Photos by drone fill business, artistic needs

By ERIK STIEM
Capital News Service
LANSING — The jury is still out on regulations for unmanned aircraft, but that’s not stopping a Michigan business from using them commercially. Hovershots Aerial Photography and Video APV uses remote controlled helicopters – popularly known as drones – to capture video footage that is otherwise inaccessible or extremely expensive. The company’s recent picture of a record-breaking flotilla of kayaks on Suttons Bay in northern Lake Michigan made it into the Guinness Book of World Records. Hovershots owner Kevin Haley, 50, from Linden near Flint, has more than 25 years experience with remote controlled systems. But in the past he has only had access to shoddy cameras to attach to them. So when Haley, a health and nutrition storeowner, began researching drones and state-of-the-art cameras, he saw an incredible business opportunity, Haley said.