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What a difference 120 years makes. Two panoramic photos of Sydney taken from almost the same location. Now, gone are the tall ships on the harbour and the view of water is largely obscured by skyscrapers.

The image is said to be the first photo taken from an elevated position to help with the marketing of Sydney as an international destination. It was taken at 600 feet (182 metres) from the basket of a tethered gas balloon on March 27, 1904 by visiting US photographer Melvin Vaniman. The contemporary image was taken on Friday (June 14) from a drone at 295 ft (90 metres is the ceiling for a drone) by Herald chief photographer Nick Moir.



Some features of the historic image looking south towards North Sydney and beyond have survived while others have long gone (see captioned photo below with key). Unusual panoramas taken by Vaniman, according to a past exhibition at the State Library of NSW, caught the eye of the Oceanic Steamship Company, which commissioned him to photograph places visited by their vessels in New Zealand and Australia, as an incentive for tourists. Recreating the 1904 panorama, photo taken from a drone.

Credit: Nick Moir The exhibition stated: “His Sydney panorama is considered to be the first such city vista in the world. Photographs from balloons had been taken in the mid-nineteenth century, but they were mostly poor snaps from terrified photographers keen to return to terra firma.” A gas balloon similar to Vaniman’s on display three years earlier at th.

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