First aerial photo
Photographer: Nadar
Date: 1858
Location: Paris, France
Gaspard-Félix Tournachon, known as Nadar, is credited with taking the first aerial photograph from a tethered hot air balloon over Paris in 1858, though the actual photograph from that specific flight does not survive. His earliest surviving aerial photograph dates to 1866. Nadar was a pioneering French photographer, caricaturist, and balloonist who was among the first to use electric lighting for photography (in the Paris catacombs) and the first to conduct a photographic interview. His 1858 aerial photography experiments led to the use of balloons for military reconnaissance during the American Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War. Jules Verne and Victor Hugo were among his friends and photographic subjects.
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