This post is another trip down memory lane. It is a journey back to a slightly mad challenge that I set for a group of students, which then took me half a lifetime to finally accomplish.
I thoroughly enjoyed my time as a teacher of Art & Design at Kingswood School from 1987-1991. I can’t remember in which year this event took place, but I do recall that I was asked to come up with an interesting, cross-curricular project for activities week for the “gifted and talented” pupils in the Fourth Year (Year 10). I had particularly enjoyed a kite making workshop during my teacher training, so I had been waiting for the right opportunity to incorporate this into my teaching, and this seemed to be it. So, with the aim of bringing together mathematics, science, technology, art and textiles, the pupils were presented with their mission – to take aerial photographs of the school!
It was very much about problem solving. They had to research different kite types and consider the best size, prior to designing and making them. They had to calculate how high the kite would need to go by looking at the size and height of the school, compared with the angle of the kite and the field of view of the camera. Critically, they had to work out how to trigger the camera’s shutter while it was high in the sky.
The children took it very seriously and did a great job and, as you can see in the last photograph that shows part of the school field and a tree stump, they did actually manage to take some aerial photographs! Unfortunately, at this point, the delta kite they were practising with became “untethered” and ended up in a field half a mile away; and I think we simply ran out of time to repair the equipment and complete the task within the week!
It is amazing that I have now been able to complete the journey. Since 2015 the drones I have flown have allowed me to capture stunningly detailed photographs. Being able to see what the camera sees in real time is perhaps what is most incredible, as opposed to back then, when the resulting 35mm film had to be taken to the chemists to be developed, and you had to wait until the next day to see what, if anything, had been photographed! This experience all those years ago has certainly helped me to really appreciate how amazing today’s technology is.
