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George Lawrence Photography Revisited

Posted by kdawson on from the 99-red-balloons dept.

danlor writes "We were all taken aback 4 years ago when someone linked us the history of George Lawrence and his photos of the aftermath of the 1906 San Fransisco earthquake. I personally thought to myself: man, I would love to make one of those cameras. The idea of flying 2,000-pound cameras with kites... Well, someone has actually recreated the feat. They even provide links to get large prints of the original and recreated scenes."

9 of 62 comments (clear)

  1. 2,000 lbs? by Dan100 · · Score: 4, Informative

    According to TFA, the camera weighed only a rather less impressive 46 lbs.

    1. Re:2,000 lbs? by clarkkent09 · · Score: 2, Informative

      Yeah, weird summary. You can't lift 2000lb with a kite. According to wikipedia, the same gentleman was responsible for building the world biggest ever camera at 1400lb so maybe that's where the confusion comes from.

      --
      Negative moral value of force outweighs the positive value of good intentions.
    2. Re:2,000 lbs? by Bertie · · Score: 3, Informative

      Well, I dunno. There's a school of thought that the ancient Egyptians used 'em to raise obelisks. This guy tried it out and got a three-ton obelisk vertical in a few seconds.

  2. 2,000 feet, not pounds. by ParnBR · · Score: 4, Informative

    The summary is wrong. It defies common sense that someone would be flying a 907kg (2,000lb, for SI-impaired ones) anything on a kite. Actually, the camera had around 21kg (46lb), as stated by TFA. But the kite was flying around 610m (2,000ft) high, and this is where I think the figure came from.

    --
    My neighbor's .sig is better than mine.
  3. Re:Coral Cache by Aaron+Isotton · · Score: 3, Informative

    Here are all the important links (I thought coral cache would rewrite the links, but it doesn't): http://www.ronkleinphotos.com.nyud.net/Lawrence.html http://www.ronkleinphotos.com.nyud.net/success.html http://www.ronkleinphotos.com.nyud.net/lawrenceorderform.html Please mod parent redundant.

  4. Coral Cache seems to work by Max+Romantschuk · · Score: 4, Informative

    Links:
    http://www.ronkleinphotos.com.nyud.net:8090/Lawrence.html
    http://www.ronkleinphotos.com.nyud.net:8090/success.html

    PS. Install the Slashdotter extension for Firefox, does the CC links automagically.

    --
    .: Max Romantschuk :: http://max.romantschuk.fi/
  5. 2000 pounds? by kylegordon · · Score: 2, Informative

    That's nearly a tonne... the article states that the camera is approx 46 pounds. Submitters... please rtfa before submitting. And if you did, then pay attention to it.

  6. Re:Fine Print by dave420 · · Score: 3, Informative

    They recreated the photos, not the actual taking of the photos.

  7. kite lifting by garvon · · Score: 2, Informative

    I know the the camera was was not 2000lbs
    but here is a link to show a kite CAN lift more then you think

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHkAL1jTojY