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Aerial Photography: Both Science and Art

In the mid-1800’s an inquisitive Frenchman took a camera, tethered his balloon 80 meters above his village and produced the world’s first aerial photograph. Not long after, an enterprising America, James Wallace Black photographed the city of Boston from a balloon producing the oldest aerial photograph still in existence.

Aerial photography is a way for us to see, explore and better understand our amazing everyday world. How else would we get to know the earth as a tiny orb in a sea of blackness as immortalized by the astronauts, or visualize the vast breathlessly beautiful typography of the Grand Canyon?

In 1909 Wilber Wright, one-half of the famous Wright Brothers brought modern aerial photography into the present by producing the first aerial photograph taken from an airplane over a small Italian town.

From archaeology to cartography, environmental studies to conveyance, advertising to, yes, even espionage, aerial photography has enabled us to become more at home on our planet.

Many of the innovations in aerial photography were originally developed for military use. Militaries around the world were quick to see the value of aerial photography for research as well as reconnaissance. During World War I French solders were known to have printed as many as 10,000 photographs during a night of heavy battle in hopes of better locating and targeting the enemy.

Miniature-sized, radio-controlled aircraft can fly over previously restricted locations, such as populated or other sensitive areas, without affecting the environment adversely. Full-sized and manned aircraft are used in other forms of aerial photography, since they are capable of longer flight times, heavier equipment payloads and can attain higher altitude for larger geographic studies.

Most governments use thermal photography to measure heat sources, detect nuclear reactions or fusion, chemical reactions, and electromagnetic dissipation. As you may have guessed, this technology is more often than not, classified Top Secret.

Today, aerial photography is commonly used for many commercial purposes, such as real-estate advertising or land use surveys. City planners use photos captured from above in their planning process, from water utilization to future freeway/roadway construction. Educational institutions use aerial photography for a variety of coursework, from geography and oceanography to social studies and government.  Manufacturing plant or other production facility placement and construction uses aerial photography to select the most appropriate sites for future building. Surveyors and census workers make use of aerial photography to map residential and commercial areas for reports.

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