Mike Boruta sees the world from above. He is the excited passenger on the airplane with his nose pressed into the window, marveling at the details of the landscape below. He is the hiker who seeks out the trails with the best views. He envies birds and clouds and can spend hours getting lost in a map.

Since 2009 he has worked as a freelance cartographer, making recreational maps for National Geographic’s Trails Illustrated, as well as fishing and mountain biking guidebook maps for Stonefly Press and Fixed Pin Publishing. But the types of maps he has always wanted to create have eluded him. These are the painterly “birdseye maps” that show the landscape as if the reader were flying above it like a bird. It is possible to digitally render these views of the landscape, but the computer struggles to communicate Earth's beauty as well as a skilled painter can. Mike is not a painter, but he has always been drawn to photography.

In 2013 he realized the link which allowed him to turn the birdseye view in his mind into a reality which could be shared with others. This tool was the “flying camera,” also known as a “Drone,” “Unmanned Aerial System,” “Quadcopter,” etc. For the past nine years Mike has been honing his skills with this new tool, creating aerial landscape panoramas of the place he knows best - Ouray, Colorado and its strikingly beautiful San Juan Mountains.

Mike is an FAA licensed drone pilot. Custom sized prints are available, as well as custom aerial photography and mapping services.

Please reach out with any questions! mike@OuraybyFlight.com