Comments on: George Lawrence and his amazing Lawrence Captive Airship

George Lawrence and his amazing Lawrence Captive Airship

spock — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 14:00:26 -0800

Meet George Lawrence. Saying that "he took pioneering aerial photographs using kites" doesn't quite do Lawrence Captive Airship justice. Dubbed the Lawrence Captive Airship it utilized a string of seven kites to lift the specially designed cameras to heights of 2,000 ft. Cameras weighing as much as 49 pounds and capable of producing negatives from 10 x 24 inches to a staggering 30 x 87 inches in size. The largest negatives yet taken from any airborne vehicle. He holds a significant place in the History of Remote Sensing, Aerial Photography. See multiple galleries of his aerial photography (scroll down) including his historic shots of (1906) earthquake striken San Francisco.

By: spock

spock — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 14:11:41 -0800

Do yourself a favor and zoom in (and around) this huge image of SF. He also took photos from the ground. (Previously unpublished?) AOL Homepage site (probably won't last long): 1, 2

By: spock

spock — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 14:24:21 -0800

100 years later, two attempts to recreate Lawrence's SF shot. The first used a kite, but different (modern) cameras, the other tried to reproduce Lawrence's camera but suspended it from a helicopter.

By: tmcw

tmcw — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 14:32:37 -0800

This is really cool. Thanks

By: Megafly

Megafly — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 14:41:08 -0800

I could swear this is a double, but I can't find the other one. It is Awesome none less.