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The Dragon Boat festival takes place every year and hosts thousands of attendees and boat racers in the waters of False Creek, Vancouver. This year, it also featured a drone show, as you saw in the video. The venue was packed, and we all stood around waiting for the drones to turn up for what seemed like an eternity.

Dragon!

The show was supposed to start at 9:30, but it didn't get going until 10 PM, when the sky was dark enough. I was in no way technologically and skill-wise prepared to capture a drone show in those light conditions, so like everyone else around me, I used my phone (Pixel 7) to record the aerial proceedings.

City looking good

At the end of the show, the drones spelled out the word PIXEL in block letters. Very cool. I was too slow on the draw, however, and only caught a bit of the L. 😌

I did no record every moment of the show, only a few highlights. It was a wonderful choreography, though not as extravagant as the one's I've seen online from Singapore and Dubai. I wish the sky had been darker, but it was already 10 PM, and I don't think many would be willing to wait until 11 PM. So, the photographs did not turn out that great. Given the low lighting, a tripod would've helped stabilize the image for crisper shots, but I didn't want to lug around heavy gear in the middle of a crowd. It was a fun experience nevertheless with plenty of lessons for this kind of environment.

The sky at 10 PM is nuts in the northern hemisphere