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 ...
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 ...
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:
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.
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.
It's impossible to present the sheer size of this statue ...
It was a pleasure and an honour flying there!
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.