July 19, 2001
Summer is half over and it is time to jog your memories about a few things that have happened in the KAP community. Two recent photography contests have announced winners. Of particular note is Henry Jebe's win in the NYI photo contest. Henry was competing against many non-KAP photographers.
( NYI Contest Site )
The winner of the Japanese Kite Aerial Photography Association Aerial Photography Contest 2001 has been announced. A big tip of the KAP to Bernard-Noel Chagny of France for his winning entry. The names and Voting results are posted for all entries on the JKPA web site.
Brooks Leffler has been slowed in his efforts to transfer the back issues of The Aerial Eye to CD-ROM because of obsolete software used to create the earlier issues. He decided not to make anyone wait while he works the problem. There are several options for obtaining back issues of AE.
(See the KAPER News article for the details.)
After some gentle persuasion Henry Jebe has promised to write an article about his Large Format camera(s). I believe that Henry used a Large Format camera to take his NYI winning entry. There are many of you who have something to say to the KAP community about your experiences, your techniques, your equipment, your dreams, and maybe even your failures, but you haven't spoken out yet.
Other than KITING magazine (an AKA publication), KAP information is almost entirely published using the internet. There are only a handful of KAP web sites that are actively maintained by their owners. I appreciate the work that these individuals put into keeping their sites fresh. It is this freshness that keeps KAP and KAPers from becoming stagnant and disinterested. A few years ago we had The Aerial Eye to give us four boosts of KAP enthusiasm a year. The renewing of our enthusiasm now comes from those KAPers who are active webmasters or contributors to KITING.
The Aerial Eye met its demise because there was not enough material being contributed for publication. Craig Wilson recently placed a plea on Cris Benton's discussion page for KAPers to contribute to KITING magazine's "KAPTIONS" section. The latest issue of KITING did not have a "KAPTIONS" section. There was a multi page article by Craig Wilson about a KAP experience in South Africa. I suspect that KITING is having the same problems that AE had, even though they only need one KAP article per issue.
When I began KAPER in January 2000 I knew that it would be hard to get people to contribute. It was understood that KAPER could not be operated like the web magazine kitelife.com, with an issue oriented format. I knew that I would have to wait for people to contribute in their own time, and add new material as it came available.
If you enjoy the freshness and renewed enthusiasm that comes from reading about what other KAPers are doing, then CONTRIBUTE!!! A little effort on your part to contribute to the KAP community will encourage a dozen KAPers to push a little harder. I also encourage you to thank those who do contribute. Drop them an email or send your comments here to KAPER to be posted in the email section below. Maybe if we butter them up enough they will keep on giving or better yet we might become inspired to inspire others ourselves.
(The previous letters "From The Editor" can be found by clicking on Past Articles in the Table of Contents.)
