Notes on Kite Aerial Photography: Photo Gallery
A new image of the oft-photographed northwest corner of
Doe Library. This page contains images taken just as the sun sets using Kodak MAX
ASA 800 film. (40K jpg, Canon 24-mm, April 1998).
So there I was, dutifully working on a committee report on Sunday afternoon. Making
progress too. But every now and then the branch outside my window would move around a bit.
There it goes again. Put it out of your mind. Its amazing how the rods that provide
our peripheral vision can pick up movement so well. I finally decided to go to the
front door and check the palm trees at the Pacific School of Religion two blocks away.
These trees, sitting at the crest of a small hill, are my local wind tell tale. The
wind was building in nicely from the west.
I struggled with the report for another hour or two and
then decided to bolt for campus. This was the day after our clocks changed from
Standard to Daylight Savings time and I reasoned that surely that event
warranted a late day outing. Why else go through such change?
Plan view of the north entry to Doe Library on the left and new view of the pollarded
sycamores on the Campanile Esplanade as they just come into leaf (29K jpg
left and 41K jpg right, Canon 24-mm, April 1998).
Given the late hour I just headed the few blocks to campus. In my daily walking commute, I noticed that the pollarded trees at the Campanile were just going into leaf so I headed that way. The diffuse light had a nice warm tint but was fading fast so I thought this would be a fine opportunity to try out some of the Kodak MAX ASA 800 print film. The winds were calming down by the time I got out the the Sutton 60 served as a lifter.
The north facade of Doe Library (35K jpg, Canon 24-mm,
April 1998).
With the Canon SLR aloft I walked around the Campanile
area and shot a quick roll. The sun was spending some time behind thin clouds and some
time less obscured. In either event the warm late day colors produced a fine
effect. The Kodak MAX film works well for these conditions. Grain is
noticeable in the negatives but not as much as I would have guessed.
The north entry to Doe Library (37K jpg, Canon 24-mm,
April 1998).
The variable winds caused the rig to move around more than
usual. One minute they would vigorous pull on the kiteline, then they would slack
off to near nothing. On more than one occasion I had to put my transmitter on the
ground and spend full attention on keeping the kite aloft. It helped to have a
large, clear field to work in. However, the Sutton 60 seems to be more prone to
collapse than its smaller siblings. Care was indicated.
I finished up the roll fairly quickly and retrieved the camera rig. After getting
the camera to ground I decided to play with the Sutton 60 to see how stable it actually
was. During a period of low wind, while the Sutton was about 150 feet out, I hauled
in a little line and then let it back out quickly. The Sutton responded by
collapsing. The collapsed Sutton was decidedly unaerodynamic and fell like a dead
duck. I was able to inhaul line and after a few seconds convinced the cells to
reinflate. This actually worsened things since the kite was upside down at the time.
The sequence was finished by a power dive into the ground as I played out more line
to slow it down. I ended up with the kiteline across a campus road and the kite on
the other side of a chain link fence. It was easy to retrieve the kite but I was
glad I had removed the camera rig before playing around with the kite.
Views of the Campanile and the buildings to its immediate
east taken after 7 pm -- it is nice to have the long days back. (37K jpg left and
38K jpg right, Canon 24-mm, April 1998).
The images above were taken during a brief (and rare) excursion to around 400 feet above
ground level. Note the Campanile Esplanade and its pollarded sycamores in the
righthand image. The muted, diffuse light in these images appeals to me. It is very
different from the conditions of midday
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All rights reserved. Revised: Monday, August 02, 1999
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