A Portage Life in the Spotlight: Brandon Clair

A Portage Life in the Spotlight: Brandon Clair

Technology advances fast, but people are quick to adapt. Not even 10 years ago, radio-controlled helicopters and other drones were largely novelty toys packed under Christmas trees, now it is a multi-million dollar industry led by professional such as Portage’s Brandon Clair and his business Timeless Aerial Photography.

Clair is a Navy veteran, born and raised in Lucas, Ohio who moved to the area after finishing his service to work at the Burns Harbor Power Plant. Though the plant shut down this year, Clair did not let that slow him down and quickly moved to expand his side-job passion project, drone photography, into a full-time career.

“I actually just had a drone as a toy at first,” Clair recalled. “Back around 2014 I realized the full potential drones had, and the kind of demand that could be there for them. I was lucky to get in very early.”

The drone industry is still very young, and many of the rules and regulations surrounding commercial use of drones are fresh or soon-to-come. Recent legislation made it much simpler for hobbyists and aspiring professionals to get started on building their own drone fleets, but Clair already had his foot in the door.

“Back when I started you actually had to have your pilot’s license to fly drones commercially,” he said. “It was nice because there weren’t as many people doing it, but now everyone’s jumped on.”

For a long time, drones were mostly in the news for their military uses, but now businesses and communities are finding all kinds of ways to make use of the technology. From things like aerial real estate photography and factory inspections, to videography of local events like Valparaiso’s Oktoberfest, Clair rarely runs out of projects.

“What I do varies, if a media company calls I might go out and shoot for them, or run over to Ohio and film for them to edit,” he said. “Other times I’m doing real estate stuff or things for my own clients and I’ll come home, edit, and do all the production stuff myself. I’m kind of a one-stop shop.”

The variety of projects in one thing, but what truly excites Clair about his work is letting people see their community in a way they never have before.

“I love going to all of our parks and tourist stuff to show off the beauty that is still here,” Clair said. “I’ve lived in a lot of places because of the military, and I look back at all those places and just think about all the beautiful things they had. I believe that people just need to see more of their beautiful communities, and that what I’m doing might help them realize how nice it really is.”

The other big thing he loves about his job is how much time it lets him spend with family. When he gets a job to do photos or videos somewhere else in the country, he brings them along for the ride. His wife is also former Navy, and they have an eight-month-old baby.

“The one thing that drives me to push my business and make it bigger is so that I can bring my family along wherever I go,” he said. “It’s not like normal work or something were I go out and do manual labor, it’s kind of like mini-vacations because most of where I film are very beautiful places. So this is allowing me to be with my family more.”

Clair is passionate about the Region, and is partnering with local organizations to highlight their events from a new perspective. Keep an eye out for him and his drones at upcoming events like the Valparaiso Oktoberfest. You can learn more about his business and find examples of his work at www.timelessaerialphotography.com.