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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."
They forgot one thing: the earthquake...
According to TFA, the camera weighed only a rather less impressive 46 lbs.
That's was my first thought, too, but look at it this way: They used a century-old camera, with the great-grandson of the original photographer in the helicopter, using the exact same lenses and photographic techniques. You might ding them for the helicopter -- I congratulate them for everything else.
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 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
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.
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
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.
Next recreation: The Battle of Thermopylae, only we'll be using M1 Abrams Tanks instead of Spartans.
Yes, and so the 'feat' isn't anything comparable.
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
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
For all the whining about not using kites, etc., no one has acknowledged the recreation of the camera. They did recreate a century old piece of equipment and used it to take an extremely high quality photo. I went to school from junior high through college with Ron Klein, and I guarantee that he built a meticulous reproduction of the original camera. It wouldn't surprise me if he used 100 year old brass screws to put the thing together. Let's give some props to some extremely cool retro-tech work instead of bashing it.
Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.