Doing Kite Aerial Photography in India
While we had so much fun flying kites in Gujarat, we are *KAP * Jasa, a kite aerial photography-oriented kite club, And surely we've had some cool KAP sessions down there!
Most of the time the wind was not suitable for flying a camera, and when it was, patangs on manjhas were threatening anything that flew too high. But when it was all good, it was really good. And at times - spectacular ...
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Let's start with our second KAP session, that was actually a kite aerial video session ... We did it above the kite field in Surat to catch the kites in their natural environment; and when you do kite aerial imaging among the hundreds of kites, it is better to do a video of all the swinging an swooshing creations in the air ...
An angel - designed by Karl Longbottom and expertly flown by Bob Cruikshanks - swooshes by ...
We got Angels and Skeletons, pilot kites and holly leafs, tigers and cobras and whatnot ...
A skeleton dances in the wind ...
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Some stills from the KAV ...
The holly kite
But the best KAP session we've had this time in India took place on one of the most incredible places - on a helipad next to the enormous, astonishing, mind-boggling Statue of Unity.
Yes, the place is in a river valley; yes, the wind wasn't good and our venerable blue Rokkaku couldn't rise above the hills ... but ... but look at this:
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Statue of Unity depicts Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai 'Sardar' Patel, a leader of the Indian National Congress and a founding father of the Republic of India who played a leading role in the integration of Indian states and provinces into a united, independent nation.
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Statue of Unity and the surrounding memorial complex hosting a museum and other facilities
Patel was a Gujarati, and people of Gujarat - and all of India - built him a statue that surpassed every other statue in the world: a 182 meters high collosus, the highest statue in the world.
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It's impossible to present the sheer size of this statue ...
It was a pleasure and an honour flying there!
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Kite aerial video shot above Surat with iPhone SE on a Rokkaku kite. KAP at the Statue of Unity was done with Nikon P330 - again on a Rokkaku kite.