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Go Fly A Kite at Coney Island’s 2nd Annual Kite Festival!!

Posted in Events, Photography, tagged American Kitefliers Association, Coney Island, free event, kite, kite festival, Leucio Parrella, Norman Blake, October 2, October 3 on September 28, 2010| 1 Comment »

Skydiving in Coney Island? © 2009 Norman Blake by NB Photo Flash via flickr. All rights reserved

UPDATE…the 2015 Coney Island Kite Festival is this weekend, September 26 and 27. Go fly your kite or go take photos – FREE!

Last August in Coney Island, photographer Norman Blake photographed this airborne octopus and his skydiver friend. This weekend in Coney, you’re invited to go fly a kite at the Coney Island Kite Festival. The event will be held this Saturday and Sunday, October 2nd and 3rd, from 10 am to 5 pm on Coney Island’s beach. It’s free!

“This will be our first big official event of this year, ” said Leucio Parrella, a member of the American Kitefliers Association (AKA), who adds that the festival of 2009 was cancelled. “Our first test run of the Coney Island Kite Festival was the weekend before Thanksgiving of 2008. We had bad weather.” The good news for kitefliers and their friends is this weekend’s forecast is sunny, in the 60s.

From the official description of “The 2nd Coney Island Kite Fest” on the AKA calendar:

Fly for fun. On the beach there will be big kites such as an octopus kite. We also will have dual kites and Quad kites. Large area for free flights of kites for everyone. On the beach from Bay West 8th Street to the Steeplechase fishing pier. For additional info contact Leucio Parrella of the Kite in Motion Club at buggylou8[AT]yahoo.com or 646-912-2447

Parrella told ATZ there will be three kite fields: “Two fields for AKA members and one field for public use. AKA Dual Kites and Quad kite field is 300 x 300 square feet and starts from West Bay 8 Street, AKA Big One Line Kites is from about West Bay 10 Street (Playground Area ) to Stillwell Avenue, and Public fly field is between Stillwell Avenue and West Bay 15 Street to the Fishing Pier on the beach.”

The festival is sanctioned by the American Kitefliers Association (AKA), a nonprofit organization dedicated to sharing kiting with the world.

The American Kitefliers Association was founded in 1964 by the late Robert M. Ingraham of New Mexico. Now, with over 3,000 members, in 25 countries, we are the largest association of kiters in the world. Our purpose is to educate the public in the art, history, technology, and practice of building and flying kites – to advance the joys and values of kiting in all nations.

We are men, women, adults and children, from all walks of life. Our interests run from kitebuilding to multi-line kite competition, from miniature kites, to aerial photography and more. Some of us are in the kite trade, but we are not a trade organization.

Octopus Spotted in Coney Island © 2009 Norman Blake by NB Photo Flash via flickr. All rights reserved

Mystery Photo: Easter Island-Like Face on Coney Island Beach

Posted in art, Photography, tagged Bruce Handy, Coney Island Beach, mystery photo, Neptune, stone carving, stone face on September 21, 2010| 8 Comments »

Guess Where. Photo © Bruce Handy/Pablo 57 via flickr

ATZ first learned of the existence of this stone face on Coney Island’s beach last spring via a tweeted photo. Since its exact location was not tweeted, we asked Coney Island resident and photographer Bruce Handy if he knew. After a summer-long search, Bruce finally found and photographed the Easter Island-like stone face carved into a rock on Coney Island’s beach! “I like how the people are laying on the rocks, unaware of the Easter Face,” he says.

Can you guess the stone face’s location? Hint: It is somewhere between Seagate and Brighton–all of which was Coney Island when Coney was an island. If anyone knows who carved the rock and when, please leave a comment below. Hey, maybe the Easter Islanders made a trip to Coney Island?! Or is it a depiction of Neptune, the god of the sea?

Video: Coney Island Pier Divers by Kevin C Downs

Posted in Photography, video, tagged Coney Island, divers, documentary photo, Kevin C Downs, Steeplechase Pier, video on August 24, 2010| 2 Comments »

Coney Island’s Steeplechase Pier is a popular spot for fishing and diving as well as for people-watching and photography. For photographer Kevin C Downs, who spends his summers running an annual photo documentary workshop at Coney Island USA, the pier is a magnet. His photos and video capture the daredevil spirit of the pier divers, who defy the “No Diving” signs for the thrill of the jump. Says one teenager: “It’s like…the adrenalin rush. It’s high. It’s better than going on any rides. It’s cheaper than Six Flags.”