Notes on Kite Aerial Photography: Photo Gallery
Well, there are a few perks associated with being a department chair. One is being invited to accompany undergraduate students during a study tour of Europe. Such was the case during the Summer of 2000 when the Bentons four traveled to Berlin, Paris and the Loire Valley for a most pleasant month in Europe. As we accompanied 12 pleasant Berkeley undergraduate students I also carried a modest bag of KAP gear. On occasion I got the chance to use it. This page serves as a gateway to pages with images from several of the trip's KAP outings.
In Berlin I was able to steal a few moments to go photograph the Schloss
Charlottenburg. After dodging a rain shower I was able to persuade the Rokkaku
aloft and an hour later the camera followed. It was a fun, if hurried, session.
Schloss Charlottenburg is a
fine
example of royal Prussian architecture in Berlin. It developed from a small 17th
century home in the country house to a huge palace. A large and beautiful public
park, behind the building, is intricately laid out in the baroque style,
with finely clipped hedges and "embroidery" flowerbeds. I staged from
the center of its formal garden.
In
Paris I spent a very gray and virtually windless afternoon at Le parc de la
Villette. Perseverance
paid off in the late afternoon when a fitful breeze coaxed the Rokkaku aloft (Canon S100 left and Canon 24-mm, July 2000)
The Parc de la Villette is one of the "Grands Projets" developed during the 1980s. La Villette is sited on one of the last remaining large sites in Paris, a 125-acre expanse previously occupied by the central slaughter houses and situated on the Northeast corner of the City, between the Metro stations Porte de Pantin and Porte de la Villette. Over one kilometer long in one direction and seven hundred meters in the other, the park is a large, graceful open space containing, in addition to the park, a large Museum of Science and Industry, a City of Music, a Grande Halle for exhibitions, and a rock concert hall.
After
Paris came a splendid week in the small medieval town of Chinon, France on the Vienne river. Here the Bentons four participated in a exercise to document
the cultural heritage of the Loire Valley for UNESCO consideration as a World
Heritage Site (Canon S100 left and Canon 24-mm, July 2000)
Chinon, a picturesque
and historical little town of 10,000, sits on the banks of the river Vienne, 45
kilometers south of Tours in the heart of Touraine, which is called the
"Garden of France" and the "Cradle of the French Language".
Chinon once was the residence of the King of England, Henry II Plantagenet, when
that part of France was under English rule. It became the residence of Charles
VII, the heir of the throne of France in the early 1400's, and was where the
legendary Joan of Arc came to recognize him and raise an army to liberate the
country from the English domination. Chinon is also the birthplace of François
Rabelais, the renaissance man, monk, doctor, philosopher, and writer, creator of
Gargantua.
I was able to take some interesting fisheye images of Chinon and views of the vineyards located to its north.
Staging from Chinon I was able to photograph the confluence of the Vienne and Loire rivers as well as the nearby village of St. Martin.
The
Chateau of Villandry (Canon S100 left and Canon 24-mm, July 2000)
Chateau of Villandry: I spent one afternoon here and it took all of my
persuasive powers to secure permission to photograph. The chateau is built
around an old original fortress of which only the keep remains. The present edifice, which was built in the
16th century by Jean le Breton, secretary of
State François I. Three blocks of living quarters enclose a court of honor
opening north on to the valley through which flow the Loire and the Cher. from
the top of the keep you overlook the valley on one
side, and, on the other, the gardens, with the old village and Romanesque church
in the background.
Another
KAP destination during our stay at
Chinon was the Royal Abbey of Fontevraud located just down the La Vienne (Canon S100 left and Canon 24-mm, July 2000)
The Royal Abbey of Fontevraud was/is the largest monastic settlement in Europe.
A visit involves admiring the large abbey church in which are to be found the
Plantagenêt tombs: that of Henry II, of his famous wife Aliénor of Aquitaine,
their son Richard Lion Heart and his wife Isabelle of Angouleme. Amongst the
other important buildings one visits the incredible communal kitchens with
it’s eight chimneys , each one reserved for one of the communities found
within the precinct
I
have had a gallery page posted for some time containing images from the German fortifications at
Longues-sur-Mer (Canon
24-mm, July 2000)
The German fortifications at
Longues-sur-Mer are a classic example of the pattern that was used for the
Atlantic Wall -- a system of fortifications built by Nazi Germany built at
strategic locations which were intended to thwart any potential marine
invasions. Close to the shore, on the cliff right above the water is an
observation post, made with thick concrete walls and thin, horizontal openings
for the troops to look out of onto the channel. A few hundred meters behind the
post are four additional fortifications, each housing a large 152 mm.
gun with a 12 mile range. The Wall was considered to be nearly impenetrable by
Hitler, since his fortifications were located on the tops of cliffs in
practically impregnable locations.
We
also stopped by the port and pirate city of St. Malo on France's north coast (Canon 24-mm, May 2000)
The seaside town of Saint-Malo was named after Maclou, or Malo,
a Welsh monk who fled to Brittany in the
6th century, making his headquarters on the island. The
island was not substantially inhabited until the 8th century, when the
population of the surrounding district sought refuge there from the Normans.
In
the 17th and 18th centuries, Saint-Malo derived prosperity from its navigators,
traders, and privateers (ahhr matey). The town was largely destroyed during World War
II, but it has since been rebuilt.
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All rights reserved. Revised: Wednesday, May 30, 2001
URL: http://arch.ced.berkeley.edu/kap/gallery/gal169.html
