07 October 2025

By Brian Steenhoek

I reside in Bright, Indiana. I have a beautiful wife, kids, dogs, and cats, and I have a personal relationship with my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

I am a published Christian author who wrote Straight from God’s Corner (available on Kindle/Amazon—you have to put the ASIN: B0FRKBM9NS in Amazon search to access).  I give GOD credit for all my success and may He use it for His glory. 

     I have been in sales and marketing for most of my life. I have pretty much sold everything from A to Z. My last sales position was in automotive sales where my hobby of drones began. One of my associates brought in a DJI spark and it was the first time I had ever seen a drone let alone see it fly. I fell in love and had to have one!

     I purchased my first DJI drone about five years ago. I actually was using it to take images and videos of Dodge trucks and jeeps. I honed my flying skills as I sold cars. Until my first crash realizing that flying drones took more skill and researched a company called The Drone Academy where I learned I could fly professionally. 

      The course was on-line with learning videos on Part 107 training. I managed to get through all the videos in a few days and take the pre-test for the 107 exam. I actually failed the test a few times as I had to review mapping, control spaces, and weather charts. Eventually I passed the on-line course and now was ready to take the real test. 

      Test day arrived and I had to go to the closest testing center at a small airport. I sat in the waiting room with other test takers. I could see and feel anticipation and nerves. I was escorted to a room and placed in front of a computer then given a binder that contained documents and maps to apply during testing. After the final instructions, I had 2 hrs to successfully answer 60 multiple-choice questions and hopefully get a passing score of 70%. I walked out of there with a score of 93% Praise the Lord! 

     A few days later, I received a temporary certificate. It was official, I was now a licensed 107 commercial drone pilot. Now what, I thought and began to do some research. I knew I needed a better drone to professionally capture images and video. So I saved a few dollars from paychecks and purchased a DJI Mavic 2 drone that had the 1” Hasselblad camera. It sounded cool. 

       My first official commercial drone flight was to help with a home inspection of the roof and gutters. Boy, was I nervous and very cautious. I decided to start my own company on the side and called it A2Z Aerial Solutions. As I continued to work a full time sales position, I flew odd jobs and quickly realized there was a nice market for drone services. 

      After acquiring proper insurance and additional equipment, I was ready to expand. I began shooting for real estate agents and started contracting with national drone service companies. I was asked by an agent if I could do interior and exterior images and video of course I said sure! Not having a clue about camera equipment, so started on-line education on how to take real estate pictures. Of course, I had to acquire additional equipment. 

      I actually educated myself on camera operations, light configurations, and photo composition. This did not happen overnight, but eventually was able to get good enough to secure some real estate shoots. Flying the drone began to open more doors into construction, commercial roof inspections, commercial marketing, and mapping.

      Over the past 5 years I have had my ups and downs in the business. I have crashed and lost drones. I have had to replace equipment and have purchased the wrong equipment for the job only to trade off to get new equipment. There were times when my phone would ring off the hook with business and other times remain silent for days. Being a freelancer can both be very rewarding and at times disappointing. 

      I recall the time when I was taking images and videos of a commercial building. I was preparing to do a 360  and was trying to get high enough to frame the building to start and accidently clipped a building behind me and watched on my monitor the drone spinning out of control dropping 300 feet into a construction area. Thank goodness for DJI care support.

      One of my greatest moments flying a drone was when I contracted with a National company to map a huge commercial building located in Indianapolis, IN. It was mapped through Pix4D on a 650,000 square foot manufacturing facility. I was using a Mavic 2 drone at the time and it took 8 batteries to complete. I had to do a 360 and 115 foot roof map then a facade inspection walking with the drone taking an image every few feet. The project took close to 4 hrs but was very rewarding. 

      A2Z Photo & Video has had the opportunity to do A2Z with different companies. I have even been able to use drones in more creative ways for clients and see how the industry in drones is rapidly expanding. Even incorporating drone work with photography and videography projects like special events and custom shoots. 

      A2Z changed names to A2Z Photo & Video as photography and videography began to expand into new markets outside of using drones. A2Z Photo & Video provides almost every kind of service. A2Z continues to expand into new markets and eventually would like to get into some higher end drone opportunities however that does require high end drones with special capabilities like infrared and lidar.

     A2Z Photo & Video currently uses the DJI avata2 for FPV projects, Mavic 3 pro that is equipped with the sophisticated triple camera system including a Hasselblad main camera with ax4/3 CMOS sensor, a medium telephoto with a 70mm equivalent lens, and a telephoto with a 168mm equivalent lens, the DJI mini 4 pro which is a work horse. Also have a Skydio 2 that has a 4K HDR camera and top flight speed and 360 obstacle avoidance for tracking. 

      A2Z Photo & Video services the Cincinnati, OH area and a radius into KY and IN. A2Z specializes in aerial photography & videography and has done work with companies Dollar General, Starbucks, Autozone, Family Dollar and other large companies. A2Z currently works in the real estate, construction, insurance, roofing, mapping, food, portrait, product, automotive, and commercial marketing and branding markets. A2Z continues to hone skill sets with drones, photography, and videography to expand offered services. 

A2Z believes and focuses on providing the best service and producing one of a kind results for clients. A2Z believes and walks in truth and love putting the needs of others before our own. A2Z has a passion to provide the best images and video to our clients and sees every opportunity to fly or shoot images or video as a win for both parties. When A2Z looks through a lens we like to capture art that can be displayed for all to see and leave our clients saying “Wow!”

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