Hanging By A Thread: 2011

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Lessons learned in OBX

Wright Memorial 9-19-11, a photo by joe_gremlin on Flickr.

We spent the past week in on the Outer Banks in North Carolina. A great vacation overall. Weather was really good for vacating but was kind of iffy most of the time for flying the kite and getting pictures. Couple that with my almost complete lack of pre-trip checks of the kite and equipement bags and you end up with lots of missed opportunities. But I learned some important lessons about what not to do in the future so its not all bad.

These are some of the very shots we ended up getting. This is the Wright Brothers National Monument. Most definitely worth a visit if you're even in the area.

This was the first spot we launched the kite from. The wind was good, the light wasn't bad and everything was working pretty well. Our plan was to get some shots from this vantage point and then start walking to different spots with the kite and rig airborn. Unfortunately, as soon as we started moving the next spot, the battery alarm on the remote transmitter started beeping. We were out of power.

What's worse, because of my lack of pre-trip checks all the three chargers that I own were 800 miles away on the bench in the basement. I drove to hobby shop 60 miles away the next morning to buy another charger (so we've got 4 now). But it was too late. The weather and other equipment issues more or less prevented getting any other worthwhile shots the rest of the week. Lessons learned I suppose.

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Ithaca, NY

Ithaca, NY, a photo by joe_gremlin on Flickr.

We were in Ithaca this weekend for a wedding. The ceremony itself actually took place at the foot of the little pier just right of center in this shot (congratulations J&M). While we were at the ceremony, I spotted this little park across the inlet.

So this afternoon, we went over to see if we could get any shots. I didn't have a whole lot of time to prepare for this trip and it became very apparent when we tried to launch.

The winds were very light but I thought there might be enough to get the delta in the air. Unfortunately, one of the spars from the delta is MIA. I'm sure its around, but I'm also sure its back in Michigan. So flying the delta is out for this trip. Lesson learned.

So we walked around a bit and found a spot where the breeze seemed to be a bit stronger. I reconfigured the tail on the FF16 and put it up with the light line. We got in the air using a long line launch and it seemed to find purchase once it was above the tree line.

So I turned my attention to the camera rig. The USB wire was giving me some trouble and it took a little fiddling to get the camera shutter to trigger. Switched to the backup camera and fiddled with the wire a little more and finally it seemed to be working. So we attached it and put it up.

Got a few nice shots out of it. Not my best work. Not my worst. As always, there are better shots here to try and get the next time we're in town.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Vicksburg, MI SIlo

Vicksburg, MI SIlo, a photo by joe_gremlin on Flickr.

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Lost in New Mexico

CRW_0559, a photo by joe_gremlin on Flickr.

I came to New Mexico with one goal. I wanted to bring back pictures that could at least capture a little bit of what this place looks like and feels like. And it wouldn't hurt if those pictures also looked good. The first step of course is to do some research and try to find some locations that would give us the best shot at pictures that lend themselves to kite photography and capture a little bit of what it looks like out here.

So the obvious choice is of course, the White Sands National Monument which as luck would have it, was about an hour from where we would be staying on our trip. White Sands really is the place to go if you're in this part of the country. It is one of those places where almost every square inch contains a really amazing picture.

But in case you haven't figured it out yet, these pictures are not from White Sands. Since it was the obvious choice we went there our second day here. And we got skunked. Not a lick of breeze to be had anywhere. Sue did take some really impressive pictures none the less. But they were all from the ground. They can be seen here if you're interested.

So we left White Sands amazed at having the seen the place and disappointed at the same time and we weren't able to get photos from the kite rig. When we got back to the room, I checked the forecast for the next day. Winds were forecast to be out of the South 10 to 20 mph. Perfect conditions for kite photography. Sue would be working all day (its a business trip after all) but I knew I had to go back. So while she was working, I set out on my own to go back and photograph White Sands from 100' up.

