the best drone is not a drone

Years ago I learned about kite aerial photography but did not have the patience/time/knowledge/patience to really set up a proper rig and develop this hobby.

Fast forward to 2020 and the quarantine gave me time in spades.

The camera rig is a Raspberry Pi Zero, powered by an small USB battery pack, mounted to a stick.
This is my camera-computer:

https://www.adafruit.com/product/3414

With some digging, I found this amazing image to flash onto my Pi:
https://publiclab.org/notes/icarito/10-21-2018/introducing-pi-builder
This particular image creates a local wifi access point that grants me control of my Pi AND (this is the cool part, buckle in) spits out a livestream of the camera.
Everything works as advertised, which is just top notch for an open source project. Seriously. Huge bonus points to the team that created this spectacular image.

I am flying one of these guys as my kite:
https://prismkites.com/product/isotope/
I chose it because they are a local company, and frankly, I really like the design of the kite. Prism based this design on the old kites that used to lift radio antennae, which is fitting.

Here's my little rig:

I just wind the main kite line around the baby carabiner and the whole thing acts as a relatively self-stabilizing pendulum.

Here are some of the shots I captured on a camping trip. We camped out on a dry lake bed, serving double-duty to test my rig and catch some good night sky to view the comet, Neowise. We saw the comet! So this trip is 100% successful.

I set the camera on an interval timer and just let it fly. This is good because I actually had some shots come out. 3 seconds is way too short an interval though. I ended up with a lot of garbage.
Will extend to 30 seconds for the next flight.

Campsite with sun shade, rigged out between our cars.

The wind would kick my camera out an an angle and it gives WAY more interesting shots than straight down.

Adventure dog.

Stuff for next time:

- Try to rig my camera out at an angle. It is so much better that way.

- Look into a wider angle lens.

- Get a better Linux machine than my old netbook. The web interface really struggles with compiling a large zip file and the only way I can extract large chunks of photo data is direct from the SD card. But Linux does not play nice with Windows or Mac. Whomp. Need to get a better Linux box. Which probably means I finally need to get a laptop that is not 10 years old. Good times.

Wyoming, via Colorado

Moose.

Photo credit of the moose goes to Antarctic friend and climbing partner (who also happens to be a rad scientist) - Pacifica Sommers

[Side note:  Pacifica's website has pictures of tardigrades and I like tardigrades almost as much as I like Pi. Which is to say, a lot.]

[Further side note: Please be aware I am exempting the above photo from this site's creative commons license, as that photo does not actually belong to me.]

We caught this idyllic moment as we were descending some crags in Wyoming; on the occasion of my birthday climbing trip.

Other moments of note:

I absolutely and completely lost my shit trying to hop down the overhang on the second Flatiron. Mental fortitude, or lack thereof, is a tough thing to work through. I cannot think my way out of the situation because my brain is the thing telling me that the movement is too scary or too hard. The only thing that got me to take the jump was reciting Pi, as a tactic of distraction.

This raises an interesting question (it does not 'beg the question' because, fun fact! to beg the question does not mean to raise the question*): in moments where my analytic skills fail me, what other tools do I have at my disposal to get me out of the stressful situation?
*to beg the question is to frame an argument where the validity of the conclusion is assumed in the premise.
For instance: When I jump off of the diving board at the second flatiron, I will fall.
This is actually quite an apt way of externalizing my brain spiral. The above statement is circular and fallacious yet nothing was going to convince me that it was not true. Indeed, Pacifica and the four other climbers trying to convince me otherwise can attest to the deathgrip that logical fallacy had on my nerves and composure.

Pacifica bakes delicious lemon bars; which I maintain are 1000% more superior to cake for their portability, stability, and scalability.

Cragging in Wyoming was an absolute delight and I am so glad we bailed on the temperamental weather in Boulder for an amazing weekend further north, as evidenced below:

View looking out from Dry Wall crag

of interest

Cory Doctorow's brain is full of interesting stuff.

Here's a conversation where some of that interesting stuff comes out in the form of words.

Wheeler Centre talk

christchurch

Back in Christchurch! A land with fast internet. And wifi. And streaming services.
End.

departing soon

My contract is up in eleven days, at which point I will be exploring New Zealand for a brief moment before flying back to Seattle.

Here are some things I look forward to:

-Trees

-Alpine environments (and the traipsing about within them)

-Pho

-Chuckanut!

-Rock climbing

-ANY music besides my one downloaded Spotify playlist or my circa-high school era selection

-Leafy greens, avocados, fruit

To go in-depth about my stint down here feels self-indulgent, even though that is the purpose of blogs, I suppose. Instead, I propose we hang out or go for a hike or grab some drinks and I will be far more inclined to share stories and pictures.

Bring fruit.