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Edward Steichen (1879-1973) played a key role in the development of photography in the twentieth century. He is well known for his varied career as an artist, a celebrated photographer and a museum curator. However, Steichen is less known for his pivotal role in shaping America's first experiments in aerial photography as a tool for intelligence gathering in what may be called his 'lost years'. In Camera Aloft, Von Hardesty tells how Steichen volunteered in 1917 to serve in the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF). He rose rapidly in the ranks of the Air Service, emerging as Chief of Air Photography during the dramatic final offensives of the war. His photo sections were responsible for the rapid processing of aerial images gained through the daily and hazardous sorties over the front and in the enemy rear areas. What emerged in the eighteen months of his active service was a new template for modern aerial reconnaissance. The aerial camera, as with new weapons such as the machine gun, the tank and the airplane, profoundly transformed modern warfare.
List of contents
Foreword: taking the camera aloft; 1. War and exile; 2. A new life in the military; 3. Over there; 4. The world of air observation; 5. Taking charge; 6. Over the front; 7. War and photography; Appendix: life at the cutting edge: the photo sections.
About the author
Von Hardesty, a former curator at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, has written widely on aerospace history, including a biography of Charles Lindbergh, numerous titles on Russian aeronautics, a history of the space race, and baseline research on aerial reconnaissance in World War I.
Summary
Despite his status as a seminal figure in modern photography, Edward Steichen's pivotal role in adapting the camera for military purposes in World War I has been overlooked by both military and cultural historians. This book vividly reconstructs Steichen's service in World War I in what might be described as his 'lost years'.
