It’s a bird! It’s a plane!

If you see a remote-control aircraft or something resembling a pizza box flying rather low, don’t shoot. It might be shooting you. For Mark DeLatte and Eddie Weeks of Aerial Imagery LLC, these toys mean business.

The pair’s remote-controlled aircraft can hover a matter of feet overhead—often undetected—to snap endless photographs of locations or events. With the switch of a radio control pad, these guys can launch a flying 4˝” x 3” board (the “pizza box”) or model airplane in a matter of minutes. If you saw them in a field you might assume they’re a couple of guys playing with their radio-controlled toys, not running a high-tech aerial photography business.

These flying objects use a pair of Canon cameras to capture loads of 12- or 15-megapixel panoramic images and video at angles not all aerial shot-makers can.

Stepping into the garage attached to the back of Weeks’ Baton Rouge home is like entering a model maker’s paradise. The room is full of electronics, gizmos and gadgets. Computer monitors here. Racks of nuts and bolts there. And wires, wires everywhere. It may look confusing, but for DeLatte and Weeks it’s the result of mixing their backgrounds and passions in photography and model airplanes.

Consisting of foam, glue and tape, the model airplane Aerial Imagery flies is rather inexpensive, save for the battery and other electronics like the transmitter. The “pizza box” flies like a helicopter but is actually a flat, fixed-wing model made of Styrofoam.

The airplane can capture long-distance shots, like a bird looking down at prey on the ground. The pizza box, meanwhile, takes off and lands almost vertically, which allows it to take plain-view shots.

Once either craft is in the air, DeLatte and Weeks can see exactly what the plane sees by using special video-feed goggles (think Lt. LaForge on Star Trek: The Next Generation). These goggles allow the guys to track the flight in real time. This feature enables a spectacular view that’s almost an out-of-body experience.

Each plane is also outfitted with a GPS system, which gives real-time data on its exact coordinates and direction.

Aerial Imagery has worked with in-state organizations like BREC and out-of-state companies are now realizing the company can collect information from and monitor their far-flung projects. This also leaves the door open for remote management. “With our ability to transmit live video from an aerial standpoint, we can show companies the progress of their projects without ever having to leave their office,” Weeks says.

Business aside, it doesn’t hurt that DeLatte and Weeks are having fun.

“We’ve managed to create a business that is a myriad of different things, so I get to enjoy every aspect,” says Weeks.

Learn more at aerialimageryla.com.