Quartzsite 2007 - KAP

It is January so we must again be in Quartzsite Arizona, where thousands of RVs gather each year for a giant flea market and RV show.



I am trying something new this year. I have been experimenting with a merge of two hobbies - kites and photography. It is called Kite Aerial Photography' or KAP. The concept is to hang a remote-control camera from a kite and take photographs from the air. The idea has been around for a long time and is becoming more popular now that small lightweight digital cameras are available.

I constructed a camera platform based on an existing design. The suspension system is a “Pichavet” style, named after the Frenchman that invented it. It hangs from two attach points on the kite line and adjusts itself automatically to remain level as the line angle changes. The platform holding the camera mounts below the Pichavet on a model-airplane servo that allows it to pan 360 degrees. A second servo controls the tilt and a third fires the shutter. Everything is controlled with a modified model-airplane radio. The camera is an 8 Megapixel Casio EX-Z850 that weighs less than 6 ounces. The kite used at Quartzsite was a 6-footRokkaku that I built a couple of years ago.

One of the first images captured with the new rig is a photo of myself near our Quartzsite camp site.



Here is a kite's-eye view of our home on the desert. :The view is to the south toward Yuma, which is about 80 miles away. As you can see we like to get away from it all. The camping areas closer to town are lot more crowded.



Our nearest neighbors are about a quarter mile away to the north-west.



Looking north from our spot toward the town of Quartzsite.

I have learned that I have a lot to learn about operating this outfit. I am getting more shots of the ground and the sky than of anything interesting but it is a lot of fun. You will be seening more KAP photos in the future.