Take one Kodak DC25 camera, and attach it to a 5" wing-span
delta frame kite. Surround the camera in bubble-wrap, and place
a small piece of overhead projector film over the lens to protect
it.

Ask someone nicely to hold the kite, and set the Self-timer. Wait
a few seconds, and launch! Land the kite as gently as possible,
and repeat.

The weight of the camera prevents a normal kite flight in anything
less than gale force winds, but time it right and the shutter will
trigger during the kite's initial climb, hopefully taking a picture
such as those below.

A day with blue skies and strong shadows works best, especially
as we're using the DC25 in slightly less than ideal conditions. A
bright day is needed to make sure the shutter speed is high and so
bluring is reduced.

Future projects include a PIC-based triggering circuit, which
would allow all the pictures to be taken on one flight -- and also
making it possible to use the much lighter DC20, which has no
self-timer and so cannot be used normally.

In case you are interested, the photographs below were all
taken on the same day, within 30 minutes of each other. They
are a view North, from the town of Bangor, N. Ireland. One
shows the town of Groomsport quite clearly, and you can also
make out Belfast Lough if you squint. A short length of kite
line was used to aid quick launching and landing, and because
there wasn't a huge amount of space. Further experiments
will use a higher kite, and more advanced triggering. :-)

If you are trying this at home, please note that the horizontal
carbon fibre spar which the camera was attached to was
snapped by a heavy landing, and the kite almost landed on
some children who came too close.

All pictures copyright (C) 1998 Sticky Software. Not to be used without permission.