You might think the South Platte River that runs through downtown Denver is dirty. And you’d be right, which is exactly why I had always avoided kayaking the whitewater drops in Confluence Park. But yesterday, the spring rains had flushed most of the junk way down river (or so I told myself), and the waves […]
kayak, outdoors, stories, videoWhat do you get when you strap a camera to a ski pole, then to mountain bike handle bars, and then kayak one handed so you can film the river? You get my decidedly “recreational” entry in the 2010 Salida Pole Pedal Paddle race and you get a fun, first person view of the race […]
mapping, outdoors, stories, videoI would have to say that recovering the balloon package is my favorite part of launching high altitude balloons. The whole process reminds me a bit of playing neighborhood baseball as a child. Inevitably, the ball would get hit into another neighbors yard or get caught in a tree or someplace inaccessible, and then a […]
balloon, gps, photos, SPOT, storiesThis morning will mark the third flight of the camera/SPOT balloon package to the edge of space in 2010. The flight is another education and public outreach (EPO) opportunity that is taking place in conjunction with the Boulder History Museum. They are working with a local middle school to film and produce a short documentary […]
balloon, mapping, SPOT, storiesMy interest in flying a tethered balloon with a camera system started back in July of 2006. Since then, I designed and built a sophisticated camera system, purchased a 7 foot diameter helium balloon, and have talked about flying it over Boulder to take aerial photographs. Almost 4 years have passed with enough yak shaving […]
balloon, digital, photography, storiesWhat to do on a windy April day in Colorado? How about flying a kite high above an office building with a camera dangling precariously on the kite line in a poor man’s attempt to take some cool photos? That’s exactly what Lars and I did yesterday in my first foray into Kite Aerial Photography […]
photography, storiesIf you read the pre-flight article, you’d remember that I ended by saying, “Let’s hope for the Luck o’ the Irish for the ole’ balloon!” As it turned out, this balloon flight definitely needed the luck of the Irish. After a perfect launch into a blue-bird Colorado sky, we casually began to follow the SPOT […]
balloon, digital, gps, mapping, photos, SPOT, storiesThat’s right, the balloon team is back at it again! This time, we are launching a balloon as part of an Education and Public Outreach (EPO) effort at LASP in conjunction with Arvada High School. The expected launch time is 9:30am MDT. The payload has a few extra goodies this time based on the open-source […]
gps, SPOT, storiesThe expanded analysis of the January 5 balloon flight to the edge of space is finally available! If you aren’t a geek, you will be probably be satisfied with the YouTube documentary and photo albums that are presented below. But if you have been asking questions like, “How high did it go?”, or “How come […]
digital, gps, mapping, SPOT, stories, videoThe balloon launched successfully at 9:36am and was recovered in perfect condition 154 miles southeast of the launch site at 1:55pm! The camera was still taking photos at one minute intervals over 4 hours after the intervelometer was started, and it grabbed this great photo of all of us checking out our baby! I haven’t […]
digital, gps, mapping, stories