Smartpapers and the Smithsonian are holding a kite design contest for the 37th Annual Smithsonian Kite Festival. The winners' kite will hang in the Smithsonian. Unfortunately, they don't require that the kite be able to fly. What's the point in that? I got an invitation and am thinking of coming up with a design for a simple Indian Figher.

I'm an avid kite flyer. I fly fighter kites. Fighter kites are the small diamond shape sails flown with a single line. The kites can be made to spin, turn and dive by adding and releasing line tension. They're called fighters because of competitions that can take place between 2 or more fighter kites vying to push the opponents down. I like to fly the fighter kite solo because of the grace of the kites movements and because the choreography of gestures is a combination of control and understanding how to let the kite speak for itself.

I own some paper fighters, a large rokaku, a multi-diamond stunt kite, and a few geometrics. But, I mainly fly a pointed to this Kite Photography page that her husband Philippe had found because he's getting into attaching cameras to his kites. Wow. Really excellent. Sounds like a lot of fun. I hope to try that one time if I can. Still trying to figure out what they use to trigger the camera.

Maybe Charles Benton's Notes on Kite Aerial Photography will help me figure out the details.