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:
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