GOOD MORNING, FRIENDS
- Wade Peebles
- 3 days ago
- 2 min read
I was on the telephone yesterday evening with a friend and group member, and he mentioned aerial photographs. I was thinking then of how old man's desire to look down upon his world is, paired with his desire to capture the vistas in most any form that was available to him. Looking down from a mountain top had to be more thrilling than lookin up at a mountain from the ground of a valley, and the desire to capture those views and record them was surely a strong desire. I suppose man's first real advancement in the field of aerial viewing of places came with the hot air balloon, then gas filled ones. Ascending in balloons began in France in the 1700s, and by 1783 for the first time, balloonists flew untethered balloons in free flight. Flying is nice but ascending in tethered balloons held great advantages over free flight it allowed balloonists to observe the same area long enough to derive practical uses for ascent. Artists could and did go up and make sketches that allowed them to paint accurate depictions of an area. Folks were often more eager to see an area depicted on paper or canvas than from the basket of a balloon. Before long, most cities had been captured on canvas by itinerant balloonist/artists. A balloonist might set up a county fair, charging folks to go up to see home from high above for the first time. Of course when photography became a practical tool, photographers were eager to go aloft to ascend in balloons to capture images, and did so for the first time in 1858. Balloonists/photographers continued to travel about taking and selling images, to individuals and map makers, local governments and business "concerns," as they said back then.
After small aircraft became practical and common, aerial photography came into its own, and all of the United States mainland was photographed, and became invaluable tools for all manner of land management, wildlife surveys, forestland and agricultural land images became tools used by many governmental and non-governmental uses. Satellites was a giant leap for aerial photography, and we use satellite imagery constantly. One side note before I finish, one of the more interesting businesses that modern aerial imagery ended was the few folks who from after WWII until they were made obsolete, that flew small planes over different areas, photographing farms, houses, businesses etc., then would develop those images, then travel that same area going to the owners of those places depicted in the photographs attempting to sell enlarged photos to the owners. Many bought them, we did and you may have also. It was nice to have hanging on a wall. Now, I close with a tip of my hat to the elephant in the room of aerial photography: DRONES!! Love them of hate them, they have revolutionized aerial photography and made it their own. I will save drones for another day, when I have all day! Love y'all, sorry I was late this morning. (I did not have time to edit this so if there are glaring errors, just close your eyes and read on)
NUMBERS 6: 24-26, KJV
we boyz three, babee conway, lil merle, & me
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