KAP Rig building

To give back to the internet community that provided with some very useful insights about kite aerial photography when I was starting out. I would like to share some details on how I built my kite aerial photography rig.

Because I use a DSLR for kite aerial photography the normal Futaba s3003  servo is not sufficient for the job. I had broken quite a few of them. I opted to use a more costly, more powerful, metal-geared servo, the Futaba s3305. Maybe in the future when I have more resources I'll try out some digital servos. They say they move a lot smoother.

The nylon gears I use for my rig were from E-gizmo in Taft. It is near Lasalle Taft. It is an engineering/electronics supply store. They have a box full of scrap gears. You just have to dig it up to find the treasure. Be sure to try if the teeth from the gears will fit precisely. 

For the pan mechanism I used four brass standoff (the brown thing).  I used a large gear for the servo and a small gear for the picavet. The picavet suspension will be attached on top of the three screws on the top. The picavet suspension will then be locked in place with a wing nut. I used lock nuts to keep the small gear and the screw on top in place.

This is the camera I currently use. The Sony Alpha 35. It is the lightest "DLSR" , because it is not a DSLR it is a DSLT it does not use the conventional pentaprism for its viewfinder. Instead it uses an electronic viewfinder. And it does not have the conventional slapping mirror, it has the fixed translucent mirror in front of its sensor. And because of that it is able to do an amazing 7 framed per second consecutive shoot. Very useful in securing tack sharp kite aerial photographs in gusty winds.

The finished rig. I recently replace my transmitter and receiver system. So the receiver on the upper left of the photo (the one below the battery compartment) is no longer there, in its place is a thinner 2.4ghz receiver.

The truth is I did the tilt arms wrong. They were too short. I was not able to take in account the additional inches that the gears on the back of the camera. So since I don't have the resources yet to add a portrait-to-landscape orientation servo. I just took out the gears and the servo on the back, to stop the camera from tilting downward.

The shutter mechanism. A servo "clicking" a wired remote for the Sony Alpha 35. It may look bulky, but its light, just bulky.

My drawing table/machine shop/laptop table. And my only power tool a drill press!!!

As I said above the only power tool I have is a drill press. So I cut everything with a hack saw and file them to a clean finish with a metal file. The picavet covered in masking tape. It is hard to mark aluminum, so what I do is cover the part where I need to put cutting marks or in this case cover the entire aluminum with masking tape.

To make holes for the servos. I fix the aluminum on a drill press vise. Drill around the edges of the servo hole. Then drill inside the hole until the piece comes off.

Then file it down to a smooth finish. 

And test if the servo would fit snugly. 

I use a small wood to protect the drill stand from getting holes. The drill will make a different sound once it goes through the aluminum and to the wood.

Always wear eye protection when operating the drill press.

The cradle for the camera. Add a duct tape on the screw that would be face the lcd of the camera to prevent it from causing scratches.

And add rubber on the camera mounting place to prevent the camera from sliding side to side. Attach the rubber using some super glue.

Drilling the hole for the tilt mechanism. Drilling them in one go, to have perfectly aligned holes.

The pan mechanism with the picavet attached.

After all that drilling, cutting and filing you are sure to have a lot of aluminum dust and splinters on the floor. Be sure to swept them all clean. Aluminum splinters from the drill can hurt a lot when stepped on.

For this rig I used what they called aluminum Igloo. I used it rather than the aluminum flat bar, because my first rig which had the flat bar bend on accidental abrupt landings.

Most of the knowledge here were taught to me by Dr. Jun Tripon and from reading and observing the rigs of other kite aerial photographers.

Camella Taguig Kite Festival

My friend Jessica Naguit sent me an invitation to attend a kite festival in Taguig. She asked me to invite all my friends. So if your a reader of this blog, then your my friend. If your my friend, then I am inviting you to come and join the kite fun at Camella Azadia in Taguig this coming Saturday May 26, 2012. The event will start at 1pm.

