Notes on Kite Aerial Photography: Photo Gallery
Plan view of the Jeremiah O'Brien deck at
sunset (50K jpg).
The
Jeremiah O'Brien is one of two remaining ships of the Liberty
type. She was built in 1943 at New England Shipbuilding Co.,
South Portland, Maine, for the War Shipping Administration and
served during WWII. The Liberty Ships were produced in great
quantity and extended the Allied supply lines around the globe.
The Jeremiah O'Brien was put into the reserve fleet after the war
then transferred to the National Liberty Ship Memorial in 1978 to
be reactivated. Following a loving restoration she moved under
her own steam to the San Francisco waterfront. Today she is part
of the National Maritime Museum at the San Francisco Golden Gate
National Recreation Area and is docked just south of the Bay
Bridge. The Jeremiah O'Brien crew sailed her to Normandy and back
for the 50th Anniversary of D-Day.
This view captures the end-of-day
sun grazing across the surface of San Francisco Bay and an
overhead view of the aft cargo booms. Note (for scale) the
55-gallon drums on the dock to the left.
The Jeremiah O'Brien bow in oblique and plan
views (39K jpg left and 35K jpg right).
I spent last Saturday afternoon
giving a lecture at the PG&E Energy Center and had just an
hour or so of sun when I left for Berkeley. I had been intending
to stop by the Jeremiah O'Brien for a while now and this seemed a
good opportunity. The open pier provided plenty of working room
and I quickly had the Sutton Flowform 30 aloft. It flew well so I
mounted the Canon camera rig and found that the lift could just
barely raise it. Making lemonade out of lemons I set about taking
some lower shots like the prow shot above. From the side this
ship seems very substantial but in plan view you get a sense of
how thin its steel plate hull actually is. When the kids visit
they really have fun with the guns located fore and aft.
Oblique views of the Jeremiah O'Brien (42K jpg
left and 43K jpg right).
I found some vital statistics on the
ship from the a page maintained by the National Park
Service. The Jeremiah
O'Brien is 441.5 feet long and 57 feet wide. Its draft is 27.9
feet with a net load of 4,380 tons for a gross load of 7176 tons.
It is powered by a triple-expansion, reciprocating steam engine
that seems like it belongs to the nineteenth century. If you pick
the right day to visit you can see this engine running and
turning the long power shaft that leads to the single screw.
Another interesting WWW page on the Jeremiah O'Brien has been
posted by Marty Wefald, a
volunteer crew member.
A view from over the stern (49K jpg).
As I took these pictures the wind began to fill in from the northeast. At first this was good. The camera cradle was lifted with more authority and I could place the rig over the Jeremiah O'Brien's rigging with a comfortable height cushion.
I'll confess that the Jeremiah O'Brien is the scene of my career low in terms of precision kite flying. Over a year ago, not long after I started kite flying, I tried to photograph the Jeremiah O'Brien. I launched the Sutton Flowform 8 in a strong gusty wind in the lee of downtown San Francisco. The kite flew reasonably well and I was emboldened by the apparently fine performance of my new frilly tail. I tied the kite off to a carabiner and strap while preparing the cradle for mounting. To my dismay I watched the Sutton heal over in a particularly strong gust, fly itself way over to the right side, and foul at the top of the Jeremiah O'Brien's foremast. This provided the opportunity for me to explain my new hobby to the O'Brien crew under the least favorable circumstances. I then watched a septuagenarian climb the mast to retrieve kite and tail (they wouldn't let me due to insurance requirements). My stainless swivel is still up there. The crew was very nice about it and I promised to return to take photos for them (under better wind conditions.)
A view from over the bow (43K jpg).
As last weekend's wind continued to increase I found myself working quite hard to handle the kite with one hand and the transmitter with the other. I hurried my way through the roll of film and then walked the kite over to my parked convertible. I tied the kite off to a carabiner that was connected by a climbing strap to the car's roll bar. It took an impressive amount of work to walk the kite down. The process gave me a chance to practice my left-handed, single-handed clove hitches. I'm happy that my knots and rigging stood up to the load.
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All rights reserved. Revised: Saturday, October 06, 2001
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