Maker Profile

Tell Cris Benton to go fly a kite. He’ll return with breathtaking photographs taken from seemingly impossible vantage points. As a young architect, Cris wanted sharp images of his buildings’ upper reaches, so he pioneered the art/science of of aerial kite photography. Now a professor of architecture at UC Berkeley, Cris is still a leader in the aerial kite photography community, constantly developing new ways to rig remotely controlled cameras to customized kites for stunning results. Also, see the centuries-old technique of using kites to lift people in the air! Watch the clip, and check out Cris’ website arch.ced.berkeley.edu/kap/index.html