I hope you can come. Because I am not sure yet if I can. I am torn between this kite-flying event and the DPP event in BGC.

Here are the invites she e-mailed to me:

KAP essential: Sunscreen

Another piece of equipment I keep in my kite aerial photography pack is the Sunscreen.

Kite-fliers in general spend a lot amount of time under the sun. Good kite-flying winds are often under a sunny weather.Unlike usual kite-fliers, who have a choice to anchor their kites and head to the shade, we kite aerial photographers (more often than not) choose to stay under the sun's heat to shoot and stand ready to react to sudden changes in the wind.

So we need ample amount of protection from harmful ultraviolet rays. I for once had spent a whole afternoon of kite-flying under the sun without any sunscreen, and suffered from a crispy, roasted, irritated skin that slowly chipped off.

I think it's a stroke of luck that we have an ample supply of sunscreen at home. Plus they are sports grade type of sunscreen.

Kind in mind though, that sunscreen may stain the clothes your wearing. And do check out if the sunscreen you have does not slip off when wet. Because it may drip with your sweat to your eyes and that could cause irritation.

Acknowledgement Page

This is the acknowledgement page on my thesis book. Written with all honesty and with my memory can remember. Surely there are more people that helped me during the production of my thesis. Nevertheless here is the Acknowledgement page, five pages long on short bond paper, written February 2012: 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT PAGE

