Pigeon shooting: early 20th century photos taken from a bird's eye view

At the beginning of the last century, the German Julius Gustav Neubronner presented an unusual camera designed for shooting from a bird's eye view. The peculiarity of the camera was that it could be tied to the chest of a pigeon. The author of this invention was a pharmacist and actively used pigeon mail.

Once Julius sent one of their doves in another flight and long could not wait his return. The pharmacist believed that the bird was caught by a predator or she fell under heavy rain and died. However, after a while the pigeon returned, and well fed and in good condition. Julius wondered what had happened to his winged postman, and decided to attach the camera to it. Since then, he became interested in celestial photography.

Fastening of the small wooden camera was carried out by means of a strap. During the flight of the bird, the pneumatic mechanism opened the gate at a certain interval. Upon returning bird Julius received 30 new personnel. Since the pigeons can't carry on their large gravity, the weight of the camera does not exceed 75 grams.

In 1908, the inventor received his patent for a new device. His cameras were popular at exhibitions, and were also used during world war I to shoot enemy locations.