Abbey of Abbey Goes Design Scouting has a great eye for wall art. We loved these French nature posters that she found a few months ago. She's come up with another great idea for wall art — historic aerial photographs. You could find a historic aerial photograph of a place you've lived or just loved. Here are four sources for finding historic aerial photography...
1956 - Spindletop Oil Field, Beaumont, Texas
- Historic aerial photographs are available from nearly every place in the U.S. Definitely seems like the easiest to order from
(Prices: 24x24 inch print: $150 (covers approximately 3-4 miles) or 36x36 inch print: $200 (if you've got the space, this size shows the best detail)
- The Aerial Photography Field Office (APFO) is the primary source of aerial imagery for the United States Department of Agriculture.
- Tobin's collection of aerial photography dates from 1928. Call or email for prices.
- Earth Resources Observation and Sciences: Can provide high resolution scans. Database includes aerial photos from a variety of sources (1939 – present).
Do you have sources for historic aerial photography?
Awesome! When I lived in Indianapolis, I bought a series of aerial photos [actually printed like blueprints -- really large-format, thin paper, indigo ink] that showed downtown [including my apartment building] and hung them almost like wallpaper on a big wall in my apartment. I got them through some state government agency downtown, and they were really cheap. I wonder if every state offers something like that.
view visualingual's profile
How about current aerial photographs? google earth anyone?
view patrickmc's profile
@patrickmc
That's what I did...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/emmakat/2830056371/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmaceachen/3365936673/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmaceachen/2908556174/in/set-72157612734310726/
view charmac's profile
google earth doesn't print well, plus the google logo watermark popping up all the time
view funstraw's profile
@charmac:
Fantastic!!! i saw that you mentioned you had access to architecture resources. Any suggestions for those of us who don't? Also, I'm curious about the silver metal pieces that look to be part of your mounting hardware--they look great!
view StephM's profile
http://birdseyeelevatedphotography.com/
Low altitude aerial photographs.....
view rubyp3's profile
thanks for sharing charmac, looks great.
view patrickmc's profile
@ StephM, thanks. the metal pieces are magnets...
http://www.dickblick.com/products/magnart-display-system/
You can get large format stuff like this printed at kinkos (though they'll charge you a ton for it) or any other print shop. The professional print shops that cater to architects and engineers will be cheaper.
There's a program called "google satellite maps downloader" which automatically pulls images from google maps within the lat/lon bounds you set. This image is actually made up of almost 80,000 individual images from google pieced together (ended up being overkill. This could have been printed much much larger greater resolution). The watermark is invisible since on those individual images it ends up being so small.
view charmac's profile
on a slightly different note: where did the owner of the apartment pictured get the white cachepot in the center of the table? love it!
view carson's profile
I found ten boxes of these rolled up on the street a few years ago and only had room in my arms to grab a few. $150 a pop! I would have been rich! And the ones I have are 3x4' at least. I'll take some photos and put up a link to them, if anyone is interested.
view Evan Rose's profile