KAP from the beginning

Okay I suck at posting stuff I thought that it would be fun but it feels a lot like work. Anyhow I have no followers so it's okay. From my pictures you must have notice that I like all wind sports. So it was natural that I would get interested in KAP (kite aerial photography). I will try to post my learning process.  My really, really cheap rig has three basic components: the kite, the picavet suspension and the camera.


The Kite
I bought this Premier Kite 7.5 at the Mall of America. There are much better kites (most others swear by the Futon 16) but this one only cost 35 bucks. It has decent pull and it is super easy to fly.  I still need to make another tail for it because the one that comes with the kite is a little heavy but without it the kite tends to unexpectedly dive.

Picavet suspension
This is a pretty clever way suspend the camera an make be level with the ground.  I built mine with two strips of wood and the four and a couple of every day hardware pieces.  The one thing that trouble me the most was the finding a good way to attached the rig to the kite line.  I ended up using two small blocks of delrin to and some intricate cuts on it.  More on this later.

The Camera
The first camera I used was the Fuji A345.  It's not very good but I was able to take some video to test the rig.  After that I bought a Canon A560 with a broken screen for 8 bucks on ebay.  I figure that I didn't need the screen.  I choose the Canon because you can use the CHDK to run scripts.   I was  very easy way to get and intervalometer.  I have one that waits for a minute and then snaps pictures every 15 seconds.
I will post pictures later below is the first video.

First Videos

New pictures

I was pretty busy lately, but I still manage to take some pictures. I did not manage, on the other hand, to post them. Here are my favorities:

Windsurf and Kiteboarding, White Bear Lake, Minnesota

These pictures are from a session at Ramsey beach on Tuesday May 12th. I think I will have lots of wind session pictures this summer since I can't sail much because of a back injury.

Trapped Nature

I took these pictures on a weekend visit to the Como Zoo in St. Paul.

Bedding Air

First Post

I have always wanted to take pictures. Circuit City's downfall was my gain, I bougth a Sony Alpha 200 really cheap. I want this blog to record my first steps into photography.