And I was skunked again. The forecast winds just didn't happen. I left even more disappointed than the day before.

But as I drove back to Las Cruces, I happened to catch a glance from the highway of a road that seemed to head off into the sunset all by itself. On a hunch I decided to get off the highway and see if it would lead me to any decent pictures. That turned out to be a very good decision.

So this is Baylor Pass, New Mexico. The landscape here is just amazing and although I couldn't begin to tell you how I did it, somehow I managed to capture a piece of it in these pictures.

I wanted to shoot White Sands in the worst way. But this was just one of those days where I ended up getting what I wanted all along even though I thought I wanted something different. In other words, it was pretty good day.

For a slideshow of the full set, click here.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

3-28-11 Las Cruces, New Mexico

CRW_0389, a photo by joe_gremlin on Flickr.

This is just outside of Las Cruces, New Mexico. We had a last minute trip pop up this week so I brought the kite stuff to see what we could get. This is a scenic overlook off the eastbound lane of I10. I'm not sure what the story is with the sculpture but its made of garbage.

We do some crazy things sometimes in the pursuit of pictures. Oddly though, snakes weren't the biggest concern I had going into shooting this pictures. Rather it was the 21mph winds that had me nervous. We've got a kite and kite line that can handle that much wind and more. But when the winds are that strong, you just never know what's going to happen. So the thought of damaging any of the equipment so far from home and on our first day of the trip was heavy on my mind. If the camera rig ended up lost or damaged, we'd be out of commission for the rest of the trip.

Luckily everything performed perfectly. Really perfectly in fact. We used the Flowform 8 with two 16' fuzzy tails for stability and 200lb kite line both for extra insurance in such powerful winds and also just to add extra weight to the kite in order to help stabilize it a bit. And even still, it had absolutely no trouble lifting the camera rig and climbing with it.

As would be expected, the camera rig was moving around quite a bit so we ended up with lots of blurry shots. But we did manage to some decent shots of the subject so this mission will go down as a success.

We'll be here for a few more days so hopefully we'll have the opportunity to grab some more shots of this unique and beautiful place.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Vicksburg, MI 3-16-11

CRW_0326 a photo by joe_gremlin on Flickr.

This is the H&H Farms elevator in Vicksburg, MI. This is about 2 miles from home and I pass it almost every day. I've wanted to shoot it since the first time I saw it. Today I got my chance. The wind was ok and the light was good and I had the afternoon off, so I went out solo.

This first shot is significant but not so much because of the subject as because of the utility pole in the foreground. As I was bringing the kite back down at the end of the session, I ended up getting into a fight with that pole over the ownership of my kite. The pole won.

This is something you have accept when you go into kite photography. The knowledge that everytime you leave the house, you might very well come home with less equipment in your pack. You go into it knowing that. But it is still makes you feel horrible when it actually happens.

I'm not complaining though. I think we've been extremely lucky as far as lost equipment goes. Today was obviously a day to pay off some of that luck debt I suppose. I really loved that kite though. It was a Sutton Flowform 16 which is parafoil type kite. They are very popular among those who do kite photography and with good reason. They're very light and very strong. They lift a lot of weight and will fly in a wide range of wind speeds. And they pack very small so they don't take up much space in the backpack. In addition the typical wind conditions here in Mihcigan are more less perfectly suited for that particular kite. So over the last year it had become the workhorse of our collection.

I'm holding out hope that it'll come down off the pole when the wind shifts. But if that's not to be, I'm afraid we're just going to have to replace it. I just can't imagine trying to do this without it.

The upside to all this is that I did manage to get shots of a subject I've been wanting to shoot for a while now. But as is typical I suppose, I didn't manage to get the shots I really wanted to get. Winds were ok, but I really wanted the rig 50-100' higher and they just wouldn't lift it that much today. I'm happy with the shots I got. But the shots I want are still out there. Perhaps someday I'll give it another go. And I'll make sure to stay away from that damn pole.

More shots from the session: