Ced's Kiting Blog

By the beginning of October I knew that I would be involved in gathering marketing material for the new upcoming Peter Lynn 3 strut kite, “The Swell”. That meant photographs and video footage.

Everyone seems thinks that it’s a dream job… Well in some ways it is. You get to fly and test, about to be released, equipment and you get to take or be in a lot of pics.

However that is not the full “picture” (excuse the pun). Getting good photographs requires a few ingredients: the equipment (Kites, boards, and cameras) in top shape, the riders, the conditions (Wind, sun, waves) and all this with the different angles to avoid glare, and to capture the action in as many ways as possible. And if you are reading this you know that kiting requires wind on beaches which is the worst place for Camera equipment. On top of that, you need to get “hardcore” footage, and that requires hardcore conditions. Sometimes you get lucky with conditions, and sometimes you don’t. Of course if you are booking pro photographers to do the shooting, once you’ve committed to a day, you gotta press on, whatever the conditions…

planning the shoot is possibly the most important part. We discussed everything before and stayed in contact as much as possible on the beach.

I have always thought that documenting wave riding is perhaps one of the more challenging aspects of Kite Boarding. It’s fast, it changes, and the kite is in odd positions to get it into the frame. So put all that in the mix and you’ve got quite a task in front of you!!

Our first session which involved two pro photographers took place on a day of strong easterly winds on the East coast of South Africa (Cannon Rocks and Kenton on Sea)

Having two riders in the water with a 6m and 7m and some 30 knots + winds made it hard work for the photographers. Andrew Miller from Frogg design took the beach, while Kody Mcgreggor stuck to his speciality of being in the water.

Respect to both of them for being out there in those conditions. If the riding was hard, so was the picture taking. Equipment got sandy and wet.

The Swell being a wave oriented kite, we decided to focus mostly on wave riding of course.

I did manage to throw in a few tacks on my 132 Styx and was pleasantly surprised by the kites handling. After all, the “Swell” does waves and more…

Kody had to call it a day after 3 hours in the water and getting caught in some serious rip current in Kenton. Andrew stuck it out the whole day and got some pretty cool pics in the late afternoon by the wreck.

Another 2 sessions were done with Melissa Smith and Henry Smith with whom I often shoot. Melissa is an up and coming photographer check out her website here

Having had pretty hardcore conditions in most sessions, we decided to travel and find a more suited spot for some strapless action with Hudson Cummings. Andrew Miller once again did the honors behind the camera and even if the wind didn’t co operate and the clouds were moving in, we managed to get some good shots.

few more pics where taken in Cape Town with the help of Kristine Keppel (Thank you) with one day dedicated to the “publicity” shot and the next a hardcore session on the wild side of Cape Town

Along the way a fair amount of video was also shot. It is in the editing process and will see the light of day soon!! Look out for that!

On the photograph front, the result has become the foundation of the Peter Lynn launch of the “Swell”. There is a certain amount of satisfaction one derives from seeing the pics  giving the best representation of the kite (which by the way rocks)

Look out for the rest of the pics on the Peter Lynn website and on Facebook

Ced