KAP is Kite Aerial Photography. It means using a kite to lift a camera and taking pictures from the air. This technique is useful for getting shots that would be impossible by other means. A camera suspended from a kite can hang anywhere from a few feet to a few hundred feet above the ground. And it can operate quietly so it doesn’t disturb people and wildlife. The relatively low point of view is useful for capturing scenes on a human scale. Things like people, dogs and playgrounds that might be barely visible from an airplane become the primary subjects of these low altitude shots. The combination of familiar subjects and unfamiliar viewpoint can create images that delight.
Most people, when they first hear of Kite Aerial Photography, imagine a camera strapped directly to a kite. But that’s not usually how it works. Instead, the camera is suspended from the kite line about 100 feet below the kite.
A Kite Aerial Photography session starts with the photographer launching a kite. At that point, there’s no camera attached at all. This is just an ordinary kite being launched in the ordinary way. Once the kite climbs up to a nominal altitude where it flies stably, the photographer attaches a camera rig to the line. Then, by simply letting out more line, the photographer lets the kite rise higher and it pulls the camera rig up with it. The camera’s height, then, is set according to how much line is payed out.
While it’s suspended above the ground, the camera is mounted in a contraption called the KAP rig. The rig’s function is to hold the camera securely and permit it to be attached to the kite line. Depending on its design, the rig may have controls for aiming and orienting the camera and it may have electronics for communicating with the operator on the ground. Kite Aerial Photographers are an inventive bunch and a very wide variety of KAP rigs have been designed and built. Some KAP photographers build their own custom rigs from scratch but there are also KAP rig kits available that are very popular.
Numerous ingenious methods have been developed to control the camera while it’s suspended in the air. One common approach, though, is to use the same radio control systems used by model airplane fliers. A set of servo motors on the KAP rig control the direction the camera aims and another servo presses the shutter button when the operator toggles a switch. An alternative approach is to have the camera rig automatically take a picture every few seconds. In this case the operator on the ground doesn’t have to do anything except launch the camera and recover it later. Many other approaches have also been employed. And many pages of this site are dedicated to presenting and explaining the various ways KAP works.
While the camera is in the air, the photographer is usually free to walk around the area. This allows the aerial camera to get shots from a variety of vantage points. Once the photography session is over, the kite operator reels in the kite line until the camera rig is back near the ground. The KAP rig is removed from the kite line, then, and put away. Finally, the kite itself is brought back to the ground and the KAP session is done.
The whole process is quite simple, really.
I get asked this a lot. The whole notion of sending a camera high into the air lifted by a kite sounds like some kind of stunt. But there’s actually less risk to the camera than you would suspect. With a little care, the KAP rig can be constructed to be quite secure. And the kites used for KAP are ones that fly with remarkable stability. Even if the wind dies, the kite tends to parachute slowly back to the ground giving the camera a gentle ride back to kite flier.
That’s not to say there are no risks involved in KAP. There are the usual kite flying hazards to be concerned about: trees and power lines. And kites do misbehave at times leading to unintentional contact between cameras and the ground or other obstacles. One of the primary reasons for providing this web site is to teach newcomers to KAP how to avoid dangerous situations and how to get out of them.
But I’m avoiding the question, aren’t I? Luckily, I’ve never lost a KAP camera to an accident. Once, I did have a KAP rig separate from the kite line and fall about 60 feet to the ground. Due to blind, dumb luck it landed on a trampoline and survived the fall. In another incident, I had a kite turn over and fly into the ground from altitude. The kap rig in that case landed safely in a grass field but the kite line ended up draped over a set of power lines and the kite itself nearly landed on a country road. Again luck was the factor that prevented a disaster.
I don’t like relying on luck, though, and hope you won’t either. So one of the primary goals of this site is to teach you to recognize and deal with the hazards inherent in KAP. It’s important to approach KAP with the appropriate respect for safety because the stakes are much higher than a damaged camera.
Kite Aerial Photography is a technique for capturing aerial images from relatively low altitudes using kites. The process involves launching a kite, attaching a special camera rig to the line and then elevating the camera by letting line out. This technique isn’t as hazardous to the camera as most people assume. Yet it does present hazards to people and property that may not be obvious to unexperienced KAPers.
The techniques and equipment of Kite Aerial Photography aren’t widely known. So this site has been established to give newcomers an introduction to this field.
The next article presents KAP in more detail by describing a typical day of Kite Aerial Photography.