Notes on Kite Aerial Photography: Photo Gallery
Sometime back David Gomberg, purveyor of large kites, posted a WWW page
describing a church
tower being attacked by one of Peter Lynn's inflatable Trilobite kites. The
kite became fouled on the cross atop the church tower and resisted all efforts to
remove it -- what a nightmare. The possibilities conveyed in Gomberg's cautionary tale
were much on my mind as I photographed the spires
and tower of the abbey church.
A
view of the abbey church tower and mid-roof spire, each topped by a cross and
rooster. The interior shot provides a view of the shady transept down below (Canon 24-mm, July 2000)
On a whim I tried to launch the
kite from a confined space between the abbey's visitor center and the church.
It worked. Once the kite found clean air the camera followed. After the camera
was up I waited for the breeze to freshen and during a gust worked the kite line
past the two entry spires. This was pretty delicate work.
As in many sessions on the Europe trip
I was flying the Rokkaku and it encountered occasional "holes in the air."
When the wind lapsed the camera would descend. Given my tight quarters at the
abbey I could not walk upwind to create apparent wind and was thus left
with inhauling line as a main defense against vagaries in the breeze..
Four views of the church roofscape. In the upper left the two spires are as aligned as spires can be -- even the thin verticals supporting the crosses overlap. The upper right provides instruction on how the tower belfry is waterproofed -- note the interior metal roof. The lower right you can see the twin spires with visitor center immediately beyond. I launched between these two buildings on the right and had moved to the left by the time this photo was taken. (Canon 24-mm, July 2000)
While taking these shots my main concern was keeping the kite and camera from fouling on the tower and spires. When clear of the vertical elements my secondary concern was keeping everything aloft during the wind lulls. During one lapse in the wind the camera rig actually landed on the ridgeline while the kite continued to fly. That was not too bad I though. A second lull produced a second landing but this time the camera landed out of sight on the back slope of this steeply pitched roof. That was most disconcerting and reminiscent of the time my camera landed in Bryce Canyon.
The problem with having the camera land is that
you can no longer maneuver the kite by inhauling kite line or changing your
position without dragging the camera rig. My concern with having the camera out
of sight on the roof was not being able to monitor whether it was snagging
something should I need to inhaul line. Happily, the wind freshened and the
camera reappeared above the ridgeline.
Steep
oblique views of the tower and spires. The abbey walkways are a packed clay that
photographs in a way that yields clean, almost model like, images. Note the stairs leading down to the church in the right image. (Canon 24-mm, July 2000)
Lower
images of the tower. The one of the right was taken just before I 'landed' the
camera cradle on the roof (Canon 24-mm, July 2000)
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Comments to author: crisp@socrates.berkeley.edu . All content,
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images contained throughout are Copyright (C) 1995 - 2005 by Charles C. Benton
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No text, graphic or image may be used whole or in part, individually,
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All rights reserved. Revised: Thursday, December 13, 2001
URL: http://arch.ced.berkeley.edu/kap/gallery/gal183.html
