Kite Aerial Photography: Equipment
All of my KAP gear fits nicely into a large daypack, except for my two framed kites (Dopero and Rokkaku). This provides ultimate flexibility—not only when traveling, but also for reaching more remote areas. For example, I can throw the daypack on my shoulders, grab my bike, and easily transport my gear to otherwise inaccessible locations.
I replaced almost all of my gear in late 2004 after it was stolen from my car in downtown San Francisco—in broad daylight, on a busy four lane street. Actually, it was not my car; I was driving a rented Ford Taurus because my Scion xB was being repaired after my kayak was torn off the roof on HWY 101. Sounds like a string of unlucky events, but actually, I was quite lucky. For one thing, miraculously, nobody plowed into my kayak, even though it went careening across four lanes of traffic on a busy highway. Also, the punks that broke into my car shuffled through my backpack at the scene of the crime, leaving my rig, picavet, and transmitter lying on the sidewalk next to the car. These are the three things in my gear that are virtually irreplaceable because I spent so many hours building them. I will never understand why anyone would stay at the scene of a crime to sort through stolen goods, but obviously I am quite pleased that they did.
Photo showing the contents of my daypack along with my two framed kites.
Equipment List
- Dopero Kite
- Rokkaku Kite
- Sutton Flowform 30 Kite
- Fuzzy tails (used for added stability on Flowforms)
- Sutton Flowform 16 Kite
- Halo Spool with 250 meters (750 ft.) of black, 250-lb. test line
- Leather gloves (thanks Dad!)
- Picavet Suspension
- Camera Rig
- Controller
- Canvas bag with chargers, spare parts, etc.
- Tool bag
- Carabiner/webbing for tying off the kite
- Nikon Coolpix 5000 Digital Camera (replaced in Aug 2005 by a Coolpix 8400 and then a Sigma DP-1 in April 2008)
- Nikon FC-E8 Circular Fisheye Lens (replaced in Aug 2005 by a Nikon FC-E9)