KAP 2015-1 – Lemieux Island, Ottawa

I have had a 16 month hiatus from kite aerial photography …. I’m happy to say “I’m Back”.

This first session of 2015 was actually a commission job and I’m not showing the client’s photos. The images I’ve put on my website are byproducts of the session resulting from the great location. Had there been time after the ‘job’ I would have done more shots of the bridge, the park and the Ottawa skyline. However, strong gusts kicked up that prevented me from doing more. Additional images from this session can be viewed on my website (link under the photograph).

The image here shows the Prince of Wales Railroad Bridge. There are two sections to the bridge. This is the section which goes from Lemieux Island at the bottom to the Quebec shore (Gatineau) to the left and top. The rail line runs approximately 200 metres on the eastern edge of the island and then there is a second section of bridge connecting the island to the Ontario shore (Ottawa). The bridge has been out of use for some time but is now under consideration as part of the developing LRT (Light Rail Transit) for the city.

Visit my website gallery Lemieux Island, Ottawa – KAP 2015-1 to view more images from this session.

© Rob Huntley Photography / Fine Art Prints / Rob’s Photo Shop / Like My Facebook

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Hoarfrost Morning

I have recently added this image to my storefront at Fine Art America.  It is for sale as an art print, canvas print, poster or greeting card. Sales are direct through Fine Art America who handle all arrangements, manufacture and shipping.

Click on the image to go to the same image at Fine Art America.

Hoarfrost Morning

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KAP 2013-8 – Parliament Hill and Downtown Ottawa from Victoria Island – March 23, 2013

Downtown Ottawa from Victoria Island. Parliament buildings on the left and the Supreme Court on the right with the semi-frozen Ottawa River below.

Back to the land of snow and ice after a wonderful month of February in Australia. Recently I have made a couple of attempts to KAP the Wakefield bridge without any success so a couple of weeks have elapsed without succeeding with any kite aerial photography. Finally a nice day arrived to do some work with the Parliament buildings and the still frozen landscape. Here are some of the shots from this session.

Downtown Ottawa from Victoria Island. The Supreme Court with the semi-frozen Ottawa River below. Cliff Street Heating Plant.

Cliff Street Heating Plant. Downtown Ottawa from Victoria Island.

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

Visit my website gallery Parliament Hill and Downtown Ottawa from Victoria Island – KAP 2013-8 – March 23, 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 Photography / Rob’s Photo Cards / STOCK Photography / Like My Facebook

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A Winter Walk by the Ottawa River

I’m fortunate to live a few minutes walk from the Ottawa River just west of Westboro Beach. I often head there with my camera when light or weather conditions present an interesting opportunity. I went to the river on New Year’s Eve, prompted by huge globs of snowflakes falling from the sky in the hope of capturing some action blurring of falling snow. By the time I got out there the conditions had changed so that plan was off, but I was thankful to have been prompted to get outside because the conditions were still quite nice in other ways.

This first image was taken on the way to the river. The trail to the right is a bike path in the summer. The trail to the left is a short cut taken primarily by dog walkers and people heading to and from the Dominion Transitway station.

Split in the trail near the Ottawa River Parkway in the Westboro area of Ottawa, Ontario

The river is frozen over now as we enter the coldest time of the winter season here in Ottawa. Snow levels are still lower than one would expect but there is still lots of time for more. The tree in this image and several others has been photographed many times by me. It is the point of the shoreline that is more or less closest to my home.

Ottawa River shoreline in winter.

Here’s another shot including the same tree but a bit further away and including a nice clump of freeze-dried cattails.

Cattails along the Ottawa River shoreline in winter. This location is just 10 minutes by foot from my house.

Freeze-dried cattails and a view across the Ottawa River. Québec is on the far side.

Cattails along the Ottawa River shoreline in winter.

Desolation. A lonely shoreline weed on the Ontario side of the Ottawa River and a view across the barren, frozen emptiness looking towards the Québec side of the river.

Dried plant poking though the snow along the Ottawa River shoreline in winter.

Run off from city of Ottawa streets makes it into the Ottawa River through a number of storm sewer outlets. In the winter, road salt may be included in the flow. In summer, soap from car washing, pesticide runoff from lawn treatments, … In the distance is the same tree shown above.

Storm sewers along the Ottawa River.

Not far from Westboro beach, this tree stands just far enough from its neighbours to give a sense of isolation in a tightly framed photograph.

A tree along the Ottawa River shoreline in winter.

Click on an image to go to the same image on my website.

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Aerial Photograph – Red Covered Bridge

New in my Getty Images portfolio:

Covered Bridge on Chemin Cross Loop south of Wakefield, Québec. Getty has previously taken several images from this session into their catalogue. Now they’ve taken this additional one.

This picture was taken from a camera rig suspended below a kite (Kite Aerial Photography – KAP).

Red covered bridge in Quebec - Kite Aerial Photography

Click on image to go to the same image in my Getty Images portfolio.

© Rob Huntley Photography

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Tree Shadows – Kite Aerial Photography

New in my Getty Images portfolio:

Tree Shadows – Kite Aerial Photography

This picture was taken from a camera rig suspended below a kite (Kite Aerial Photography – KAP).

Tree Shadows - Kite Aerial Photography

Click on image to go to the same image in my Getty Images portfolio.

