George Lawrence Photography Revisited

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."

Comments

Fine Print

[EdIII]

Talk about misleading. Recreated?

"Although flying kites should be the method of choice, more important is to obtain the correct image. Air space restrictions, and common sense required the use of a helicopter. The new image was shot from the exact location as Lawrence achieved in 1906."

That is according to the new photographers. I just love their usage of the word "exact". Uh huh. Not to mention a helicopter was used instead of a kite.

The original page states a 46 pound camera, but the article states 2000 pounds.

"I'm sure the Mr. Lawrence would have used a helicopter if it had been available. We had a wonderful side trip"

I don't doubt that. The article is misleading and contradictory, and I did not see what I thought I was going to see. What they accomplished is pretty neat, and certainly good photography, but not groundbreaking or particularly mind blowing.

I just feel like the ol' bait and switch gag has been played on us

The 3 years after photo

[Anonymous Coward]

They really got things done right in the early 1900's, i wonder what New Orleans will look like next august.

Re:Recreate?

[craagz]

Move over San Fransisco...Here comes Boston XKCD already has recreated this for Boston

Re:2000 pounds?

[nagora]

That is a tonne. An imperial tonne that is.

There's no such thing. An imperial ton is 2240lbs (20 hundred-weight of 8 stone each). The reason for the odd numbers is that measurements grew out of a system for trade which allowed for the weight of barrels. So a hundred-weight of 112lbs was supposed to be 100lbs of actual cargo and 12lbs of packaging.

The American system discared the packing allowances and so the American "short" ton is 2000lbs.

TWW

Re:lead kite!

[TemporalBeing]

Not only were the cameras weighing 45+ pounds each, but the kite itself was made of lead!! (See illustration) http://activetectonics.asu.edu/kites/06eq.html While your picture refers the leading kite...I don't see how a lead (Pb) would be a problem.

The MythBusters (production #112, 1/23/2008) have already shown that a lead balloon is quite possible - i think I would have done it slightly differently (by plying together a few layers of the lead foil they used to make a stronger foil surface), but it did work. I see no reason why a Lead (Pb) kite wouldn't be possible either, though certainly not trivial to do. (BTW, their Lead Balloon used Lead Foil and at least what appeared to be Scotch tape filled with a mixture of Helium and Air. They mixed in air because they thought they might get too much lift out of just Helium; which from their results (see the episode) they were 100% right on.)