39 
by General Greely, where it proved to be a valuable auxiliary to 
26 
balloon photography. 
Another kite photographer was Lt. Hugh Wise - Madison Barracks, 
New York, who, in 1895, constructed the device shown in Figure 20. 
If the kite did not have enough lift to get the camera off the ground, 
the kite would be raised to the desired height, and the camera sent 
upward on the kite line like a sailboat. 
The outstanding American exponent of kite photography was George 
R. Lawrence of Chicago, whose achievements brought him world-wide 
attention. In 1902, Lawrence developed a kite system using as many 
as 17 kites, which lifted his cameras up to 2,000 feet. Pictures 
from two to eight feet long were made by his seven different aerial 
cameras, which weighed from 400 to 1,000 pounds. He employed this 
outfit in aerial surveying work in the western states and on an 
African exploration expedition. One of the most famous panoramic 
views — that of San Francisco after the fire--was taken by Lawrence from 
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a complex arrangement of kites. 
In July, 1903, some prophetic statements appeared in Photo 
Miniature magazine, in an article entitled, "Aerial Flights - In Fact 
& Fancy": 
"The time has come to talk about aerial photography. Many 
things are in the air It is not wholly improbable that, 
ere many years have passed, the airship excursion will be 
at least as popular as the automobile tour of today, or that 
the schoolboy of tomorrow will study topography at first hand,