© Rob Huntley Photography

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Covered Bridge on Chemin Cross Loop south of Wakefield, Québec.

New in my Getty Images portfolio:
Covered Bridge on Chemin Cross Loop south of Wakefield, Québec.

This picture was taken from a camera rig suspended below a kite (Kite Aerial Photography – KAP).

Click on image to go to the same image in my Getty Images portfolio.

RobHuntley.ca

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KAP 2011-3 – Where the Madawaska meets the Ottawa – January 29, 2011

This session took place at the Arnprior Municipal Marina where aerial views of the city of Arnprior and the Madawaska River were taken, including the weir/dam, the construction of the new water treatment facility, the marina which is also under redevelopment, and the mouth of the Madawaska River where it enters into the Ottawa River.

Arnprior Weir. The curved dam across the Madawaska River alongside the bridge which is Madawaska Boulevard. You can see several bridges upstream and at the top left is the Arnprior Generating Station holding back the river which turns sharply to the right and across the top of the picture.

I had driven to Arnprior early, leaving Ottawa at about 6:00 am with slippery road conditions and ongoing snow squalls. The main purpose was to attend a Masters Swim Meet. I’ve been taking a sabbatical from serious swimming so I went to photograph the event and my swimmer friends. Despite the weather conditions, I trusted the weather forecast and packed my kite aerial photography gear. Apparently it was expected to clear in the afternoon. The meet concluded with a social breakfast at the Antrim Truck Stop, a regular haunt of the Arnprior club. At about 10:30, as I finished eating, I wondered if the serious snow still falling outside was really going to end and debated going home. With skeptical faith in the weather forecast, I decided to wait and see. For the next two hours I marched around town and the Madawaska riverfront with my SLR and tripod taking some scenic shots (which I haven’t looked at yet). By 12:30, lo and behold the sky cleared. I drove to the Arnprior Municipal Marina where I parked and launched my Fled kite and autokap gear for a couple of hours of KAPping.

Kite aerial photography depends on fine/dry weather because of the exposed electronics plus the fact that one cannot clean off the lens after the gear has been surrendered to the sky.

 

The Madawaska meets the Ottawa in winter. Winter aerial view of the Madawaska River where it enters the Ottawa River at Arnprior, Ontario. Vertical panorama created from 2 images. Bristol Mines at the top of the picture in Quebec. My kites may have to visit there someday.

Collecting ice floes. Aerial photograph of ice and slush created when ice is broken going over the falls now being collected further downstream where there is more stable ice on the river.

Water Treatment Plant, Arnprior. Development of a larger water treatment plant alongside the Madawaska River in Arnprior, Ontario. The kite line is visible in this picture.

Just as I was about to call it a day, the wind suddenly had the same idea and the camera descended rapidly as I attempted to haul line as quickly as possible. The camera landed fairly softly on soft ice on the surface of the river, face down. I had to leave it there several minutes until the kite lofted it again. The lens froze over and I left the camera turned on for the next two hours so as to give it chance to melt then dry out without damaging the lens retraction mechanism.

Rapid descent. Just as I was about to call it a day, the wind suddenly died.

 

You can see additional pictures in the Kite Aerial Photography Gallery – Where the Madawaska meets the Ottawa – Arnprior, Ontario – January 29, 2011.

© Rob Huntley

KAP 2011-2 – Big Cedar Lake near Messines, Quebec – January 24, 2011

Aerial lake view vertical panorama (from 2 images) in winter - Kite Aerial Photography (KAP). Aerial views of Big Cedar Lake in winter near Messines, Quebec.

This Kite Aerial Photography session took place on Big Cedar Lake near Messines, Québec. I travelled to the cottage of my friend Bruce Amos (www.BruceAmos.com) and went out on the lake where the temperature was in the -30’s C. Low wind meant little wind chill but low wind also meant a struggle with the gear. I had already planned to use autokap with the cold temperatures so as to minimize the fiddly work of using the remote and thus be able to take advantage of thicker mitts for part of the time. With there being little wind, autokap was definitely a good idea and the smaller rig was just barely lifted with my levi-light delta kite. Much of the time was spent with the camera and rig just a few feet off the ground so many unintentional self-portraits were taken. I include only a couple in my website gallery but may do a story on KAP in the cold weather on my blog at a later date and use some of the self-deprecating images there. I’ll edit this and post a link if and when I do that.

Also, pictures of the cottage included me as well since the wind was blowing away from the cottage shoreline. I had hoped to move to a different position to capture the cottage without me but the kite was being temperamental in the low wind. (Anyway, I’m easy enough to clone out in PhotoShop if I need to – easy to replace me and all the tracks with just snow). I had also hoped to do some scenic shots of nearby islands which necessitated walking the kite downwind which was not permitted with the conditions.

 

Panorama (3 images). Aerial lake views in winter - Kite Aerial Photography (KAP). Aerial views of Big Cedar Lake in winter near Messines, Quebec.

Shadow of KAPper and rig. Big Cedar Lake in winter near Messines, Quebec. With camera on auto taking shots every 8 seconds or so, unexpected but interesting images can be obtained. Here's the shadow of me attaching the rig to the kite line.

 

You can see additional pictures in the Kite Aerial Photography Gallery – Big Cedar Lake, near Messines, Quebec – January 24, 2011.

© Rob Huntley

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