            I would like to express my love and gratitude to the following: My mother Nette Soriano, my fathe Gilbert Soriano, my siblings Gericho, Gizette and Genielyn, our loyal dog Lancie, our helper “Tita Flor” and her niece “Tuping; Sir Fernando “Ken” Torres for allowing me to take on a wonderful journey of exploring kite aerial photography; Sir “Meo” Remalante, Sir Jun Barrameda, Dean Cynthia B. Loza for believing in my vision and endorsing it for a NCCA grant; Sir Lito Beltran of FPPF for believing that I can get sponsored and all the sermons; the FPPF family who have been my friends: Mrs. Huang, Sir Brian Lee, Sir Boy, Sir Oji, Sir Rey, Mr. Castaneda, Sir Joe Galian, Sir Vic Sison, Sir Joey Tanedo, Sir Chris Molinao, Sir Ador Pamintuan, Ben, Ma’am Cecilia, Sir Rod, Sir Araneta, and many more; Sir “Orly” and Ma’am Yoli Ongkingco of Kite Association who been of great help and support of all thing kite until money has become involved; KAP “boys” JR and the others for treating me equally and teaching me how to assemble, repair and make kids happy with kites; Kite Team Philippines especially Sir Eric Basit for accompanying me when I bravely went alone in a PSOD kite-flying event and sharing their lunch; Sir Anselmo “Jun” Tripon for teaching me how to build a kite aerial photography rig and allowing me to make noise in their garage every Sunday while using his machining tools; Sir “Jann” Herrera our CFAD Judo team Coach and the whole CFAD judo team Van, Karlo, Carlo, Earl, Emman, Diane, Meanne for teaching to never give up; the dojo Sirs and Ma’ams Ma’am Seth, “Ate Vane”, Sir Basilio, Sir Tagle, Sir Ian, Sir Harvey and many more; the CFAD judo new bloods who have trained hard, harder than we ever did; Sir John Chua for allowing me to interview him and for sharing his knowledge in aerial photography and for referring me to the engineer who built his RC helicopter camera rig; AeroEye Philippines for doubting that kite aerial photography can be done and offering me to stop trying and compromise to RC helicopter aerial photography; for Marian Dela Fuente for being an inspiration back then; Sir Bengy of Studio 58 graciously printing my brochures and saying that he wants me to be a success and the staff of Studio 58 especially Sir Willy and Ma’am Levy; Silverlens Gallery for giving speaks to a lone visitor and giving opening a space dedicated to photography art; Sir Joey Tanedo for taking my NCCA proposal back to the table after it already had been rejected; Sir Jim Libiran for sharing his adventures as a film-maker and sharing his visions; Sir Albert Magsumbol for sharing his adventures as a paper cut artist; Sony Philippines especially Sir Yung and Ms. Marj for supporting my kite aerial photography project and lending me an incredible Sony Alpha 35; SAPI members Mark, Jay, Albert for also believing in my project; the Camera Geek TV crew Sir Shierds Pamintuan, Mae, and the others (sorry I can’t remember your names) for interviewing me for their photography TV program; Sir Randy V. Urlanda for interviewing for his column in Manila Bulletin’s Panorama; Ma’am Cecilia Angeles for interviewing me for Manila Bulletin’s Picture Perfect; Ms. Geri and Mich of Primer Philippines (a publication for Japanese tourist) for introducing me to Nikon and trying to make a sponsorship deal; Sir Lem Estiva and the other staff of IONTECH for offering me to use the Olympus pen for kite aerial photography sponsorship that I turned down; Kyle Shih for inviting me to visit and do kite aerial photography in Malolos, Bulacan; the kind people of Pamarawan, Malolos, Bulacan especially JR and his grandfather; Lolo Ruben and Tito Nonoy for helping me do kite aerial photography in front of the St. Jerome Parish Church in our province in Morong, Rizal; Julian Paul Glori for driving dangerously in Antipolo, Rizal and helping me do kite aerial photography in Thunderbird Rizal until we got kicked out by the security guards; the kind tricycle drivers of Bumbungan-toda in Morng, Rizal for helping me do kite aerial photography near their toda and offering me a free ride to Bumbungan; Ninang Sally for letting me tag along in her trip to Pantabangn Dam in Nueva Ecija; the security guards of Pantanbangan Dam for letting me ride their patrol car, letting me do kite aerial photography, watching over my stuff,and sharing me stories about the Dam; UST friends Magu, Miko, Yza, Eko, Ervin, Brikko, Moi, and many more for helping me do kite aerial photography in UST; Sir Meo Remalante for giving me a media pass during the UST’s attempt for the largest human cross thus allowed me to do kite aerial photography on top of our college building; JJ the kid who followed us around and helped us fly the kite during the UST 400 years celebration; the man who was watching us with a Nikon d700 around his neck and said that that camera can’t be lifted by the kite because it was full-frame; the TV crew who interviewed Sir Orly during the Hot Air Balloon festival who said they would give me a copy but didn’t; the many happy people during the Hot Air Balloon festival who made excellent subjects for kite aerial photography; Marc Capistrano and Luis Asuncion of Nayon Camera Club for allowing me to conduct a survey and inviting me to join their club; Caren Fermo for inviting us during the Flores de Mayo on Bulakan, Bulacan; the kids in Bulakan, Bulacan who made excellent subjects for kite aerial photograph y and made doing kite aerial photography there more fun; Ma’am Becares for teaching us compositional structures that was later on able to apply in processing my kite aerial photographs; the “tambays” at “Wawa sa Krus” at Malolos, Bulacan; Phillip for inviting me to join the trip to his hometown in Taal, Bulacan; Sir Oji for helping me fly the kite during the FPPF 18^th year anniversary; Ervin Avena and the Avenas for inviting us during the festivities in Obando, Bulacan; Mr. and Mrs. Zacarias, especially Mr. Zacarias who generously offered me his engineering know-how;  the friendly staff of Fans Quiapo; the friendly staff of Fujifilm Sto. Domingo; Ate Juliet for her affordable quality frames; all the drivers who have allowed me to ride their vehicles with my huge kite; all the passengers who I have bothered with that huge kite; all those who helped me fly that huge kite when I am alone; all those who have joined me watch in fascination the flight of the kite; all those who believed in my project; all those who believed in me; everything and everyone who has helped me consciously or unconsciously do this project. Especially the kind wind and the ever-garacious God.

