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Parker Golden

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Photo · Video · Drone 00

Light the Knights Festival

Since 2023, I’ve partnered with the Charlotte Knights to capture Light the Knights through aerial photography, cinematic drone video, and immersive FPV, showcasing the festival and Truist Field from unique perspectives above Uptown Charlotte.

Client
Charlotte Knights
Location
Charlotte, NC
Date
2023-2025
Industries
Companies + Brands, Events + Conferences

Field package

Services offered

01

The Assignment

The relationship began in 2023 when the Charlotte Knights reached out to license existing aerial content of Truist Field. That initial conversation in 2023 quickly developed into a dedicated assignment in 2024 to capture Light the Knights from the air, providing the Knights with new perspectives of the festival for use across their marketing and promotional channels.

Over the next three years, the scope continued to grow. As the festival evolved, so did the creative approach, expanding beyond traditional aerial photography into cinematic video, hyperlapse, and eventually immersive FPV coverage designed to bring viewers directly into the experience.

02

The Approach

Each year presented an opportunity to build on the previous season and find new ways to capture the festival. I worked closely with the Charlotte Knights’ creative team to identify priority visuals while planning around the unique challenges of operating an aircraft above an active event in Uptown Charlotte.

Traditional aerial photography and video established the scale of Light the Knights against the Charlotte skyline, while hyperlapse captured the movement and energy of the festival after dark. In 2025, I expanded the coverage with FPV cinematography, flying through and around Truist Field to create a more immersive perspective of the experience.

My FAA Part 107 waiver for Operations Over People allowed me to safely capture aerial perspectives during the live event that would otherwise be difficult to achieve legally, while careful flight planning and coordination allowed production to take place without interrupting the guest experience.

03

The Result

What began as a straightforward content licensing request developed into a three-year creative relationship with the Charlotte Knights and an increasingly ambitious body of aerial work.

Across the 2023, 2024, and 2025 festivals, I delivered a growing library of aerial photography, cinematic video, hyperlapse, and FPV footage for use across the Knights’ digital and promotional channels. Each season built on the last, allowing the visual coverage to evolve with the festival while giving the Knights fresh ways to showcase one of Truist Field’s largest annual events.

That evolution has translated into meaningful audience engagement. Content captured during the 2025 festival has generated more than 585,000 views across the Charlotte Knights’ platforms, demonstrating the reach and value of the visual content beyond the event itself.

More importantly, the project demonstrates the value of a long-term creative partnership: understanding the venue, the event, and the client’s needs well enough to push the coverage further each year rather than simply repeating the same shots.

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