Month: January 2007

The Titanic


The_Titanic
Originally uploaded by Bassoon Man.

Well, here it is – my KAP rig – which I have now appropriately named, “the Titanic!” Unlike the ill-fated cruise ship, my Titanic will sail again as everything still works. Of course, I’m going to have to straighten things out a bit but the electronics are undamaged. Yippee! I’m going to make a few alterations (or shall we say “upgrades”) to try and protect the camera better for the return of the Titanic.

While I’ve already discussed what happened (my son’s kite line crossed mine as I was reeling it in) – my Premier Power Sled 14 was lost in the wind and my rig “fell down and went boom.” Interestingly, while I was unwinding the Picavet cross, the apparatus at the top what is rigged (with string) to the kite, I discovered that the line was cut! In other words, it would appear as if both my kite line and the Picavet line were cut. This means that two (2) lines were cut at the same time! How that could have happened is beyond me – perhaps my boy had a good aim? Interestingly, the Picavet line also showed some signs of being somewhat frayed in a couple of places. Perhaps the winds (which had become quite strong) were a bit too much for the Picavet which then snapped subsequently also cut the kite line? If that’s the case, then my boy is off the hook! I’ll probably never know for sure. Hopefully, my next launch will be far more successful.

Best Shot from Maiden Voyage


IMGP0026
Originally uploaded by bassoonkap.

As I’ve already mentioned, my KAP “maiden voyage” ended in disaster. I did; however, capture approximately 50 shots although nearly all of them were of extremely poor quality (I haven’t had time to fully analyze them to determine why). Just the same, I did capture a few photos that, if nothing else, show that I did manage to get a few shots. The photo at the left is the “best shot” from the set. BTW, I’m not quite sure how to use Flickr yet (where I’m storing my KAP photos) and used Photoshop Elements 5.0 to “enhance” the photo. Obviously, I didn’t take a lot of time doing so as the odd shape of the photo attests (I rotated the picture a bit and didn’t bother to crop it in order to make it a rectangle).

At the moment, I’m still licking my wounds from the disaster which I am now describing as the “launch of the Titanic.” Of course, the sinking of the Titanic didn’t stop the cruise ship business and neither will my disaster stop me from trying again. I’m hoping that my next attempt at KAPing (hopefully within the next few days) will be more successful.

2007 New Year’s Day San Diego Kite Festival


2007 New Year’s Day San Diego Kite Festival
Originally uploaded by bassoonkap.

Well, it appears as if I’ve got a new hobby, thanks to the 2007 New Year’s Day Kite Festival in San Diego. Having discovered a cool kite shop at Seaport Village a few months earlier with my youngest son, we learned about this annual event and decided it might be a fun way to kick off the New Year. Well, we weren’t disappointed – as can be seen from the photo at the left (double click on it for a larger view), we had a spectacular time! We arrived in the morning and stayed until the sun went down.

All kinds of great kites were flown – huge kites (as noted in the picture), stunt kites, synchronized kites flown to music, and just about everything in between. Prior to attending the festival, I had chatted on several occasions with one of the guys (Dave) from the kite shop: he had told me about folks who sent cameras up with their kites and took aerial photographs. While we didn’t see anyone taking Kite Aerial Photography (KAP) at the festival, we had so much fun that I was really hooked on the idea. While my boy loved flying stunt kites, I tend to be more attracted to the watching them fly (although the synchronized kites were REALLY fun to watch – someday, it might be fun to try). Anyway, to make a long story short, I’m now interested in KAPing and have just created my first rig. I’ll post more about that later as it’s getting late and I had better call it a night.