Filming the proposal of all proposals!

One of the best things about the work that we do here at Kite Vision is the variety in what we get to do on a day to day basis, and this week was no different. In mid February someone reached out to us with a pretty spectacular opportunity and as soon as we had heard the plans that had been set in motion we knew we had to get on board. 

As far as proposals go this has to be one of the best we have seen or heard of. 

The couple who wish to remain anonymous, were flying into the UK and travelling down to the south west from London. On arrival at the Two Bridges hotel on Dartmoor they were greeted by a helicopter ready to take them to their next location.

(yes this proposal is already putting most men to shame, but wait it gets better!)

After a short flight over Dartmoor in the glorious afternoon sun the couple stopped briefly to hover over an unsuspecting field just outside of St. Mellion, where our lucky lady looks out of the window to see the message "MARRY ME....." perfectly ploughed into the cornish countryside in preparation for this moment.

Not content with a Hollywood style proposal carved into the landscape and viewed from a helicopter our mystery man has also arranged for the helicopter to then land at Pentillie Castle Estate to top off this magical moment with a luxurious overnight stay complete with champagne waiting!

And of course, she said yes! (as if you needed telling!)

 We were so glad to be part of this special moment and even got to fly our drone to capture some shots of the helicopter hovering over ploughed field. 

Oh and before we forget, we also snagged a ride in the helicopter!! Something both of us will never forget thats for sure.

   

Pentillie Castle from the helicopter

The Two Bridges from the helicopter

Landing at Sunset on Dartmoor 

Tamar Valley Flyover

As you can imagine the weather so far has kept 

us pretty much grounded here at Kite Vision, but when the sun has briefly come out we've managed to get the new bird up in the sky.


Here is a short video from a test flight right on our doorstep in Gunnislake.

Enjoy and don't forget to watch in HD!

               

Inspire 1 Pro

With the new year, we decided to invest in some incredible new kit. We needed something that would enable us to push our work to new levels whilst also remaining compact enough for us to take to all of the locations we shoot at with ease.

We opted for the DJI Inspire 1 Pro. An upgraded version of DJI's incredibly successful Inspire drone. The Pro comes with upgraded motors but most importantly a hugely upgraded camera and gimbal module, the X5. 

With the X5 we are now flying with a micro 4/3rds camera sensor enabling us to capture Ultra HD 4K video and 16 megapixel raw stills. This new camera not only captures better footage than anything we have shot before but more importantly offers up much more flexibility in the post production process, something we have really been looking for. 

We're able to capture some great shots with the Inspire (when its not raining!) so keep your eyes peeled for more content from our test flights and jobs!

Aerial Drone flying at Avon Dam - Dartmoor, Devon

The weather the past week or two has been terrible with hurricane like storms, lots of rain and even a bit of snow! Finally the wind did drop so we decided to get out for a flight. We wanted to visit somewhere that inspired us to concentrate on interesting shots and angles, and we were conscious we were yet to venture out on Dartmoor with our drone! Avon Dam straight away stuck out as a must visit, especially as Charlotte hadn't been before. 

After a fair old walk with our flight case we arrived at the dam and prayed for a break in the cloud but unfortunately it just wasn't our day. We took the best opportunity we could and settled for trying to capture some moody skies along with the striking dam.

Some photos taken by Charlotte 

Winter flight at Fistral and Perranporth, cornwall - Video Blog

Christmas and New Year have been and gone and with a break in the wintry weather we set off for the north coast to capture some of the beautiful scenery we are so lucky to be surrounded by.
We wanted to make this video more of a video blog, so we grabbed our SLRs to make sure we could film a little more of what was going on throughout our day.

After a short drive to Newquay (away from the ice and frost, and into the winter sun!) we were just about ready to go, and after some safety checks and compass calibration we took to the skies.

Check out the video below and don't forget to watch in fullscreen and HD! And if your'e feeling friendly give us a like and share on Facebook, where you can see everything we get up to!

Cornwall's Mining Heritage

The history behind our Drone video of 

Cornwall's Mining Heritage

Caradon & The Tamar Valley

Kite Vision is located in a landscape riddled with history with Caradon and The Tamar Valley surrounding us it interested us to fly over a few historic remains of Cornwalls mining world heritage. 

