Results 1 to 9 of 9

Thread: WW I in photos

  1. #1

    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    Spain
    Posts
    887

    WW I in photos

    Lots of interesting aerial photos.
    Pics 7, 39 and 40 show awesome cameras these photos were taken with
    http://www.theatlantic.com/static/infocus/wwi/wwiair/

    Igor

  2. #2

    Join Date
    Jul 1998
    Location
    Lund, Sweden
    Posts
    2,214

    Re: WW I in photos

    My wife's grandfather was one of the first to take aerial photographs over the Western Front. He started flying early enough that he lived through the period when pilots from both sides would help each other - he spoke German, and they would share weather reports and other information mid-air. That all ended the day he was given a brick and told to try and drop it through the enemy's wings. The brick turned into a pistol, and then a Lewis gun, and then life wasn't so much fun anymore.

    He had to provide his own camera and film, and paid for processing himself. The powers that be thought photographs taken from planes, especially by a pilot in an open cockpit, would be too blurry to be of any use.

  3. #3
    おせわに なります! Andrew O'Neill's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2003
    Location
    Coquitlam, BC, Canada, eh!
    Posts
    5,136

    Re: WW I in photos

    Great story, Struan.

  4. #4

    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    AZ
    Posts
    4,431

    Re: WW I in photos

    More comments today on the same site: http://www.largeformatphotography.in...ed-years-later

  5. #5

    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    Spain
    Posts
    887

    Re: WW I in photos

    So we hit the same site same day ? Incredible !
    Igor.

  6. #6

    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    AZ
    Posts
    4,431

    Re: WW I in photos


  7. #7

    Join Date
    Jul 1998
    Location
    Lund, Sweden
    Posts
    2,214

    Re: WW I in photos

    Quote Originally Posted by Andrew O'Neill View Post
    Great story, Struan.
    Thanks Andrew.

    There is a tendency to talk about the pace of technological development in the Second World War, but overlook the similar rapid developments in the First World War. Photography went from holding cameras one-handed over the side of the cockpit while trying to fly the plane with the other hand, to the specialised aerial cameras and lenses you can see in one of the photos in the OP's link. By the 1920s lenses and techniques had advanced to the point where the limiting factor in resolution for daytime aerial reconnaissance or photogrammetry was the flatness of the glass plates (or film).

    My wife's grandfather moved to what is now Iraq before aerial warfare in Europe turned really nasty. He won the MC, but like many did not talk much about his experiences with his family. During WWII he worked ferrying planes from factories to airfields, and piloting freighters around the UK. He was an astronomer in peacetime, but continued to work on and advise aerial photography units, both civilian and military, for the rest of his life. Sadly, he died just before I met my wife and I never met him or had a chance to discuss photography with him.

  8. #8
    W K Longcor
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    New Jersey
    Posts
    310

    Re: WW I in photos

    "The war to end all wars." If only it had ----. Still, wonderful photographs.

  9. #9
    Jac@stafford.net's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2012
    Location
    Winona, Minnesota
    Posts
    5,413

    WW I in photos

    As a teenager I walked the roiling surface of Verdun fields and through some underground fortifications before the French and USA corps combed the area around the Douaumont monument to remove unexploded ordinance and close certain underground passages, all to accommodate a visit by Charles de Gaulle.

    One could still find fragments of helmets, sometimes unexplored ordinance.

    It was traumatizing to the young American I was, but an important experience.

    I recommend a visit, and that you look into the low-level windows of of Douaumont which has uncountable skeletal remains of the unknown.

Similar Threads

  1. Car photos
    By BetterSense in forum Style & Technique
    Replies: 13
    Last Post: 26-Apr-2013, 22:11
  2. My first photos in LF, ever.
    By gmed in forum Image Sharing (LF) & Discussion
    Replies: 15
    Last Post: 11-Mar-2012, 16:02
  3. How many photos is enough?
    By Paul Ewins in forum On Photography
    Replies: 25
    Last Post: 17-Jan-2012, 13:52
  4. please help with id photos
    By Linda_Mc in forum Style & Technique
    Replies: 4
    Last Post: 14-Nov-2008, 03:47
  5. digitally manipulated photos vs. "pure"photos
    By tim atherton in forum On Photography
    Replies: 104
    Last Post: 7-Nov-2006, 12:27

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •