Hawk Eye View : Did you know that before drones, aerial photography was 'dawned' by cute kites!

- Spectrometer-Jay Vasavada

- Apart from the fun of flying kites, there were many other uses, and one of them was the top angle photo which is still a thrill today!

A fair was held at Pragati Maidan in Delhi in May 2022. In which Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced that India is going to become a global hub by 2030, in the drone sector! Its 270 start ups are currently available in the country and by 2026 its business is expected to reach 5000 crores! Yes, as India is poised to become a global millet hub by 2023, drones are a new sector. In the film Uri, the military drones used for surgical strikes have been seen, with the force of which America once attacked the remote areas of Afghanistan and Iraq, breaking the back of jihadist terrorists.

But we are used to drone shots now. Be it a Lokdairo or a wedding ceremony. Be it the Pramukh Swami Janmashatabdi Mohotsav or the Janmashtami Lok Mela, top angle shots are instantly captured by drones operated by remote control. Now even in the village there is no joke about drones that look like air fans. Used loosely in videography. Earlier, when the shots were to be taken in films from above, the cinematographer had to fly like a stuntman in a helicopter and shoot while keeping the camera steady. Now, with the exception of most Gujarati films, which are shot like home videos, photography of a cool location or song taken 'from above' has become routine in low budget films. Documentary is fine, but poor families do aerial photography in pre-wedding now.

Even today, people do adventure sports like paragliding or skydiving for the thrill of seeing the world through the eyes of this original bird. But even when there were no airplanes or drones, aerial photography was done. Which started with kites! As Makar Sankranti approaches, there is both wind and encouragement to lean into the kite-manja-firki-kanna world. Kite has been a favorite subject of scientists and researchers who want to do something new for years. In the process of flying kites with wealth, the flight of ideas is often cut off. The flight of ideas is the basic science.

Like, aerial photography. Images taken from the top of the spacecraft flying above the earth. To climb a mere human height, and then stoop down and say 'Ahaha...wonderful...what a tiny anthill it all looks like! I love to say that. Be it a mountain peak or a minaret...a high-rise building or a rope-way trolley...it's a unique pleasure to watch the scenery from above. Not only that, but with topography the perception of the scene below comes more precisely. One does not feel the shape of a town while walking through these streets. But an aerial shot from above shows the entire map.

Therefore, aerial photography is not just entertainment, it is a necessity of mankind. Man today captures aerial photographs of the entire earth round the clock through 'remote sensing satellites'. Satellite pictures are bought by weak countries and sold from needy countries. But even in the age of digital animation, just as the thrill and value of drawing by hand is something less, before the drone age, custom, customized aerial photography could be done with kites at a much lower cost! If you are blessed to see his photo, then you feel blessed to understand his science! After all, this festival is not only about religion, but also about astronomy!

To understand the science of aerial photography by kites, it is necessary to understand its history. As the hot air balloons took off, photography flourished. The balloonists, naturally, took photos from above first. Many scholars have previously credited the aerial photograph to French author-lacar Félix Tournocon. In 1858, he took a photo from a balloon. One such picture captured by James Welles Lake in the year 1860 has been preserved till now. Later, in other countries too, there were people who took such pictures. At that time, the importance of such a photograph was for war. The science of making maps is also a by-product of war!

But a hero was fighting a different kind of war.

The editor of the French edition of the August 1888 'Nature' magazine received a letter from a reader. It read, 'I have been struggling to photograph kites for six months. There are many problems, but some gains have been made - does it look like there will be success sooner or later? Accompanying the letter were two photographs of 8 x 10, not very well taken. Which was taken from a height of 80 to 100 meters. Magazine editor Gaston Tissandier was really impressed. He wrote a letter to the reader congratulating the inventor. That reader's name is Arthur Batut.

Batut's name did not turn out to be forgotten as the author of a letter. He made a 2.5 meter by 1.75 meter kite. Inside was a light wooden frame. The mold is covered with paper with a thin cloth at each end. Even the tail at the end. Batute made the kite 'folding'. Later, instead of paper, a thin cloth like lining was used. This became a kite. But in the old days there were no cameras with automatic timers. Putting a lens in a hole makes a makeshift camera without any fuss, but who goes up with a kite and presses the shutter button?

