1906: San Francisco in ruins, seen from Lawrence Captive Airship, 2000 feet above San Francisco Bay. George Lawrence used aerial kites to photograph San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake. His photos appeared in newspapers around the world made him famous. (George R. Lawrence/Library of Congress)

In 1906, weeks after a devastating earthquake struck San Francisco, photography pioneer George R. Lawrence captured stunning images of the city in ruins from thousands of feet in the air. One of the photographs (first slide above) of burned-down San Francisco was published in newspapers around the world and generated more than $15,000 for Lawrence (around $375,000 today), according to the Library of Congress. The Great Earthquake of 1906 was considered the world's first widely photographed disaster in history, according to the New York Times, but Lawrence's aerial photograph, showing the scope of the earthquake's destruction, stood out for its unique perspective.

The now-famous photograph, and Lawrence's other panoramic aerial photographs of cities such as Chicago, New York, and Atlantic City, were not taken from a helicopter, but from an innovative creation by Lawrence -- an early "drone" consisting of a train of kites attached to a piano wire cable that suspended a camera. Lawrence called it the "Captive Airship." The device was floated between 400 and 2,000 feet in the air before pictures were made, andLawrence was then able to remotely take a picture by shooting an electrical current up to the camera, according to the Daily Mail.

The Captive Airship wasn't Lawrence's first attempt at a system for taking aerial photographs.He began by using ladders or high towers to photograph from above, according to the Library of Congress. In 1901 he shot aerial photographs from a cage attached to a captive balloon. Once, while flying more than 200 feet above Chicago, the cage broke from the balloon, hurling Lawrence and his camera to the ground. Fortunately his fall was broken by telephone and telegraph wires; and Lawrence landed unharmed.

Lawrence would go on to travel to across the United States, shooting stunning aerial images of industrial areas in Ohio, the rural neighborhoods of Idaho, communities in Illinois, New York and other major cities. View the slideshow above to see some of Lawrence's spectacular aerial photographs.

You can view a complete archive of the photographer's images at the Library of Congress.

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