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The 360-degree VR panoramas taken from a kite’s eye view – a very interesting and novel perspective, similar to that of a hot air balloon. I love the spectacular “Pink Carpet”, taken in peak bloom season along Pacific Grove, showing sheets of the ocean boulevard covered in pink blooms. Quite an amazing sight! Another shows the San Andreas Fault at the Carrizo Plain in southern California. Again, it’s a unique perspective and closer than the aerial visuals one typically sees of the fault lines.

Haefner spent a week KAPing through Scotland in June 2004 with some fellow KAPers on a 1200-mile journey that included the obligatory castles, stone circles and even a shipwreck. There he captured another awesome KAP pano is shot above Slain’s Castle, on the eastern coast of Scotland. The castle has lost its roof and the pano looks directly down into the various rooms. In the stormy background he cleverly includes his kite and rig (how did he do that?). Read more about his adventure at KAPiSco (Kite Arial Photography in Scotland).

Haefner writes on his site that he’s been interested in photography for as long as he can remember and “kite aerial photography seemed like a natural progression. At least it did after my friend, Thomas Dewez, convinced me that it isn’t completely ridiculous to suspend an $800 camera from a kite.” He spent a few months researching equipment and technique before diving in. Haefner creates his panoramas from two shots -- one looking straight down from the kite, and the second looking straight up from the ground – using a circular fisheye lens (Nikon FC-E8). He then uses PTMac, PanoTools, Photoshop and Java.

Haefner who won the Canon Digital Creators Award for his bubble VR panoramas, was interviewed by Photo District News in its July 2004 issue, where he describes his technique and process: “Although I have about 750-feet of kite line, I rarely use all of it; I tend to fly my camera only 20–100 feet above the ground. Most of us peer out the windows of aircraft during flight, but we don’t typically have the opportunity to view our world from above at such a low vantage point. This, combined with the ability to hover the camera directly over the subject matter, can result in arresting images. Many KAPers like to point out that the technique is most effective when photos are shot at a higher vantage point than a step ladder would have allowed, but much lower than from an airplane. Combining this philosophy with the wide-angle lens (28 mm, 35 mm equivalent) of my digital camera enables me to create unique images.”

Scott Tillit, the PDN writer, wonders whether Tito Dupret could employ KAP on his World Heritage crusade. Sounds like a great idea, if Tito can handle carrying the extra equipment this would require!