Kite flying again...

So its Tuesday evening and I'm back in Weston-Super-Mare, and this time weather permitted kite flying, but with an eye on the tide - which was predicted to be high, and coming in fast and furiously behind us, assisted by an increasing wind.

Attaching the camera in its tin

Although it was somewhat gusty we did fly a single line kite and attached a can with my water bottle tucked inside to emulate the weight of a camera. Seem to bear the weight pretty well, but the trick is going to be to balance the camera in its protective container, so that it's pointing downwards and hope that the wind isn't too strong. The camera would have taken some pretty wild and jerky film in the prevailing wind conditions.

Final adjustments

Lift off

Flying tins

With lots of help from Dom and friends (thank you). Sorry about my poor knot-tying skills Dom!

Still a lot to learn and get right... 

Interesting place to be in the evening on Weston-Super-Mare beach; there are lots of activities going on - dog walkers, groups of kids digging in the sand, kite flyers, and kite surfers shooting across the beach, and a sea full of wind and kite surfers all out there doing amazing jumps and turns... very tempting... maybe another adventure.?

Aerial photography research part II: Kite flying

Last week I traveled to Stroud to meet artist Neville Gabbie, one of the artists to be accepted onto the now defunct British Antarctic Survey Artists and Writers Programme. In 2008/09 Neville spent four months traveling to and at the Halley Research Station on the Brunt Ice shelf, the most southern British base in Antarctica in 2008/9. A place that you can only go in the summer months and even then is pretty inhospitable. Whilst there he used a kite to record the landscape; I decided that we had things to discuss... 

Flying a kite with a camera across the landscape is a performative act and is also as much about drawing over the landscape as capturing it on film. 

http://www.nevillegabie.com/?s=antarctic

Neville very generously talked to me about the experience, the kit he used and what I need to consider. I will need a kite capable of lifting a camera and one that I am capable of controlling.

So I decided that I needed to talk to kite expert and sellers .... and went in search of kite shops - which is more difficult that one would think. Kite flying is not popular at the moment. However I have struck lucky and found www.ufopowerkites.com  

This is a great shop in Weston-Super-Mare - with extremely helpful and very experienced staff (Dom has spent many years in the kite industry; a national stunt kite champion, competing on both national and international circuits, a national kite buggy racing champion. Barry is an open class champion in racing kitebuggies).

Tuesday found me in Weston-Super-Mare and in UFO kite shop discussing options and learning about the different types of kites - starting with the single line Cody Box kite - developed by Samuel Franklin Cody.

A wild west showman and early pioneer and manned flight Cody is most famous for his work on the large kites known as Cody War-Kites that were used by the British in World War 1.  
 

Cody Box Kite

Then on to 2 string, 3 string and 4 string kites - some with frames and others without - and which include power kites and ones used for kite surfing on water and land......

Bewildering... 

Then it was off down to the beach while the tide was still out, to learn how to fly a kite.. and I have much to learn, but I had a very patient instructor!

I don't look quite as stylish as Cody! 
Really enjoyed the experience of using 3 string and four string kites, but I'm going to need masses of practice if I am going to be able to control a kite without it crashing to the ground, and especially one with a camera attached if the camera is to survive! 

Next week will see me back in Weston-Super-Mare and flying more kites - weather permitting...  watch this space..

Aerial photography research: Drone flying

I have finally managed to fly a drone that is controllable and can hover... Thanks to Kim-Tobias Kohn from UWE's Avionic Department for the lesson and taking time to help me. 

So now have to consider the options of using a drone - the noise is a bit off-putting, but I can achieve clear images  - or going with other options - a kite perhaps - or maybe using both.