KAP 2013-16 – Confederation Bridge, New Brunswick – April 22, 2013

Confederation Bridge at sunset. Aerial photograph at the New Brunswick end of the Confederation Bridge.

Confederation Bridge at sunset. Aerial photograph at the New Brunswick end of the Confederation Bridge.

The Confederation Bridge joins Prince Edward Island with New Brunswick.

I had pondered the idea of doing kite aerial photography at sunset at the Confederation Bridge during this whole trip out east. I was heading in the right direction during my previous session (see KAP 2013-15) a few kilometers down the coast. However, having had such a poor time the with lack of wind, I arrived at the bridge expecting to just do some tripod shots while scoping the site out for a potential future KAP session. As the sun was quickly disappearing and I was standing over my tripod-mounted SLR it suddenly hit me ….. literally! WIND! What was I doing with my tripod when I had ideal conditions for KAPping the bridge. Time was of the essence as I ran back to the car, grabbed my FLED kite and camera rig and dashed back to the west side of the bridge. The angle of the wind was perfect to send the kite diagonally away from the bridge and over the water.

Realizing that I had only 10 to 15 minutes of light I exercised poor judgement in assuming that the bright light reflecting from the bridge would require my normal daylight settings on the camera. In hindsight I should have taken a few extra seconds to check. I sent the camera quite high first and then brought it down for lower shots. With no video feedback (video downlink broken for this trip) I failed to realize that a) the exposure setting was too low and b) initially the high flying camera had spun itself around to the opposite direction. When I brought the camera down a bit to do some lower aspect shots I realized it was pointing the wrong way and corrected it. But by now I was underexposing my shots by more than two stops.

The results, after trying to improve exposure in photoshop, are very grainy images of the bridge. The images of the sunset are not too bad, but those were not my objective. Only a couple of the bridge shots are good enough to illustrate what a beautiful subject I was dealing with.

Live and learn!

Confederation Bridge at sunset. Aerial photograph at the New Brunswick end of the Confederation Bridge.

Confederation Bridge at sunset. Aerial photograph at the New Brunswick end of the Confederation Bridge.

Aerial photograph of the sunset from the vantage point of high above the Confederation Bridge. The New Brunswick end of the Confederation Bridge.

Aerial photograph of the sunset from the vantage point of high above the Confederation Bridge. The New Brunswick end of the Confederation Bridge.

These photographs were taken using a remote-controlled camera suspended below a kite line (Kite Aerial Photography – KAP).

Visit my website gallery Confederation Bridge, New Brunswick – KAP 2013-16 – April 22, 2013 to see more images from this session.

Images from this session are available for licensing through Latitude Image, a stock photography agency specializing in aerial stock images. Click the website gallery link above for more information.

© Rob Huntley PhotographySTOCK Photography / Like My Facebook /

KAP 2013-15 – Tidal Flats near Bayfield, New Brunswick – April 22, 2013

Aerial photograph. Tidal flats along the Northumberland Strait near Bayfield New Brunswick.

Aerial photograph. Tidal flats along the Northumberland Strait near Bayfield New Brunswick.

I had greater expectations for this session but nevertheless ended up with a couple of nice images.

When I arrived at this location the tidal flats extended for hundreds of meters. It was a patchwork of red sands and blue puddles, complemented by the light blue of the sky and a hint of the Confederation Bridge in the distance. The wind had been strong further along the coast but for some reason was dead here. I played around and teased my Levitation Light Delta kite into the air and attached my lowest weight rig, designed for autoKAP. The kite flew but the rig hovered just above ground level. After over an hour of time-wasting like this I decided to walk to middle of the sand bar, launch the gear there and then walk back towards my starting point. This achieved several minutes of lift in which I snapped a few dozen images before the gear drifted down to the ground. I repeated the exercise a couple of times. This way I did manage some nice images but with time having passed, the tide had risen considerably and most of the beautiful patchwork of sand and water was covered by the sea.

These photographs were taken using a remote-controlled camera suspended below a kite line (Kite Aerial Photography – KAP).

Aerial photograph. Confederation bridge and foreground tidal flats along the Northumberland Strait near Bayfield New Brunswick.

Aerial photograph. Confederation bridge and foreground tidal flats along the Northumberland Strait near Bayfield New Brunswick.

Visit my website gallery Tidal Flats near Bayfield, New Brunswick – KAP 2013-15 – April 22, 2013 to see more images from this session.

Images from this session are available for licensing through Latitude Image, a stock photography agency specializing in aerial stock images. Click the website gallery link above for more information.

© Rob Huntley PhotographySTOCK Photography / Like My Facebook /