An inactive freeper, “John in Orinda,” has been doing aerial photography of public events and such for over 10 years with his remote controlled aircraft.
Illegal, however, in the United States if there is any commercial use of the recordings. The FAA has recently made this very clear via stop and desist letters.
From a hobbyist point of view, the real-time video and other sensor data obtained from remote controlled FPV models (FPV = First Person View) is most impressive. Payload is several kilograms.