Bear Band Clark Kite Fest

Last Sunday May 6, 2012 Nestle Bear Brand held the second leg of it's kite festivals. It was held in the Clark Parade grounds.

Competitors from near and far went to join the festival. Some even driving nine hours to compete.

Afraid that the impending rain clouds visible in the horizon will spoil the festival. The judges wasted no time and quickly began ground judging; wherein the kite's construction, materials, and design were given scores. 

The event started around one in the afternoon. It started off with a kite parade lead by the Bear Brand mascot, a marching band, bear brand corporate kites, and all the competing kite-fliers with their kites.

At the start of the flight judging the wind hardly blowing. It was then suggested by *KAP President Orlando Ongkingco that the kites be flown with a long launch. With the flier standing as far as possible from the kite, then pulling and running as hard so as to launch/drag the kite against the wind. 

Later in the afternoon, during the judging of the Family category the wind picked. It was beginning to get dark and the smell of rain was in the air. The organizers announced that in case of rain falling, rain coats will be provided to competing kite-fliers.

The corporate rokakku kite assigned to me was pulling hard, enough to lift my rig. So, in spite of the threat of rain I grabbed my gear and attached the camera rig to the kite line.

Slowly the kite lifted the rig. 

I was able to get some nice kite aerial photographs. Though I was not able to do the images I previsualised due to the unsteady gusting winds.

After enough time to take a hundred kite aerial photographs the wind weakened. I took that chance to take the rig off in chance the rain do fall. It was also getting a lot darker. It looked like it was five in the afternoon, when it was just two in the afternoon.

With the rig removed from the kite. The wind picked up again overpowering the rokkaku. which was leaning and diving to the right. Trying not to interfere with competing kites. I tried to haul down the kite with no avail. I was left with crash landing the kite. 

Luckily the rain did not pushed through and the kite festival was successfully finished.

So the next thing for me to do is learn how to handle an overpowered rokkaku or how to improve the rokkaku handling of  overpowering winds.

*KAP - Kite Association of the PhilippinesKite Association of the Philippines

FPPF Luneta park photographers workshop

Last Friday May 4, 2012 the Federation of Philippine Photographrs Foundation, Inc. (FPPF) has ended a photography workshop for the Luneta/Rizal Park photographers. The workshop was focused on educating park photographers on digital photography, printing, and business.

The workshop was culminated with the awarding of photo contests winners and opening of photography exhibition. The workshop was sponsored by Sony. There were categories focused on people, landscape, use of Sony camera, etc.

The works of the park photographers are on exhibit in the art gallery of  "Kanlungan ng Sining" or Artist Haven  in Luneta/Rizal park.

Winners from each category were then interviewed by Sir Shierds Pamintuan for Camera Geek TV on Net 25. Which is opening it's new season this coming June 9.

Bear Brand Kite Fest Program

To all kite-fliers out there waiting to see the details of the May 6 Bear Brand Kite Festival  at the Clark Parade Grounds here they are:
*thanks to Mr. Miggy Fetelbero of PRC, Inc. Bear Brand's PR Partner for mailing me these information yesterday.

BEAR BRAND KITE FEST PROGRAM 


Events

• Registration Opens, Opening Side Booths: Workshop Booths, Photo booth, Sampling/Selling Booth, Holding Area, Ticket Redemption Booth, Kite Exhibit Booth 
• Opening VO 
• Kite-flying (Free for All) 
• Kite Exhibition by KAP 

• Ground checking of kites for the competition by KAP 
• Participants of the Kite Competition will be asked to prepare for the Grand Parade. 

• Hosts and BEAR BRAND Powdered Milk Drink representatives enter to welcome everyone. Introduces the Participants of the Kite Competition. 

• Grand Parade to be led by Kuya Bear 

• Welcoming Remarks of NPI Representative 

• Code of conduct for the participants 

• Sama-Sama sa Tibay at Saya (Everybody flies their kites together) 

• Participants of the Kids Division will be preparing for the competition. Roving photographers will go around. 

