On Wednesday this week, the Java Post Aerial Photography crew headed out to Moose Jaw to capture some scenic shots of Moose Jaw for The Sports Network (TSN).

Moose Jaw is hosting the Scotties "Tournament of Hearts" Canadian Women's Curling Championships and TSN wanted some aerial shots of the arena and some local landmarks. The footage will be used throughout the broadcast - in the show intro, coming in and out of commercial breaks, that sort of thing.

So our pilot, Jack Tunnicliffe, camera operator and technician Trevor Bennett, and coordinator Doug Russell hopped into the Java Post "dronemobile" and headed out of Regina, down the highway to Moose Jaw: the city named after part of an animal's face. (Coming from "the city that rhymes with fun," we know all about city names that make out-of-province people go "It's called what?".)

The dashboard screen of the Java Post "dronemobile" must know we're off to do some flying.

When we left Regina, the sky was as blue as...well, as a thing that's really blue. Unfortunately, by the time we arrived in Moose Jaw, a solid blanket of cloud had eliminated our sunshine and blue sky. Oh well. At least we don't have to worry about exposing for dark shadows.

Above, Trevor (left) and Jack prep our hexacopter for launch at the Tourism Moose Jaw offices, where we went to shoot footage of the Tutor jet used by the famous Canadian aerial acrobatics team, The Snowbirds, and get some shots of Mac The Moose, the iconic symbol of Moose Jaw.

In the distance, you can see our UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle, or "drone") circling the Tutor jet.

We recorded 4K Ultra HD footage at 23.976 progressive frames per second. Afterwards, we would down-convert and process the footage to standard HD 1920x1080 at 29.97 interlaced frames per second, to match TSN's television broadcast requirements.

Here's a freeze frame of the aerial footage, with the Snowbirds jet in the foreground and Mac The Moose in the distance.

And here is Mac The Moose, ready for his close up.

Jack (left) and Trevor bring the hexacopter in for a landing on our extremely high tech portable landing surface. Also known as the door mat.

To the average observer, the door mat may seem a little silly, but the mat actually serves a practical purpose. Not only does the mat give our pilot Jack a easily visible landing target and helps him judge distance-to-ground in those final few critical feet before landing, the mat also prevents dirt (or snow) from being blown up into the propeller motors during take off and landing.

On the southern outskirts of Moose Jaw, a very chilly Java Post Aerial Photography team preps for a wider shot of the city skyline.

We have lift off, with Jack at the controls of the 'copter and Trevor at the controls of the camera. The two of them coordinate their movements to capture the best angles.

And here is the City of Moose Jaw, as seen from the south, looking to the northwest.

As we were already on the outskirts of the city, we were able to simply turn 180 degrees and shoot a very typical rural Saskatchewan winter scene: snow-blown crop stubble with a farm in the distance.

It's a pity our blue sky and sunshine had deserted us, but this farm and field shot certainly says "southern Saskatchewan."

With the shot done and the landing gear back in the "down" position, we bring our hexacopter back in for a landing.

Just a few feet until we're down and clear. This is when you really want to be slow and steady at the controls. If your pilot isn't experienced, the downdraft wash from the propellers hitting the ground and bouncing back up at the drone, combined with any unexpected wind gusts, could make for a hard landing at this low altitude. Jack, of course, brings the 'copter down as light as a feather.

You can tell it was a little windy, as we used a couple of spare batteries to keep the edges of the landing mat from curling up. Rather ironic, since we were shooting footage for a curling broadcast.

Another of the Moose Jaw landmarks we featured was the Tyndall stone clock tower and old railway station building at the south end of Main Street. Anyone who's ever been to Moose Jaw knows this classic piece of local architecture. Built in the early 1920s for the Canadian Pacific Railroad, the station was designated a historic railway station in 1991.

This is Mosaic Place, home of the Moose Jaw Warriors junior hockey team, and the venue for the 2015 Canadian Women's Curling Championships. To give the TSN crew options for their various broadcast times, we shot the arena both in daylight (albeit overcast, flat as a pancake daylight)...

...as well as at dusk, which TSN will use for their evening broadcasts. With sunset quickly approaching, we made this the final shot of the day.

And here's the slowly-thawing crew on the road back home to Regina after a full afternoon of getting some great scenic shots of Moose Jaw and Mosaic Place.

Watch for Java Post's aerial photography THIS WEEKEND during TSN's broadcast of the Scotties "Tournament of Hearts" Canadian Women's Curling Championships.

Our thanks to Moose Jaw Mayor Deb Higgins, Moose Jaw Chief of Police Rick Bourassa, Tourism Moose Jaw, 15 Wing Air Traffic Control Officer Major Jody Hanson, Doug Campbell from Mosaic Place, and Andy Bouyoukos and Alise Wilson from TSN.

A special shout out to our talented cameraman pal George Hupka of Downstream Pictures for recommending Java Post to the TSN production crew.