KAP 2012-3 – Barra de Potosi, Mexico

Aerial photograph of Mexico's Pacific Coast at Barra de Potosi.

While on vacation in Ixtapa, Mexico, the owner of our Bed & Breakfast, Casa Candiles, took us on a couple of field trips. One of these was to Barra de Potosi, about a 1/2 hour’s drive south along the Pacific Coast from Ixtapa – Zihuatanejo. We planned to have a few hours there doing beach stuff and having lunch at one of the many beachside restaurants. It gave me time to fly kites as well as explore with my SLR. I did the terrestrial camera work first because I wanted to check out where would be best for catching the breeze for my aerial photography later. The exploration also gave me an idea of what I might target on once the camera gear was in the air. As the breeze was minimal, I was limited to autoKAP, meaning that I did not have remote control over the aerial camera equipment. Instead the camera shoots by itself periodically while making small rotations to change the view.

This is an assortment of images that were taken either with my earthbound SLR or with my kite aerial photography equipment. More images from the kite aerial photography session can be viewed in my KAP 2012-3 – Barra de Potosi, Mexico Gallery. More images from the terrestrial walk-about can be seen in the Barra de Potosi Gallery in the main Mexico section on my website.

The aerial images were taken from a camera suspended below a kite line (Kite Aerial Photography – KAP).

Aerial photograph. Beached boats at Barra de Potosi, Mexico.

Aerial photograph. The lagoon at Barra de Potosi, Mexico.

White heron standing on the gunwale of a fishing boat at Barra de Potosi, Mexico.

Detail of two small boats at Barra de Potosi, Mexico.

© Rob Huntley Photography / Like My Facebook / About.Me

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KAP 2011-1: Petrie Island, Ottawa, Ontario – January 16, 2011

Winter Scene at Petrie Island on the Ottawa River.

This was my first KAP session (Kite Aerial Photography) in many months for various reasons and I was feeling a bit rusty. It was also my first session for the 2011 calendar year. I was fighting a cold/flu and the temperature was very cold (-27C with wind chill). Nevertheless, there was a Camera Club of Ottawa outing planned for Petrie Island in the Ottawa River and I enjoy the club outings with or without kite aerial photography equipment. Also, I’d recently had a request from a Carleton U. journalism student who was interested in a KAP demonstration for a school project. Check out the resulting video clip she prepared in a separate blog post titled Kite Aerial Photography – a report on yours truly.

I KAPped for about an hour and a half using my Fled kite and the fully remote controlled rig using my Dunecam system. Technical issues were on hand with cold batteries and the like but I did manage a few interesting shots. Most of my shots were of the ice fishing huts in the bay just downstream of the islands and off the beach. I had to reel in the equipment several times to restart the remote shutter even though the batteries were operating well enough in the cold to shoot pictures. I’ve found even on warm days that if I fire the shutter too rapidly between consecutive shots there is a breakdown in the link between the camera and the ground remote. This seems to be amplified by the further away the camera is and/or by how low the battery charge is. Although I have used the system to over 600′ on a summer day with strong batteries, on this day I was having problems with sending the camera more than 150′ away, presumably because of the cold effect on the camera batteries. The batteries for the rig and the remote seemed to respond fine.

Lots more possibilities in terms of subjects and angles were on offer but we bailed out with enough blood flowing in the hands to allow for the time it takes to retrieve the equipment. We joined up for coffee with the rest of the outing participants at Orleans Mall.

In hindsight, I might have done better with autokap gear on this day, and perhaps there are some lessons for future really cold days:

1. My autokap rig would have been quicker to set up, exposing my hands to the cold for a shorter period of time (I wear sailing gloves with the end of the thumb and forefinger exposed to allow me to deal with the intricacies of setting up the camera and rig).

2. I could have done most of the session using the sheepskin type mitts that I sometimes slip over my gloves to warm up my hands which are pretty useless for controlling the remote control but with autokap I would simply have to hold the spool.

3. My issues with losing communication between camera and my remote due to low battery power would have been eliminated. Although the batteries suffered from the cold, the camera would probably have lasted much longer by itself on the autokap rig than with it having to communicate with earth in the remote controlled rig. I wouldn’t have had to wind in to restart the remote shutter function, losing time and getting colder in the process.

Ice Fishing near Petrie Island on the Ottawa River.

 

You can see additional pictures in the Kite Aerial Photography Gallery – Petrie Island In Winter – January 16, 2011.

©Rob Huntley

Fishing Boats at Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia – Postcard

Here’s my new postcard design of a fishing boats at Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia.
The postcard is offered for sale in my Zazzle store. Click on the postcard to go straight to page.

Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia by robhuntley

© Rob Huntley

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Serene Peggy’s Cove – Postcard

Here’s my new postcard design of a peaceful view of Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia.
The postcard is offered for sale in my Zazzle store. Click on the postcard to go straight to page.

Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia by robhuntley

© Rob Huntley

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Red Boat in Peggy’s Cove – Postcard

Here’s my new postcard design of a red boat in Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia.
The postcard is offered for sale in my Zazzle store. Click on the postcard to go straight to page.

Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia by robhuntley

© Rob Huntley

Two small boats in Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia – Postcard

Here’s my new postcard design of two small boats in Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia.

The postcard is offered for sale in my Zazzle store. Click on the postcard to go straight to page.

Two small boats in Peggy’s Cove – Postcard by robhuntley

© Rob Huntley