• Start of the Kids Division Competition. Judges start to go around the competition grounds 

• End of Judging for the Kids Division Competition 

• Kids Division Competition ends. 

• 1st Raffle Draw (20 winners of Nestle gift packs) Preparation for the Young Adults Division Competition. 

• Young Adults Division Competition Starts. Judging Starts 

• End of Judging for the Young Adults Division Competition 

• Young Adults Division Competition Ends. 

• 2nd Raffle Draw (5 winners of Family dinner out) Preparations for the Family Division Competition. 

• Start of the Family Division Competition. Judging Starts 

• End of Judging for the Family Division Competition. 

• 3rd Raffle Draw (3 winners of Trip to Enchanted Kingdom/Subic Ocean Adventure) 

• Preparation for the Awarding Ceremony. 

• Final KAP Exhibition. 

• Announcement of the Winners per division and Special Awards 

• Closing Remarks 

• End of Kite Fest 

*KAP will have Kite Exhibition as long as the wind permits.





 FAQs 


1. When and where will the two legs of the BEAR BRAND Powdered Milk Drink 
Kite Fest be held? 


BEAR BRAND Powdered Milk Drink
Kite Fest promotes an activity that members of the family can share and be excited about. The first leg will be held on April 15 in
Greenfield City Sports Field, Sta. Rosa, Laguna. The second leg will be held on
May 6 at the Clark Parade Grounds.


2. How did you promote/generate awareness for the activity?




Two weeks before the actual Kite Fest, three members of the Kite Association
of the Philippines (KAP) conducted a short kite-making workshop. The
Recorida also went around the barangays to gather more participants for the
activity. After the workshop, KAP had a flying demonstration to encourage
everyone to attend the Kite Fest.



3. Who can join / How can families join? 


Registration starts/started on (DATE). They can get their registration forms
from the barangay halls. Families who want to compete in the kite-flying
festival should fill out the competition and waiver forms. Upon registration,
the participants will be given color-coded ribbons and IDs . For those who
want to enter the family category, family must comprise 2-3 members and
must have 1 adult
Competing participants must also submit proof of purchase of the ff:

.
3 pcs BBI 150g or 3 pcs BB Choco 150g
.
2 pcs BBl 300g or 2 pcs BB Choco 300g
.
6 pcs BBI 80g
.
15 pcs BBI Swak 33g
.
25 pcs BB Busog Lusog Family Cereal Drink (Original/Choco)
.
1 pc BBI 680/
.
1 pc BB Choco 800g



Each participant will be given 2 raffle tickets that can be used for the Kite
Redemption and Photo booths for a chance to win prizes such as Trip to
Enchanted Kingdom, family dinner gift certificates, and Nestle products.


3.What are the activities?




During the Kite Fest, KAP will exhibit colorful kites for the families, who are
encouraged to design and fly their own kites. Special awards will be given to the
BEAR BRAND Powdered Milk Drink Kite and the Biggest Kite. There will also be
sampling of products and other activities such as the PhotoBooth and Kite kit
redemption the family can enjoy.


4.Why did BB bring back the Kite Fest?




BEAR BRAND Powdered Milk Drink believes in strengthening family ties. Thus, we
want to continue organizing activities for families to enjoy, and kite flying is one
of the simple joys that can bring together healthy families.


5. How can this event help the families bond?




We think that aside from the beautiful kites that families will enjoy watching, this
festival is an opportunity for them to bond. We believe na ang mga Pinoy
mahilig pa rin magpalipad ng saranggola lalo na ngayong summer. This is also
an activity that can stimulate the creativity and imagination of the kids.
Nowadays, puro computer na lang ang ginagawa ng mga bata. The Kite Fest is a
perfect venue for them to experience something new and at the same time be
with their family.