Acton, Mass. - As a boy growing up in Guatemala, Derick Veliz fell in love with airplanes by watching his uncle fly his gasoline-powered control line planes.

Then, when he was 12, his father gave him a camera for his birthday and he quickly developed a passion for photography.

In college, he studied architecture.

After moving to Acton in 1998, and working for The Office of Michael Rossenfeld, Veliz found a way to combine his three passions into a cutting edge method of aerial photography.

By strapping a digital camera to a foam and balsa wood plane, and using a remote control device with a mechanical arm to work the camera, Veliz, 36, takes aerial photographs of architectural projects. His method saves the cost of having to hire a professional photographer to fly over the site in a plane or helicopter.

Veliz, who now works for Dario Designs architectural firm in Marlboro, started out experimenting by strapping a disposable camera into one of his planes, requiring him to land and rewind the film after each shot. He soon switched to a regular camera, and eventually to a digital camera.

His modified plane looks a little like a high school science project. The camera sits in a homemade wooden box strapped into the plane’s miniature cockpit via two are three rubber bands. Wires connect the mechanical arm to the antenna.

Veliz also participated in the town’s successful attempt to set the Guinness Book of World Records’ record for the largest human flag, using one of his planes to take an aerial photograph of residents holding colored panels to look like an enormous flag at NARA Park.

Veliz spoke to The Beacon about combining his passion, his hobby and his career.

Q: How did you get into remote control planes?

A: Since I was a little kid my uncle flew control line airplanes. So since I was 4 or 5, I was in contact with airplanes. For some reason I just liked airplanes. Then when I was a teenager we moved and not too far from our house there was a flying field for remote control airplanes. We were on a tight budget, our family, and so the only good thing to do over the weekend was to go and watch the guys flying their airplanes. Then when I was 12 my dad gave me a camera for my birthday. I started studying architecture and I used my camera to do homework and all that stuff. I used it a lot doing my thesis and projects and reports and all that stuff. When I became an architect I moved over here and I started working for a small architecture firm here in Acton. After a while I said I have a little money in my pocket, all my life I’d lived with a small budget and now I had some extra money so I said I need a hobby — oh, airplanes!

Q: How did photography come into the picture?

A: I bought my first airplane, I put it together and I started learning to fly. My first plane, I crashed it. I’d fly for three seconds and crash it. Eventually I learned to fly. As soon as I was comfortable flying the plane I thought what if I could just put a camera on this plane. That’d be very neat to have pictures of our projects... I went out to one of our projects and took pictures over the weekend and then I brought them into the office and said, “Hey, look at this.” They liked it and they asked me to do the same thing for all the other projects... I was doing a demo for the Museum of Science so I pull out the plane and I pull out the camera and I noticed that there was no film. I did have a digital camera so I said this is when I have to try it.

Q: So you went digital by necessity?

A: Yeah, I bought it, like, two weeks before. I was a little bit skeptical because digital wasn’t really ready for that. But I had to show this guy something. I put the digital camera in, I went up, I came down, I looked at the pictures and they were great. That’s how I moved into digital. In that transition I think I put together all three of my passions. I started with the airplanes as a kid, just the whole thing about flying and being against gravity — really, it’s something. Then my photography passion came when I got a camera and I was crazy taking pictures, and then architecture. Then putting them all together I came out with something nice, it’s fun. I call it art. They all come together. They merge in a very artistic way... I accomplished a very good quality with photography. It’s very competitive with a professional photographer on a full-scale airplane or helicopter and sometimes even better. In my old office we had clients who at the end of the project they would hire a professional photographer to take aerial pictures, and my boss would say, “Hey, Derick, can you go and take some pictures?” And at the end of the day, apples to apples, they picked my pictures. I can get really low and close to the targets as opposed to an airplane or helicopter.

Q: So you have some advantages over some of the more traditional methods of aerial photography?

A: Yes. The other thing is it’s a lot safer, not only for me that I keep my feet on the ground, but after 9/11 restrictions are very, very hard... And if you’re in a residential area and you’ve got a helicopter flying above, everybody’s going to get freaked out and call 911. With the plane it’s electric, it’s clean, it’s quiet. Most of the time, 90 percent of people won’t even notice.

Q: Are there and disadvantages?

A: The big disadvantage is, for example, if a client wants one of those huge poster-sized images. I can’t put a big camera on the plane. For that, they can hire a professional photographer.

Q: After you started flying, how long was it before you got good at it?

A: Probably about six months where I was very into it trying to get the most of the hobby, get the most of the cameras and get the most of the targets. Now, eight years after, I look back and I can see how the pictures progressed. My degree of how nervous I get has dropped down a lot. At the beginning you’re so concerned that you have a camera up there and you could lose it or drop it. And you’ve very, very concerned about your plane because you’re putting $600 or $800 in the air, and everything that goes up must come down, no matter how. Now I’m more concerned about what picture I want.

To learn more about Veliz’s photography, e-mail him at derickveliz@gmail.com or www.aerialview.us

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