Notes on Kite Aerial Photography: Others
Simon Harbord flying on San Francisco's Marina Green
(26K jpg, March 1997)
Since returning to KAP early last
year, (induced by the riches of Cris’ Web page) I have
become more enthusiastic than ever. Most of my KAP work since has
been done with a lightweight rig , similar in concept to the
"Standard" Brooks Leffler design.. I have built a
couple of other rigs too but find myself returning over and over
to the trusty Yashica rig. I use the old hosepipe and rod system
for attaching the rig and picavet onto the line. It is a system
that I came across in the ‘80s (I think in Mark
Cotterell’s book.) Very quick and easy to use. My
transmitter is heavily modified, controls in a hand held unit,
incorporating a handy frame counter, (see forthcoming Aerial Eye
for details) and the transmitter/ aerial on the belt at my back.
I have a hefty carabiner on the front of the belt which I clip my
reel onto, the reel itself incorporating a couple of line cleats.
I can cleat off the line, clip the reel onto the belt, and walk
around hands free. This is very useful on the occasions I use the
video assist. The video camera/sender unit at 10 oz fits when
needed, on the bottom of the cradle under the Yashica, and I use
a hooded Micro LCD TV round my neck. I find that the microvideo
approach is useful at times, but my KAPpers temperament makes me
use it only about 20-30% of the time. This year when I retire to
the workshop, my winter project will be a new SLR rig using a
hybrid design including some of the concepts from my ‘80s
rig combined with the HoVer approach.
This is a ground level shot of Craigevar Castle. My
Delta Conyne leaning against the wall gives a good sense of
scale. The kite is only about 6 feet span. The castle seems so
tiny. (12K
jpg)
Of course Scotland, and
particularly the Grampian area where Jan van der Elsen and I
live, is chock full of historical sites, castles etc. For some
time I had been thinking of a shoot at Craigevar, a tiny jewel of
a castle about 8 miles from my home, it is surrounded by trees at
various densities, but a reconnoitre visit early this year
convinced me it was possible. I have now shot there three times,
but got diverted from the "perfect shot" by the estate
manager who was fascinated at the possibilities for condition
survey type shots. So I found myself doing a lot of close up work
of roofs, stonework and windows. From the ground the challenge is
all about weaving round the trees to position the rig in the
right place.
Over the roofs of Craigevar (25K jpg,
Yashica Minitec Super)
This is one of the few Craigevar
shots that shows most of the castle, I have many more lower shots
showing specific areas of the roof. The wind on this day was
gloriously steady once I got the kite up into it. For most of the
shoot the kite was at about three hundred feet with the rig
anywhere from twenty feet, (window details) to about 100 over the
roof. I used the parafoil (Jalbert 15) for this, launching in a
slightly clearer area, and walking in to the castle, weaving
round the trees.
Castle Fraser (34K jpg, Yashica Minitec
Super)
One of my current favourite shots. Castle Fraser is a much larger castle and this shot, taken on 14th June, was one of a set of which every shot was sharp and accurate. Despite the castle lying in slightly more open landscape (the trees on four sides have a clearing to the front of the castle!) the castle sits in the lee of a wooded hillside. Launching the parafoil was impossible due to the lack of wind at ground level so this time I "high start" launched my Delta Conyne on about 70 feet of line. Despite the slightly low wind once the kite was up about 200 feet I managed to get my full rig with video assist up, and got off about 20 shots before the wind finally faded out for the day. I particularly like this shot, as it puts another angle on the old photographer’s law of avoiding converging verticals when taking shots of buildings from ground level! Despite the wide angle appearance this was taken with the standard Yashica rig, 33mm focal length.
Here is a tip for KAPpers: I was
so pleased with this shot I wanted to get an enlargement done
quickly. I have a discount rate with a local photo shop, as
I’m sure many KAPpers do, but this time, for fun and
expediency I took the 7x5 inch print along to a photocopy shop.
They did some copies for me 17x11 in glorious full colour, with a
sharpness that I wouldn’t have believed possible in a
photocopy. I can’t begin to describe my delight. The
technology is clearly here guys. For all but the most discerning
needs I will be doing all my enlarging this way, on the spot, no
waiting, cheap and absolutely brilliant. Please, purists,
don’t pooh pooh until you’ve tried it - you may be in
for a surprise.
East Arquhorthie Stone circle (37K jpg,
Yashica Minitec Super)
A spot I’ve been to a few
times testing my approach to low level verticals, you may have
seen this shot in Aerial eye, for some of the shots I used my
microvideo on the ground looking up, from the centre of the
circle, when the rig was in the middle of the monitor screen, I
took the verticals. On other occasions, people have helped me
position the rig downwind over the subject. I like this one for
the low sun, the golden light and the shadows. There are over 90
Neolithic stone circles within an hours drive of Aberdeen, not
all as well preserved as this one.
Breda House Alford (27K jpg, Yashica Minitec
Super, date)
There is a KAP tale to tell
around this one, the house, owned by some friends, stands
unoccupied for now, awaiting new tenants. So much this house has
seen. Those windows, like eyes staring down at me, the lone
figure on the vast lawn, impertinently come to capture the house
in its lowest time. I so nearly lost my rig twice to Breda, It
took me three trips to get this shot. I learned more about KAP in
so many ways on the Breda shoots than any other. I could never
have got near Craigevar without the baptism of fire in
lightweight KAP technique that Breda gave me.
Leslie
Castle and village (21K jpg, Yashica Minitec Super)
Leslie castle, privately owned,
is run as a small guest house/restaurant. It is not an easy
subject due to it being virtually ringed with overhead power
lines. This was one of my first KAP shoots after restarting, and
I spent a lot of time planning it, hoping to get the evening sun
as it set in the west, casting shadows of the harvested bales in
the field. Rather than getting close in, I opted for the low
angle oblique from a distance, taking in the village and the
scenery of this delightful spot. A very convenient spot five
minutes from home. David Leslie, and his wife Leslie Leslie
(!)were happy to let me go along at any time and take pictures of
their home whilst honing my techniques.
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Comments to author: crisp@socrates.berkeley.edu . All content,
graphics and
images contained throughout are Copyright (C) 1995 - 2005 by Charles C. Benton
and are protected by United States and International copyright laws.
No text, graphic or image may be used whole or in part, individually,
or as part of a derivative work without express written permission.
Source materials copyright
(C) 1997 by Simon Harbord
All rights reserved. Revised: Monday, August 02, 1999
URL: http://www.ced.berkeley.edu/~cris/kap/others/shimages2.html