Chelsea Road, Essex, VT
© Google Earth
It’s an old phenomenon, I know, but the other day I rediscovered the wonders of Google Earth.
Pictured above is an aerial view of one of the houses I grew up in. It’s really quite amazing how the satellite image has improved since the first release. I remember the area around this neighborhood as being filled with patches of green, unrendered space on the map. Now the details, right down to the mailbox and trampoline, are there. This makes me wonder about the possibilities of this type of imaging. Apparently, I’m not alone; The fun blog Google Sightseeing has been entertaining this idea for a while now, highlighting oddities and landmarks visible with the online version of the technology, Google Maps.
Still fixated on the possibilities of the zoom feature, I searched for the location where I’m currently living and couldn’t help but notice an area nearby where, recently, I had made a photograph.
Strolling, Jamaica Plain, MA, 2007 and “Day St., Jamaica Plain, MA 02130″
© Shane Lavalette & Google Earth
Having the ability to see, from above, a place where a moment happened is remarkable (this reminds me of a few photographers that I’ve recently mentioned). With a red dot, I’ve pointed out exactly where the photograph was made — notice the houses situated in the background.
I thought it’d be interesting to ask some other photographer bloggers to un-Earth some of the places in their photographs. Pair one of your images with the Google Earth map and, if you know how, mark the exact location.
Download and get started. Tip: Mac users hit Command + Option + 3 to save a screenshot to your desktop.
And, of course, show me what you come up with.
7 Comments
May 2, 2007 – 4:03 pm
Hey, Shane. Fun stuff. Click here for my take on it.
May 2, 2007 – 5:01 pm
May 3, 2007 – 9:48 am
Posted on the blog:
http://justinjamesreed.blogspot.com/2007/05/when-photographers-use-google-earth.html
Check it.
May 3, 2007 – 10:10 am
Justin, the last pair that you posted is quite amazing — at this point it’s somehow surprising and not at all surprising at the same time. I’m really glad you used that example, thanks for taking part.
Everyone else, keep them coming!
May 3, 2007 – 7:15 pm
……and here’s my take on it, I hope…..
May 9, 2007 – 10:31 am
This got me pretty psyched Shane. I went and looked up a bunch of shots I had taken back home. This one was the most interesting, you can see the 4th st bridge in both photos.
November 29, 2009 – 7:07 pm
I’ve been working for a while with this approach and these pieces are just teasers, there is a bigger collection on the way
http://gregorycartelli.com/p5.html
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