Imagine a warm summers day with a gentle breeze blowing out of the southwest.  Cumulus clouds slowly slide across the sky, giving that added bonus of increased lift to your kite. You stretch out your arm and the Rokkaku jumps skyward, climbing steadily and swiftly to a predetermined altitude. Suddenly, there it is...tacked to the sky without any perception of movement, your kap rig hanging rock still off of the kite line. An entire roll of Kodak Gold is exposed from different altitudes,  different directions and different angles and before you realize it,  the kite is brought down...without incident of course.   What a perfect scenario but unfortunately for me, in my area of southwestern Pennsylvania conditions like these seem to prevail about once every millenia........and I missed the last one. The wind here is either too light. too gusty or nonexistent and the type of flying I usually end up doing is the  pump....click,  pump....click,  pump....click type.....pumping the kite to gain height and once there shooting off a couple of pictures. Not the best conditions for razor sharp photos but......oh well....for something as addictive and enjoyable as kite photography is for me it's a price I'll gladly pay.
This was taken from a RC model airplane flying field not far from my house. I had it to myself that day. Note the lone tree at the far end.  This  oak has taken its share of planes.
The type of kite you choose to fly your rig from is an extremely important consideration. This will ultimately determine whether your pictures are sharp or clear, how much flying time you'll get and how long your rig will stay in one piece. Truly. The more squirrely the kite, the less time you'll have to fly and more often than not, the camera equipment will be left in the closet and won't even be taken to the field. More importantly though is the true fact that an unstable kite will eventually lead you all over the field where you'll be picking up pieces of aluminum and plastic ....when your kite dives with incredible speed from 200' in the air and ends its flight with a resounding crack on terra firma. Not pleasant, especially if you've spent a few hundred dollars for the rig and camera. So choose carefully and wisely.
The far end of the same flying field. Note the kite line which will always be in the picture when your  kite's facing directly into the wind.
The most important aspect of kap of course is the kite. How the heck am I going to lift this somewhat heavy (and in some cases....very heavy) rig into the sky and have it hang there as steady as possible and take pictures? This is typical of the question I get ask when talking to the novice about kite photography. For sure you don't want to use a plastic blue light special from K-Mart. A kite with substantial lifting properties is of course the ticket, and this doesn't mean it has to be the size of the floats in the Macy parade..My 2 workhorses are a 10' double delta conyne made of ripstop nylon and graphite tubes for the spars which I fly in winds 8 mph and above and a 5' Rokkaku for light winds of around 6 mph. I have another 10' Rokkaku that I can fly when the wind can't even be felt. They both set up in about 2 seconds and I can be flying within a couple of minutes. The delta conyne has only 1 cross spar and is relatively steady but does have a tendency to overfly...meaning it can fly over top of you and possibly lose stability. This  problem is solved my using a tube tail or streamers of some type to help alleviate this situation. It works. The Rokkaku is the steadiest kite I know of. It has no covert properties.. .it doesn't over fly and sits tack still...I mean absolutely motionless in the sky. With its huge sail area it goes up in very light winds quickly and stays put with no yawing or overflight tendencies. It has impeccable air manners. It may take a while longer to set up then does the conyne delta for the first flight...the bridle point should be moved to adjust for flight conditions...easy to do and most store boughts have directions. I bought the delta conyne from a kite shop in California and had it built to my specs....size, color combo and spars....as for the Roks...the 5' was bought from a store in Colorado and the large 10' one was custom built.
THESE KITES are an excellent choice for the kaper who lives in areas with a steady wind flow...the beaches for instance or for an inland day that has a steady windflow. The reason being is that these kites have a tendency to collapse and fall like a rock if the wind dies...they have no sail area to break the fall with a glide. On the other hand, the beauty of these kites is that they have no rigid spars to contend with and they fold into an inconspicuous bag for transporting. With a drogue or tail attached these beauties are very stable.A foil suitable for kap would fit in a pouch not much larger than a freezer bag. They also pull hard which is a bonus for hoisting your rig. They are something to consider.  These kites include the parafoils, flow forms and many of the clones.
THE LINE is one important aspect of kiting that most everybody overlooks...or takes for granted.  Kite line also flies  with the same physics affecting the line that affects the kite. Gravity is pulling it down while the wind is pushing it up. Most of the fliers I know use  Dacron...some use Kevlar with the Dacron being much heavier. Here's the difference.... 1000' feet of Dacron weighs about 32 ozs while the same amount of Kevlar weighs around 12ozs.  A  huge difference.  Also, while Dacron retains about 80% of its strength at the knots Kevlar  when sleeved retains around 95%.  What does this mean? Simply that the Kevlar allows you to lift more weight wiith the kite or lift the same weight with a smaller sail area allowing you to use a smaller kite. But be forwarned...Kevlar can cut like a knife so appropriate precautions must be taken. It's also much harder to cut.
Here's the photo that will put all of this talk about kap into perspective and make it clear for the uninitiated. The rig is the entire object hanging from the kite line from its own lines  and the cradle is the object being held in mid air. The cradle is usually an aluminum frame and is where the camera sits. This happens to be a Picavet rig which, to most, is the steadiest and easiest controlled of the kap rigs. My transfer of the picture doesn't do it justice.  Click on James Abner above to go to his marvelous site.
INCIDENTALS  Essential kap equipment is more than just a kite and rig.  A good pair of heavy duty leather gloves (I use fireplace or welding gloves) are a must in helping to bring down that truck pulling foil flying at the end of 300 lb test line. There's no way you're going to crank that beast down with a plastic winder. I'll walk the kite down (with the help of the gloves) having the line inserted through the eye of an aluminum dog stake,  walk down 150' or more,  wrap the kite line around the eye of the stake,  bring it back to the reel and wrap the slack back on the reel. Whew! Did you get all of that? This method works well on hard pullers.
  The stake is also a handy item to have. Like I stated I have a couple of sizes of  dog stakes (these stakes are what the canines are tied to in the backyard)  and when my kite is flying well I'll screw it into the ground, get my kite and rig to altitude and attach my winder to the stake so I can walk around the field unencumbered and reel free.
  Wind meters...some purists use them...I throw a handfull of grass in the air....
  Tails or drogues...You'll find these are unrivaled in their ability to calm down an unruly kite. Attach 100' or so of nylon to a skitterish kite and watch what happens.... you'll feel like a bronco buster. Of course this only works if the yawing isn't caused by the wrong bridle angle, snapped spars, ect...you get the picture.
drawing by James Abner
FLYING at night, especially at the beach, can produce some spectacular ocean front photos of the lighted hotels along the water.
A TYPICAL day at the beach. To give a perspective of how large the line laundry and kites are, look how small my son is on the beach. He was directly beneath all of this nylon.
SOMETIMES  we just don't care if the breeze dies down now do we? If there are other diversions around or good company to help you wind in your kite...who gives a damn about the wind?
home