November 30, 2002
Cadillac Ranch
We went to the Cadillac Ranch late this afternoon. The wind was about 2.5mph, so we're lucky we got the kite in the air at all. We had 500lb dacron line on the spool, which created a lot of extra weight and drag.
The kite was able to lift the rig to low altitudes but only while we were walking. We didn't get very good pictures, but a couple of them were promising. We'd hoped that we could use the fisheye to do a panorama, but since the lens adds nearly an extra pound to the rig, it was not to happen.
Plans are ongoing to revisit the Cadillacs since they are such a fun and unique subject to photograph.
First Digital Snaps
Here is one of the good photos we got yesterday. We were flying at Bonham Jr. High and snapped a high horizon shot of Southwest park. You can see Lowes and WalMart in the distant background. (We like Lowes)
As you can see in the photo, our rig's fiberglass landing arms are visible in the photographs. I had tested the rig with a Nikon CoolPix 885, and the arms were not in the camera's field of view, but with Frank's Canon G2, they were. I'll cut them down for our next flight.