kite photos, with people

After four or five years of foiled plans, I finally made it to the Smithsonian Kite Festival this year. Great day for kite flying—blue skies, brisk winds—you know, the kind that ruffles your windbreaker and makes you feel glad that the sun is out. Photographers galore out there, myself and several members of my photography meetup included.

My photographic goal of the day was to try to capture both kite and kite-maker (or at least someone flying the kite) in one frame. Although it was a festival of the kite, I wanted to show the kite as an expression or extension of an individual. I found this to be quite a challenge. Once the kite got beyond a certain height, the kite ended up being either a speck in the frame, or fairly out of focus, relative to the person. (For both to be in focus, I would have to hold the shutter open longer, but since both the kite, the person, and my hands/body were all prone to move, it only would have resulted in some pretty major blurring.) On to the photos.











Some of these looked alright for what they were, but I wasn't able to work any faces into the photographs. Generally, people hold kites in front of them when they are on the ground, and most of the kites were the size of a body or larger. When in the air, the kite is generally in front of them as well. I'm curious if there's any possible way I can work both the kite and the person, with their face, into the frame. The only way I can think of doing it so far is taking the photo at the moment of launch when the kite is almost directly over the pilot's head.

The few pictures I had with kites and faces did in fact involve kites either on the ground or very close to the ground, or no kites at all.







All of the facial expressions in the above three photos were interesting, but I wish I was able to find a way to highlight them a little bit more. I needed to move closer to capture more foreground and less background, but at the same time, nothing in the scene was going to wait for me—it was an instant I had to capture before it disappeared. Maybe I'll try some crops and see how they look.

I think I have some ideas for next time, but I'd hate to wait an entire year to try them out, so if there's any reader out there who is willing to spend a day flying a kite and letting me experiment with my camera, I'd be appreciative :)

Footnote: I notice if I'm this particular with one photographic frame, how do filmmakers cope with shooting 30 frames per second? I know one has a little more wiggle room with the merit of composition because motion in the picture is what the eye will focus on and follow, but still, there's something to admire when one watches a film that is beautifully shot.