Perfect for getting those interesting high angle shots of thunderstorms in progress!!
I'm not sure I would ever be brave enough to put a decent camera on a kite though (not without a lot of practice beforehand anyway). Still, I guess it's more controllable than those rocket cameras you used to be able to buy. A colleague of mine used to be the photographer for a large multinational and a couple of times a year had to do aerial shots of sites, usually from a helicopter. He hated it and said he didn't dare eat anything the morning before. Peering through a viewfinder while leaning out of a vibrating helicopter was no fun. I know that some of the specialists use semi-remote rigs though and the old military cameras are pretty interesting (and of course gave birth to the Hasselblad camera company).
I found a helicopter to be the ultimate tripod. Bell Jet Rangers had very low vibration and were well suited to film photography. One could strip off the door and move out onto the skid for an unobstructed view of the subject matter. At the price per minute of rentals, one did not have the luxury of dealing with fear of heights. One concentrated on capturing the subject matter and throwing up later.
There's one of these in Berlin, but I've never been tempted. I'm afraid I belong to the group that things like mountains look far more impressive from below!! Planes, fine. Basket under balloons, not for me. Still, I like the views you captured, especially the looking down ones. I quite like the voyeurism that looking down on the world brings (although it is nice to do from the window of hotel!).
Cross-process simulation and shot with an old 6mp Fuji P&S (only digital camera I had with me at the time - took 3 trams to get the movement and positioning I wanted, luckily the couple didn't seem in a hurry!). Prt of this series http://www.babelsberg-studio.com/prague/?detectflash=false&
My hotel in Berlin backed onto a apartment block who had their WC's facing the Hotel. I'll never forget one of my 1st sights in Berlin as I pulled back the hotel curtains!
Ah, Berlin... home of the Kit-Kat club, curry-wurst and people with more piercings and tattoos than you thought possible! You're lucky it was just a WC!!
I loved Berlin, awesome place, loved the architecture around the Reichstag and there was a great building opposite Museum Island thats been left as it was from WWii. Found that on my 1st morning, mid November and it had been snowing a bit. I could almost feel the Russians fight for the building. I got to admit I didn't think much of the curry's, but the Steak house up the road from the British Embassy( didn't like that building, felt like the British were trying to do something radical and failed)was nice.
They are impressive aren't they!? Especially the ones that create abstract patterns. His large format book is good but some of his actual prints are really amazing. I saw a touring display of them a while back (actually in Potsdamerplatz, Berlin). The prints were mounted on huge 'slabs' set in rows outside you could walk between. Sometimes you had to look at them for quite a while before you could work out what you were seeing.
I first saw them outside one of the London museums. We were so impressed we ordered a book (The Earth in 366 days) and also bought a print which is now on our wall.
Since then they often crop up dotted around the centre of Birmingham where I work, and other places. Quite a franchise, in fact. But there is no doubting the quality and skill of his work, and his vision to create such a distinctive Brand.