Category Archives: Alabama Aerial

Waterfall at Buck Creek in Helena, AL


An aerial video of the waterfall at Buck Creek next to Papa Saia’s in Helena, AL

 This Waterfall is lit up at night!

Buck Creek Waterfall located in Helena, AL Photo by: Daniel Clark
Buck Creek Waterfall located in Helena, AL Photo by: Daniel Clark

Buck Creek is a 17.3-mile-long tributary of the Cahaba River that supplied water power for manufacturing during the 19th century. Today It’s a great place to spend the afternoon or dinner at Papa Saia’s!

Aerial Video Winter Storm 2014 Alabama Part 2

Alabama was hit with snow again on Wednesday, February 12, 2014. I had a service call that put me in the Shoals (Florence, AL area),  working at Shoals Hospital. The return trip took me through some of the heaviest snowfall I have ever driven through. I was driving a 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee that was only two-wheel-drive.

Jeep Grand Cherokee
2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee – and it’s for sale!

I lowered the tire pressure to 14 psi, and with careful driving the tires stuck to the road.  This time pretty much everyone had plenty of warning and stayed off the roads. The city was vacant, quiet and covered in the most beautiful snow I have ever seen. I could not pass up a perfect opportunity to capture some incredible video to share with you all!  The first shot is of  the cross at Gardendale First Baptist, followed by a snow-covered car dealership along US 31. After dinner I headed back to downtown Birmingham and stopped at Railroad Park and watched a few people sled down the stairs. I then went to  Regions Baseball Park,  Southside Baptist,  the Five Points South Fountain, and even the Waffle House across the street in Southside. Other scenes include the  Powell Avenue Steam Plant, Cathedral Church of the Advent,  Linn Park,  Highland Park,  Sloss Furnace,  The Summit shopping center,  English Village in Mountain Brook, and  Altamont Road, where I  filmed my own car 🙂 and a snowman.  I am honored to be able to share this with everyone.  And once again thanks to my friend Daniel Clark for editing this video.  Feel free to share.

-Kevin Henderson
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Aerial Snow Photos from February 13, 2014

Aerial Video Winter Storm 2014 Alabama

1/28/2014 Winter Storm – The story behind the video –
This day started off traveling from Alabaster to Montgomery for a service call at the Hyundai plant.

Range Rover & The Peach Water Tower Clanton, AL
Range Rover & The Peach Water Tower Clanton, AL

Everyone was expecting the snow to hit south of Birmingham, so I packed extra clothes, food, 36 bottles of water, blankets, sleeping bags, etc., into a all-wheel-drive 2001 Range Rover HSE. I had just purchased this car in October cheap!  111k miles  $3,500 .

Stokes Automotive - Clanton, AL
The car dealership at the Peach in Clanton, AL

Travel to Montgomery was a bit slow,  made it to the plant just fine. I was then told that the plant was shutting down and I’d have to leave.  Headed back home the snow just kept getting worse.  I stopped in Clanton and took an aerial  photo of the peach water tower/car dealership in the snow.

Then called my wife, who works downtown, and she told me there was snow everywhere and sent me this photo:
Photo of the parking lot outside Amber's Office.
Photo of the parking lot outside Amber’s Office. Downtown Birmingham.
Ed and Jennifer
Ed and Jennifer

I told her to stay there. I would come get her!  Also  my cousin Jennifer was stuck at her work too.  Jennifer was along the way, I went to pick her up also. Right before I got to Vallydale Road on I-65N, I saw a car run off the road in front of me. I pulled over to help, but his car was too far off the road. Ed said that he was heading to his daughter’s in Moody to prepare for cancer surgery on Thursday.  Offered him a ride and he got in.

At this point traffic was jammed up. I exited onto Valleydale Road and went around everyone, as they were all stuck due to the roads flash freezing. I came across a woman and her child walking in the snow/ice on Riverchase Parkway and took them to meet their family a few miles up. Traffic was stopped, and the only way to move was to go around everyone.  Ended up picking up and transporting several more people to safety before reaching my cousin in Hoover and later my wife downtown. One of my wife’s coworkers was stuck at the office,  left him a sleeping bag and pillow and took another coworker to a friend’s home. Then my mother called; she had run off the road and was stuck in Avondale, picked her up and proceeded to head to Moody to drop off Ed. The roads were a thick sheet of ice at this point, and I was just lucky to have good tires with all-wheel-drive. It wasn’t long before my air suspension went out, and so then we were riding on the bump stops. It was a bumpy ride the rest of the night, but the vehicle still handled great on the ice. I rode down Highway 78 all the way to the I-20 interchange, and there was a pile of cars that could not make it up the hill into Leeds. I-20 East was also stopped. I was able to maneuver around all but two cars. I went out to talk to drivers, and they allowed me to try to drive their cars. I first tried to get the vehicles moving forward, but being on that steep hill they would just slide sideways every time I tried to go forward; even lowering the tire pressure did not help. I was only able to move them out of the way to allow me to pass. I felt bad leaving behind so many stuck people, but at least they were right next to two gas stations with food and warmth. 🙂 I finally dropped off Ed and headed to Irondale to drop off my mom. Then it was off to Helena to drop off my cousin Jennifer.   As we traveled down I-459 to US 31 and then to Highway 52, it was like watching scenes from a zombie movie. Abandoned cars were everywhere. Driving slowly along US 31 & 52,  checking stuck/wrecked vehicles, I was happy to see no one inside the cars. We finally reached Helena around 1 a.m. and then made it back home to Alabaster along CR17.

The next day I got up early and headed out to search for anyone in need. There was a Facebook group for stranded motorists created by  Georgia Smith Slade.  I monitored the site, and was able to help one person who was stuck on I-65 all night and needed his blood pressure meds. Picked up and shuttled many more stranded people that day including my friend Ravinell Wilson, owner of Trading Earth Real Estate, son and daughter-in-law who were taking up refuge overnight at Christ Church United Methodist In  between dropping people off I would stop every so often and take some interesting photos and video from the quadcopter.  Posted below are some of the photos I took:
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Aerial Photos Snowmageddon 2014 South of Birmingham, AL

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 I have always enjoyed photography and flying and do a lot of contract IT  work for many companies, and my work requires me to travel all over the state. For the past few months I’v been taking aerial photos of everything and sharing them online. Feel free to ask any questions.  Here is a link to the remote-controlled aerial vehicle I used to make the video:  quad copter.
Thanks to everyone who has shared this video, and a HUGE thank you to my friend Daniel Clark  for editing it!

-Kevin Henderson