For more than 150 years, airborne cameras have produced awe-inspiring images of our planet, revealed the devastating scale of natural disasters down below, consequences of ugly wars, tipped the scales in combat, assisted in studying plant ecology, identifying archaeological spots, constructing maps and much more.
Eventually underpinned by militaristic surveillance, aerial photography became a world tendency that took off 30 years after the invention of photography. Aerial photography immediately attracted photographic pioneers, who captured exquisitely composed aerial photographs.
This article primarily focuses on South African aerial photographic history but also had to deviate into a neighbouring country by including a crucial historical portion related to aviation activity during the conflict between South Africa and the Germans in early Namibia during World War I.
In support of this article, aerial photographs, spanning 70 years were either extracted from the Hardijzer Photographic Research Collection (HPRC) or relevant web pages.
First, a brief reflection on the world history of aerial photography.
1. Brief World history – Aerial photography
Not long after commercial photography was invented “adventurous amateurs” launched cameras into the sky using balloons, kites, pigeons, and even rockets.
- Gaspar Felix Tournachon, more commonly known as “Nadar,” is credited with taking the first successful aerial photograph as early as 1858 from a hot air balloon tethered 262 feet (80 meters) above Petit-Bicêtre (now Petit-Clamart) just outside Paris. Sadly, these original photographs have been lost.
- Two years later (1860), the first American to capture the oldest surviving aerial photographs was James Wallace Black. These...
