Announcement:
A unique exhibition of kite aerial photographs is to be held in the Pre-Raphaelite splendour of All Saints Church, Cambridge from the 19th – 26th May this year. Over the last 4 years, as and when the weather allows, Bill Blake has flown a camera by kite over some familiar and some less familiar landmarks. On occasion this has been by commission for conservation projects but often simply out of curiosity to see how the familiar looks from an unfamiliar view point.
Unlike the mapping imagery we commonly see these views are all from a low altitude which makes them richly detailed and surprising in what they reveal. The view from a kite is unique in its reliance on the intersection of wind, light and time; each image is witness to the world as seen from above in a space and time defined by the lift of the wind at the moment of capture.
Recording the sense of place in a landscape realised from a point in the sky pinned by the wind is an experience that amplifies the joy of flying a kite. Placing a windborne camera in the sky is an action of affirmation and recognition of the spirit and significance of place.
These photographs, through their detached viewpoint, express something of the sense of elevation kite flyers know and love.
The 20 subjects are a mix of architectural forms and lanscape textures, selected for their relationship with landscape and their accessibility by kite.
Kite Aerial Photography (KAP) is almost as old as photography itself; in 1888 Arthur Batut exposed glass plates by slow burning fuse in a custom made miniature camera flown by his kite over Tarn in France and showed the world, well before the age of the aeroplane, that a kite makes a good photographic viewpoint. In the 21st Century light weight digital cameras, cheap radio control and new tensile synthetics for fabric and line make KAP a surprisingly accessible technique and it is now practiced by around 200 kite flyers around the world.
Come and see East Anglia as seen from a camera on a kite! All welcome 19th -26th May 9am-5pm all prints are for sale- proceeds in support of the Churches Conservation Trust.
All Saints Church
Jesus Lane
Cambridge
Cambridgeshire
CB5 8BP
England
Churches Conservation Trust, All Saints Church Cambridge page
Further information will be posted here in due course!
