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	Monday, 30 June 2008

Kite flying at the Chateau This weekend I was at The Mount Ruapehu Bayview Chateau Tongariro (the Chateau for short) to celebrate the 40th birthday of a friend. I flew my Quantum trick kite on the golf course on Saturday after the biggest overnight dump of snow since 1992 on Friday night. 8:37:41 PM    Comment []

	Sunday, 20 January 2008

Ray over the Haven Today was the 17th annual Nelson Summertime Kite Festival. There was very little wind but the big kites were flying for a few hours this morning and intermittently during the afternoon. Heaps of people turned out anyway on this scorching hot Nelson Sunday. I managed to get a camera in the air with a few of the big kites this morning; something that is always pretty nerve wracking with all those giants flying around me. I just had to post this one shot of the Ray kite with Nelson Haven behind it, but I'll be uploading more during the evening as I sort through them and my dail-up connection catches up. I have created a Flickr pool for pictures of the kite festival. It already has my photos from last year and this year in it. If you have some pictures, and you use Flickr.com, please join the group and add yours to the pool! The Flickr group is called "The Annual Nelson Summertime Kite Festival". (If you don't use Flickr, its free and painless.) ps. It just hit me what it is about the Ray image above that appeals to me. There's no lines. You can't see any bridle-lines, no flying lines, nothing but kite.... and so the secret of how it is flying is not directly revealed. The magic of kite flying lives on! 7:46:15 PM    Comment []

	Wednesday, 2 January 2008

New Years Campout and Kayak It has become a bit of a tradition for me and my friends to meet up at Mcleans Reserve on the banks of the Motueka River, circle the wagons and celebrate another new beginning together (along with a spot of kayaking). I got back yesterday after a few days living in the van. Here are some shots from the paddle down the river we did on the last day of 2007. There's a river 'round here somewhere! Found it! After recent rain the mouth of the Graham Valley River looked super clean, sparkling in the afternoon sun. 10:13:42 AM    Comment []

	Sunday, 11 November 2007

Yellow Squadron Leader 10:49:15 PM    Comment []

	Sunday, 18 February 2007

Lazy Summer Sunday Afternoon I got out on my bike today with my kite aerial photography gear onboard to capture a bit of Nelson in summer. 10:06:57 PM    Comment []

	Tuesday, 23 January 2007

Portrait of a Kite Aerial Photographer 7:36:47 AM    Comment []

	Sunday, 21 January 2007

Nelson Kite Festival 2007 - Day 2 (display day) Day two of the 2007 Nelson Summertime Kite Festival was another mixed bag of wind conditions. Thankfully, in the middle of the afternoon, just when the crowds were beginning to arrive, the grey clouds parted, and the northerly sea breeze kicked in juuust enough to put on a show. The breeze was a very light southwest for most of the morning. Here the Kimono kite is caught resting during a lull in the breeze. A Peter Lynn Ray flying high above a rainbow-coloured fish. As the clouds broke up and the blue sky appeared, the wind shifted around to the north and suddenly the sky was filled with kites. At the end of the afternoon, after most of the crowds had gone, I managed to get enough of a wind to launch my KAP rig and get a few shots looking down. (click for 1024x768 or 1280x1024 desktop wallpaper) I'll be uploading these images and heaps more in full size, to my Flickr account in the next day or two so check them out. 8:26:29 PM    Comment []

	Saturday, 20 January 2007

Triangular box kite DIY 9:20:40 PM    Comment []

Nelson Kite Festival 2007 - Day 1 (warmup) The wind started off light and got lighter throughout the day. Unfortunatly the grey skies kept the sea breeze from ever really kicking in. The few kites that could fly did, but most things dropped from the sky mid-afternoon. There certainly wasn't enough wind to kite buggy so there were a few bored kite buggy pilots around who resorted to towing buggys around the field with a minivan. Tommorrow (Sunday) is the big public display day, so I hope the weathers better! At least it didn't rain today... This kite reminds me of the space invaders games of my youth. Because of the lack of wind I had no chance to do any kite aerial photography today but the gear is all ready to go, so maybe tomorrow. 7:46:49 PM    Comment []

	Tuesday, 2 January 2007

New Years Campout Just like this time last year, I got together with friends Mark, Pamela, and Devon to camp out next to the Motueka River over the New Years break. This is the view looking upriver from our camping spot. The kayaks all lined up ready for action on new years morning. Probably my favourite thing about camping... the campfire. (Click for 1024x768 or 1280x1024 desktop wallpaper) 7:06:43 PM    Comment []

	Tuesday, 26 December 2006

KAP Practice I spent part of Christmas day out and about with my kite aerial photography rig, on my bike. Perfect day for it to. This was my first digital KAP effort. I picked up a Nikon Coolpix 4100 digital camera on TradeMe for a mere $10. I got it that cheap because the LCD screen on it was cracked and not working. I don't really care if the LCD screen is working or not when the camera is hanging from my kite several hundred feet above me. The only drawback is I have to wait until I get home to see the shots (which kind of takes me back to some of the fun of film photography; the anticipation is half the pleasure). On this flight I only managed to take 27 frames before the camera shut off for some reason (possibly batteries). Of course I didn't know it had turned itself off until I brought the camera back to earth an hour or so later (note to self: get better batteries). Of those 27 frames, I've used 5 to make up 3 images (below), with a little help from Photoshop. This is two images stitched together of Neale Park, one of the best little kite flying grounds in the world. The Nelson Summertime Kite Festival (put on by the Nelson Kite Club) will be here in a few weeks time. I hope to repeat this shot then. This is Founders Park. It is a little village like park which is a collection of historic buildings from around the Nelson region. It has a Church, a pub, a printer, a windmill, a livery, 2 train stations (soon to be three) and approx 1km of track, and my favourite, a working organic brewery. The park is well worth a visit if you're in Nelson. Another stitch job. I can't resist getting a shot or two with me in it, whenever I have a camera in the air. You can see the kiteline, and me, and my Xtracycle. I particularly like the colour of the water in Nelson Haven in this shot. As you may have noticed I'm trying out Flickr for image hosting. I can't see the point in paying to host all the images I post of CoffeeWaffle if it can be done (well) for free. I'm just loading my KAP images there for now as a trial. There is also a very active KAP group on Flickr so if you'd like to see more photos taken from the kites view, check it out. 1:00:12 PM    Comment []

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