Hovering hundreds of feet in the air, Kerry Stitt’s drone reveals a version of the coastline most of us never see—water saturated with color, waves caught mid-motion, and quiet stretches of shoreline sometimes hidden from footpaths below. “I was just hooked to see the ocean from a different perspective. I just fell in love with photography again.”
That moment—seeing the ocean from above—sparked the artistic direction that is now both her passion and her business, Sky to Sea Dronography. To turn that passion professional, Kerry earned her Remote Pilot Certificate from the FAA in 2016, studying for months and mastering complex airspace regulations required to legally fly and photograph commercially. What began as a high school love of photography evolved into something more immersive when she flew a friend’s drone. “I flew it up in the air and was looking at the ocean, and I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh. This view is unbelievable.’”
From above, the coastline tells a richer story. “Looking down on the water, you get a lot more color. It's much more vibrant than looking at it on the shore.” Kerry describes flying over cliffs and discovering places unreachable on foot. “No one else can see that, what I’m seeing because there’s no path down to this section of the shore.”
Redondo Beach, in particular, offers what she loves most. “Compared to Manhattan and Hermosa, especially near the pier, we get smaller waves and I get a lot more color.” Timing plays a role as well. “Sunset is always my favorite. You never know what you're going to get.”
That sense of discovery—never knowing exactly what will appear until she’s in the air—keeps her returning to the same stretches of coastline again and again.
Kerry’s aerial perspective pours directly into her resin artwork, which is inspired by her photography. “Most of my resin work is, you're looking down on a wave, and you're seeing the waves splash across.”
Resin art uses a liquid, glass-like epoxy that is poured and manipulated on a surface, curing over several days into a glossy, dimensional finish that captures movement and depth. The process itself is tactile and immersive. “It's just pouring it on... manipulating it to create a wave.” Using inks, resin, and a heat gun, Kerry builds layered movement that echoes the energy of her aerial imagery.
Her studio occupies half of her garage, separated from the rest of the space by plastic sheeting to protect resin works during the curing process. “I've kind of got this cave. I call it a ‘Dexter’ cave.” From there, she creates statement pieces as well as functional art—cutting boards, trays, and smaller works now carried in about 20 stores, including locally at Fringe, Maison Luxe, and Handmade in CA.
A recent meaningful moment came at a January exhibit when a collector connected deeply with a resin heart island piece. “She said it really spoke to her. That it brought her joy.”
For Kerry, home is also shaped by family. She grew up in Paradise Valley, Arizona but always felt drawn to California. “I always wanted to come out here… I just needed to get out here so I just packed up and moved to California.”
Today, the South Bay is where she and her husband, Eric Stitt, have built their life. The two met playing volleyball, a passion Kerry still maintains. “I play four or five times a week in Redondo.” Together, they’re raising two children: a son who is a junior at CSUN studying film, and a daughter who is a senior at Redondo Union High School and an avid competitive dancer preparing for college.
That balance—between creativity, movement, and family—grounds her work. The ocean remains her reset button. “That's where I find my peace and my solitude. If I'm having a bad day or anything, I need to get out there.”
Her photography has been featured on utility boxes throughout the South Bay, including a jetty image in North Redondo installed during the pandemic. The images offer unexpected moments of beauty—small reminders of the coastline woven into daily life.
While Redondo Beach remains home, Kerry’s vision stretches far beyond it. “The ideal dream is to fly to islands all over the world and take photographs.” She has photographed Hawaii and the Greek Islands, with hopes of traveling to capture aerial images of Seychelles, Indonesia, Fiji, and the cliffs off Vietnam’s mainland—pending legal drone use.
To make that expansion happen, Kerry has signed with a few agents. One focuses on placing her photography in hotels, while a newer partnership centers on large-scale distribution. “I got a new agent that sells more to big businesses like big home décor stores.”
For Kerry, the goal is alignment—among travel, creativity, and home. “I love to travel so to incorporate travel and drone photography together would be ideal.”
While her work is created from the sky, her definition of home remains grounded. On a perfect day, she balances art, work, and movement. “My perfect day is to do some resin artwork in the morning… I usually play volleyball in the afternoon and maybe droning at some point before that.”
When someone brings one of her pieces into their own space, she hopes the feeling translates. “I hope it brings them peace and calm, and a beautiful feeling just like artwork can do.”
Through her lens—and her resin—Kerry invites us to see home differently. Sometimes, all it takes is a shift in point of view.