One of the cool things about kite aerial photography is that it has a
long
history, going back to 1882 or so. Kites are a cheap way to get
something up in the air.
Effective, too. The image above is one of the famous "San Francisco in
Ruins"
series
that George Lawrence took in 1906. The
technology
is amazing. 17 kites on a steel cable, a custom 49 pound panoramic
camera with a 20x48 inch plate, and a 2000 foot steel line with a
conducting wire in it for the shutter. I love the idea of the
difficulty and expense of hauling the camera up in the air, only to
take a single photo that might or might not come out.
There's lots more
info if you want.
|