Kite aerial photography

[Mark Meckes]

.. Tangent discussion moved from thread: Detachable bamboo kite spars (http://www.bamboocraft.net/forums/showthread.php?t=2223) ..

Now I will dream of one day flying a kite over our bamboo (Phyllostachys aurea) grove to take aerial pictures! (wishfully made of bamboo paper and bamboo framework from our grove)

Mark

[Ricardo]

This Maxi-Dopero kite is designed for low winds, 8mph at most.

BTW, the reason I bought this kite is exactly to use it for aerial photography. I've been doing KAP with "soft kites" (without spars) for about a year now, and it's a great and addictive hobby. :-D The Dopero design was created by Ralf Beutnagel, especially for aerial photography in low winds. Some concise info can be found here: http://scotthaefner.com/kap/equipment/?page=kites

[]s!

[Mark Meckes]

WOW! What a stroke of luck on my part. This a fascinating subject.

Have you ever taken aerial pics of bamboo? ;)

[Ricardo]

Have you ever taken aerial pics of bamboo? ;)

No... not yet. ;-)

Risking getting a bit off-topic, you can see some of my pictures (including of the equipment I use and a few tips) on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ricardo_ferreira/

[Mark Meckes]

Amazing! Now this is taking bamboo and photography to new dimensions.
Thanks for sharing :)

Mark

[greg kono]

Mark, are you planning on making crop circles in your bamboo grove?:)

Here is a site with some nice rake art images taken from a kite:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lenny_meriel/sets/846051/

[Mark Meckes]

Today the wind is making it's own crop circles in the grove.
I don't have a 'windometer' but the local weather report said there would be gusts of 45mph.
This must be the wind speed that will snap off the Phyllostachys aurea culms where the internodes go funkadelic ...

http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/503/thumbs/1Mvc-204f.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=687)

This strongest stiffest portion is the part of least resistance ... SNAP!
They don't all break off but so far today I have a dozen poles of unexpected harvest.

I don't had a good viewing position to capture the grove bending sideways with these sudden gusts, but what a drama! ... I guess it would be quite a challenge to fly a kite /take pics in this wind!

Anyway this a fun time in the grove as autumn-winter is the best harvest time here.
... back to play time!

Rake art ... WOW!
I'm into mulch art ... terracing the very steep hillside parts of our grove with all matter of organic refuse, but it's not very photogenic ;)

Mark