Batut thought about it. The shutter of the camera connected to a burning cord. Then burn it and fly the kite. The length of the string should be kept in such a way that after the kite takes off, its end will reach where the shutter will fall when the attached bar is removed. At the same time, a tangle of colored paper strips attached to the side is thrown into the air. If the bar floats in the air, it means that the photo has fallen! Now all that was left was to get the kite down safely.

Later, the camera 'hollow' was made of cardboard to float in the air, attached to a rotating shutter kite with a rubber band. In the year 1889, Tut sent a spectacular picture taken from a height of 127 meters for publication in Nature. As far back as 1880, Joubert of the French company Aerial Navigation thought of such aerial photography, and he admitted that he took inspiration from it. A new direction has emerged. A balloon's journey is not constant, but a master kite-flyer can keep the kite at a given place at a given height with the help of the wind. Also the creation of 'Kite Plus Camera' is also a bit of science

You can sit at home after knowing the rules! The material is also very trivial - wood, clothes, glass, rubber, glue, string etc.!

By 1907, Arthur Batut also did stereoscopic aerial photography. He quickly showed two twin pictures even with a dim lens! In 1889, another French boy, Emile Vance, inspired by Batut, took shelter of a kite to paint pictures on glass plates. The picture postcards of the pictures taken by Emil from the kites 200-250 meters high started to be sold! Emile experimented better than batut in kites.

Emil's kite had bamboo instead of wood. Strong yet polo and light. Instead of cloth or paper, he used thin animal skins - skins. Lighter, yet stronger! He made the kite in such a way that all the materials including the camera fit in one hole, the hole becomes the rudder when the kite is widened while flying, and the hole becomes the dark room after taking the photo! Instant Picture is ready! Who said that Padaya Bhego photo became possible only in the digital age!

Emile and Batute even did exemplary kite aerial photography in France together. Around that period, a kite expert named William Eddy in New Jersey, a favorite among Gujaratis in America, was active for this. In 1895, he flew kites continuously with the help of a Kodak camera and took pictures from a height of 300-400 meters. He used to fly a whole cargo train of big and small kites. Some are 2.10 meters, some are 1.80 and some are 1.50 meters... 3-4 people should 'place' it! He used to hang a leaden weight to make the shutter, which came down with a jerk and pulled the string! Later, however, this craze stopped with the arrival of polygonal - circular kites instead of rectangular ones - and mechanical shutters.

R. in Russia at the time of AD. Thiale, an engineer, was doing aerial photography for the 'Topographic Land Survey'. In 1897, keeping a total of 7 cameras in a hexagonal shape, 6 at the ends and 1 in the middle, he flew the entire structure with kites. The experiment was successful but the Russian government felt it was espionage. Of course, at the beginning of the twentieth century, the kite painting craze spread to small European countries like Belgium. Then came the aviation revolution, along with amazing changes in cameras and photography. The usefulness of kite aerial photography has completely declined in the satellite era!

But its thrill has not decreased at all! Many scientists who have done this with the new technique still do, and put photos of kites on websites! The golden rule of advancing science is to infuse life into science. Does such a science come to mind while flying a kite?

Well, we will be able to progress rapidly in technology like China or after making money, we will live in luxury like the countries that throw it away. But what about innovation? The events of Benjamin Franklin's electricity with kites and keys are in the textbooks as an invasion of Western civilization to remove any sentimental vanity. But new ideas do not come without adventure. It's one thing to spray French perfume and another to create a French scientific mindset. The entire festival of Makar Sankranti and Uttarayan is a global fusion. The almanac of our gods and the long vision of understanding the motions of the celestial planets, including the conjunction of English dates and kites of calendars discovered later abroad and not in the scriptures. And mixed with it is the pure indigenous enthusiasm of flying kites that started under foreign rule for centuries. The technique of cutting the throat is understood, but aerodynamics with kites is taught in any school?

Remember, behind all of our newfound fun is someone else's search. In excess of religiosity, fanaticism will increase but science will perish. Be it a kite or a drone, if it flies, it is the hope of spreading the aura of man and the knowledge of doing miracles in nature! And before one has to avoid the tendency to cut one's flight in order to keep its rangoli flying, freedom from envy and ego is the real religion!

Xing Thing

'The relationship between these hands was broken while sitting down.

The rope was saved but the kite was robbed...'

(Gaurang Bhatt)