You Asked
How does aerial kite photography work? — Erica, Portland, Ore.

Marshall Answered
The idea behind kite photography is to put a camera on a kite so you can take pictures of the ground. It’s a lot cheaper than hiring a helicopter or an airplane for aerial photography. You need two things to do it successfully: 1) a good, stable kite, and 2) a camera that you can trigger from the ground (or that triggers automatically). This video shows how to do it at the high end of the scale:

Another option is to use balloons instead of kites: The Balloon Project shows you how cool aerial photos can be.

More info: Kite Aerial Photography Puts Your Eye in the Sky