Notes on Kite Aerial Photography: Photo Gallery
Aerial shots of the effigy as the sun sets on his last day. Black Rock City can
be seen in the distance on the left (Canon 24-mm, August 2001)
It was about this time, sunset on the day of
the burn, that it occurred to me how well the effigy's pose seemed to fit the
moment. It is the pose assumed by the good guy surrendering to crooks in a B-grade
Western, "reach for the sky Stickman" the desperados would bark. Where
the good guy would stand
awkwardly in a momentary disadvantage in the old westerns, the situation proved more dire for the
effigy. But I am getting ahead of the story.
As preparations for the burn progressed on the man's last day I headed out under a thankfully clear sky to shoot the scene. The kite of choice was the Sutton 30 which provided just enough lift to fly the Canon rig.
Aerial images of the man on his last evening with us (Canon 24-mm, August 2001).
As the sun was setting I flashed on a previous evening in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
There an effigy called Zozobra event is
burned each year
by the Kiwanis Club of Santa Fe as a fiery and exciting kick-off to the annual
Fiestas de Santa Fe during, as it turns out, the weekend following Labor Day. I
can see the beginnings of a SAT analogy question here -- effigies are the Labor
Day what turkeys are to ____? Although the Fiestas
celebration dates back to 1712, Santa Fe artist Will Shuster added
Zozobra in 1926.
Images taken just after the sun had set (Canon 24-mm, August 2001)
After the sun set I was primed.
The light was mellow and I had three rolls of 800 ASA film for the burn. My
Sutton 30 purred aloft as evidence of a cooperative breeze and the atmosphere
was delightfully free of dust. As preparations proceeded apace for the upcoming
pyrotechnics show, fate presented a wrinkle in the form of Sky Squid.aka Timothy
Childs, a long time burner and member of MadScientists camp. Timothy launched after
sunset and was flying low altitude swaths above the inner playa crowd in his
paramotor (powered paraglider). Down came my camera and kite -- I didn't want to
know what would happen if his parasail intersected by 220# dacron line.
I then relaxed and joined the prolonged and rather spectacular process of burning the man.
The
charred spot representing the earthly remains of the man the next morning.
Evident are the square pan placed below the man to protect the playa from burn
scars and a gathering of those with a forensic bent on top of the remains ( Canon
24-mm, August 2001)
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All rights reserved. Revised: Sunday, June 30, 2002
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