldn’t get the permit through the city. Now, I didn’t technically have to get that permit because I’m not making money directly — I’m just flying for me and I might share it — but that’s the catch-22.
Launching a wildly successful career in drone photography
SF: Speaking of commercial work, how did you turn this into a career? You’re a retired IT guy — this wasn’t exactly the plan, was it?
ET: Not at all! My photography goes back many, many years. I have a site called Eric’s Media that shows all my regular still shots. Then I got into drone photography, and over the years, I got into taking drone video — that’s where I really never looked back.
Instagram is where it all happened. The Golden State Warriors found me there — they reached out through Instagram. You’ll see my stuff on their social feeds or on the Jumbotron. I’ve done quite a bit of shooting for them. I’ve also worked with Waymo, UCSF, several local commercials. Sometimes I’m out with film crews, sometimes I’m doing one-offs or handling the whole production. I let the work come to me. I really don’t go out and hustle it. But once you make a name for yourself, the work really starts coming in.
SF: What was the turning point? Was there one video that changed everything?
ET: Yes, and it’s gone now because the FAA made me pull it. This was years ago when I was new to drones. I flew from Yerba Buena Island right over the top of the Bay Bridge’s Western Span. I’d seen NBC do something similar during a game and thought, “I’m gonna do this too.” Turned out, man, that was wildly illegal.
It got reported and went viral. The FAA said “pull that, you know.” But they were educational about it. Subsequently, everything has shifted. I get waivers now, and if I can’t do it legally, I won’t do that type of thing.
But here’s the thing: people will say on Instagram you need a shot to go viral. While that’s true, you need several of them if you want to carry momentum. One viral video will get you 10, 20, 30,000 followers. But you need to be consistent — posting three or four times a week with quality content. It’s a grind. I’ll say that. It’s a lot of work.
SF: Let’s talk about content. What’s your favorite content to create?
ET: Time lapses of fog — I love fog. The hyper lapses are what really launched me, to be honest. Those are the ones that really took off. They’re hard to do. Not a lot of people can do them with the effort that goes into it.
SF: Is there a trick to making a great time lapse?
ET: Yeah, it’s involved. I put up a video on it because I get so many questions. Essentially, over five to fifteen minutes, you’re going to take a series of 200 to 300 shots at one to three second intervals. Then you’re going to put them all together in Lightroom, process them, then they go out to your video editor. There’s a whole thing that has to happen for the way I do them, because I want superb quality.
You can shoot a hyperlapse straight from the drone and post it. That’s up to you. But if you want the stuff to look the way I post it, you have to go through all those other steps. It’s very involved, but the results speak for themselves.
SF: For aspiring drone photographers, what’s your advice for breaking into the commercial space? So many people do this for fun and want to make it a career.
ET: It’s difficult. It really depends on what you want to do. I hate to use myself as an example because I had to have a lot of viral videos and then people came to me. I wasn’t even necessarily looking.
But there are great opportunities out there for people who want to get into real estate, that kind of thing. The biggest thing you could do is stay consistent. If you’re posting on social and you take long breaks, it’s going to cost you. You’ll lose likes, lose engagement.
Videos really make a difference. If you’re shooting photos, you’re really going to be stuck in a pack that’s already saturated. If you’re doing videos, you’re breaking out of that pack a little bit. But I’ve noticed a lot of photographers aren’t interested in just doing video — it’s a catch-22. Consistency, I would say consistency is the best thing.
SF: Does it make sense to specialize? Some people say focus on construction or oil and gas. But even within artistic photography, should you specialize in real estate or cruise ships or drone light shows?
ET: What you’re speaking to is a niche, and definitely everybody needs to have their own. For me, I consider a lot of what I do fine art video — romanticizing traffic, romanticizing the city. These are topics people like to talk about too, which increases engagement. I just let everybody comment. I don’t limit anybody. Whether they like what I post or not, that’s fine. All it’s going to do is increase your engagement.
I love bridges, not just the Golden Gate. Some of my biggest posts are of the Vallejo Bridge, the bridge out in Pittsburgh. I’m almost always on the 6X cam on my Mavic 4 Pro or the 7X on my Mavic 3 Pro because I love compression shots. And I’ll hit the same spot three or four times, maybe even five, before I get something I’m happy with. I’m a true perfectionist.
Top gear for drone pilots
SF: What equipment are you working with these days?
ET: I have two Mavic 4 Pros, a Mavic 3 Pro Cine, and the Avata 2 for FPV work — though I rarely fly that. FPV pilots are a whole different breed. They’re very, very good at what they do, and it takes years to learn. It’s all very manual, not like just picking up your satellite drone and flying around.
Most of what I do is stuff around the city or whatever I’m commissioned to do, and I’ll use my Mavics for that. The Mavic 3 Pro has the parachute and the prop guard and all of my waivers tied to it, so most of the time I’m using that for professional work. I also shoot with a Sony α7S III, GoPro, DJI Osmo Action 5, and use various ND filters and the DJI Mic 2 for audio.
SF: Any dream spots left to fly?
ET: I’ve hit them, to be honest. I work for my shots, and I’ve gotten them. I love bridges, I love compression, and I keep going back to the same spots until I get exactly what I want. Some of my favorite videos are fog videos — those time lapses are what really launched me. When you romanticize the city the way I do, you hit these spots over and over until the light is perfect, the fog is perfect, everything comes together.
SF: Any last parting words of advice?
ET: Just be consistent, follow the rules and do something a little bit different. There are a lot of people locally who do the same shots — we were all in that group, chasing the same dozen or so shots. I broke out of that because I wanted to do something different. I stopped looking at what other local photographers were doing and started looking at people in other cities for inspiration. That’s where I get my ideas now, and some of my own too.
Eric Thurber flies with DJI Mavic 4 Pro, Mavic 3 Pro, Mini 4 Pro, and Avata 2, along with a suite of professional camera gear including the Sony α7S III, GoPro Hero, DJI Osmo Action 5 and iPhone 15 Pro Max.
Follow his work on Instagram @thurber_shots and YouTube @thurber_shots for tutorials and behind-the-scenes content from one of San Francisco’s most dedicated aerial photographers. Check out Eric Thurber‘s full photography portfolio at EricMedia.com.
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