St. Colm's Abbey, Inchcolm Island

St. Colm's Abbey / Inchcolm Abbey is a medieval abbey located on the island of Inchcolm in the Firth of Forth (north of Edinburgh and south of Fife) in Scotland. Founded in the 12th century, the Abbey is located at the centre of the island. The abbey may date back earlier to the reign of King Alexander I of Scotland (1107–24), who was apparently washed ashore there after a shipwreck in 1123. Sometimes called 'The Iona of the East', the Abbey is in the care of Historic Scotland.

Like most of Scotlands "heritage building", glass didn't feature greatly, however the isolated location of the abbey means that even when it did fall into disuse it remained intact due to the difficulty of transporting "salvaged" roofing, walls, and windows off-site. This is good news for us as we can still experience this grand place, stone roof, windows and all!

Europe / UK-Scotland

Lat: 56° 1' 47.88" N
Long: 4° 19' 5.18" W

Elevation: 40m ASL

→ maps.google.com [EXT]

Precision is: High. Pinpoints the exact spot.

4 GoPro HERO2 cameras, with a wooden camera cradle/rig to hold the cameras in exactly the correct position is triggered by 4 gentWIRE camera syncronisers. Suspended below a Dan Leigh Cruiser kite with 8ft/2.5m span. This technique produces two hemispheres, and a different workflow in PTGui from the classic ground pano technique. This results in extra effort BUT impossible angles!

See the rig, how Kite Aerial Photography is achieved, and the workflow.