In the 18th and 19th centuries Cornwall was one of the richest mining economies in the world. Industries, inventions and communities were built on its wealth of underground treasures. 

Caradon

In 1837 James Clymo a mine captain found rich copper ore deep in the rounded hill of Caradon. The ore was so rich and plentiful that within a few years more than twenty mines crowded the moor around Caradon. A railway line was brought up to the eastern moor extending on granite sleepers.

The rise of copper mining here established new settlements and expanded others, but the explosion of mining activity within this formerly isolated landscape was to last barely 50 years; large-scale mining for copper had essentially ceased by 1890. 

South Caradon Mine

Latitude 50° 30' 10/6796"N   Longitude 4°26'28.9827"W

Engines were installed in Cornwall and west Devon than any other mining region of the world: it is thought that around 3,000 engine houses were built in total.

Cheesewring Quarry

Latitude 50° 31' 26.2286"N     Longitude 4° 27' 31.3988"W

Now silent, the mines and quarries have been taken back by Mother Nature. Sheep and cattle graze contently on the grassy slopes and buzzards fly overhead, while climbers from around the world hang off their ropes on the 100 foot granite faces. Stowes Hill, behind Cheesewring Farm is the site of the Cheesewring Quarry. Stone taken from here was used to build Westminster Bridge and parts of the Royal Naval Dockyard in Plymouth and many other projects throughout the British Isles.

Tamar Valley

Set in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the Tamar Valley encompasses a breathtaking landscape that is as diverse as it is historically important. The Area spans the border between Cornwall and Devon. Tin, copper, silver-lead and arsenic were all mined here but in today’s tranquillity, it’s hard to imagine the noise from over 100 mines that operated at the height of its mining boom. 

 Kit Hill

    Latitude 50° 31' 9.7"N     Longitude 4° 17' 35.0999"W

Kit hill is the highest point  in the Tamar Valley with out 400 acres of heathland to explore. Located in the Tamar Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), between Callington and the River Tamar with fantastic views of the Tamar Valley, Dartmoor and Bodmin Moor. The word 'Kit' comes from Old English for Kite, a reference to birds of prey. (also one of the meanings behind our name!)

Hingston Down

                                                         Latitude 50.521299      Longitude -4.246001

Hingston Down is a hill not far from St.Annes Chapel and Gunnislake. The site of the Hingston Down Consols mine was where the mineral Arthurite was first discovered.

As you will see from our video, located directly behind the building is Hingston Down Quarry, which is still in operation today. 

References

Cornish Mining World Heritage. (2014). Available: http://www.cornish-mining.org.uk/. Last accessed 21st November 2014.

Explore Cornwall. (2014). Cornish History Bodmin Moor - Great for Walking. Available: http://www.explorecornwall.com/cornwall-history-traditions.php. Last accessed 21st November 2014.

Wikipedia. (2014). Kit Hill. Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kit_Hill. Last accessed 21st November 2014.

Wikipedia. (2014). Hingston Downs. Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hingston_Down. Last accessed 21st November 2014.

Calstock Viaduct

The next flight we are happy to show you is of the iconic Calstock Viaduct located along the Tamar River. Anyone familiar with Calstock knows that it is a very unique village with a great atmosphere and over the years I have taken many photos of this viaduct; beautiful sunsets, firework displays and sunny summer days, so it was definitely something we wanted to capture with our drone, to get a perspective people haven't seen before! 

We decided to travel to the opposite side of the viaduct from Calstock as the fields on this side of the water were perfect for taking off safely. This meant driving to Bere Alston and hoping a farmer would let us in their field! Luckily for us everything went according to plan and we met one of the farmers that ever so kindly let us into their field that was situated directly under the viaduct. 

We had only just got up in the air when the train started travelling over the bridge, with some initial "TRAIN, GO GO GO! ...QUICK!" we got in the right position and filmed a stunning tracking shot of the train going over the viaduct. As well as providing a stunning backdrop for our footage the viaduct also proved to be a great flight training course with plenty of obstacles and blind spots to navigate.

As this viaduct is so close we will definitely be flying here again soon, so keep a lookout for more original Kite Vision content!