CONCLUDED 2014 • POLAND

POLSKA
Z DRONA.

One of the earliest large-scale drone storytelling projects in Poland. 100+ locations. Over 10 months of production.

100+

locations filmed across Poland

53

films published on launch day

10

months of production

300+

candidate locations researched

An archive of a country seen differently.

In the early days of consumer drone photography — before aerial footage became ubiquitous, Jakub Górnicki set out to do something more deliberate.

Starting in November 2013, he built a planned, coherent library of aerial films covering more than 100 distinct locations across the country. An author-driven archive, non-commercial from the start.

More than drone footage.

At the time the project launched, drone clips were a novelty. Most were single-location showpieces. Górnicki recognized early that the power was in the accumulation — in showing an entire country at scale.

He deliberately avoided cities with airports, where legal flight restrictions would have forced the obvious choices. Instead, he focused on places that most Poles had heard of but never seen from above: the viaducts at Stańczyki, the monastery at Leżajsk, the castle at Moszna.

"Individual films were not enough. We decided to film at least 100 different places and release it as a coherent whole."

— Jakub Górnicki

Making of: Field Notes

November 2013 — Start

The project begins. One drone, one plan: a minimum of 100 locations before anything is published. No announcements. No previews. The decision: nothing goes out until the whole is ready.

The selection method

Research for each region: local maps, travel guides, forum threads, Facebook queries. Two directions — "top 10 sites to visit" and "unknown, hidden, without a guidebook." A candidate list grows to over 300 places. Cities with airports are ruled out entirely.

The technical challenge

Equipment: DJI Phantom quadcopter with H3-2D gimbal. An FPV screen added partway through — a second person could then help frame shots in real time. Battery life: approximately 25 minutes per charge. Operational ceiling: 150 metres.

Weather as the editor

Weather determined everything. Some locations were visited multiple times. A 800-kilometre round trip was made just to wait for a single clear window. Castles filmed quickly; nature required more time, more patience, more return visits.

The editorial question

The hardest part was not filming — it was thinking in terms of a series, not individual clips. How to show each place well on its own, while ensuring that castle after castle, mountain after mountain, does not exhaust the viewer.

August 2014 — Launch

53 films published at once. The number was set to double within weeks. Organised into six categories: Nature, Sacred Sites, Castles and Palaces, Architecture, Piast Castles Route, Eagle Nests Route.

Long takes. Slow pace.

The films were not made for engagement metrics. They were made to be watched. No rapid cuts, no drone-as-spectacle moments. Instead: slow passes, detailed observation, the camera returning to the same structure from different angles.