
George R. Lawrence, already a pioneer by the mid-1890s with his method of "flashlight photography" that preceded the invention of flashbulbs, continued to push photographic boundaries by inventing a way to take aerial photographs. His panorama of San Francisco after the city's 1906 earthquake, pictured, was taken by a 49-pound camera carried by multiple kites flying 2,000 feet in the air.
George R. Lawrence/Library of Congress

An international ballooning contest in Aero Park, Chicago, July 4, 1908.
George R. Lawrence/Library of Congress

El Pismo Beach, Oct. 23, 1906.
George R. Lawrence/Library of Congress

The Flax Twine Plant in St. Paul, Minn., August 26, 1907.
George R. Lawrence/Library of Congress

Akron Works in Akron, Ohio, October 16, 1907.
George R. Lawrence/Library of Congress

Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., Dec. 1907.
George R. Lawrence/Library of Congress

Akron Works in Akron, Ohio, October 16, 1907.
George R. Lawrence/Library of Congress

The University of Chicago in Chicago, Ill., Nov. 21, 1904.
George R. Lawrence/Library of Congress

A fleet of ships enters San Francisco Bay, July 10, 1908 in San Francisco, Calif.
George R. Lawrence/Library of Congress

Prospect Park South in Brooklyn, New York, Dec. 5, 1907.
George R. Lawrence/Library of Congress

Berkeley, Calif., Nov. 24, 1908.
George R. Lawrence/Library of Congress