One hundred and twelve years ago this month a pioneering aviator took on a challenge to photograph New York City from the air. His solution was to strap pontoons onto his Wright flier and take along a photographer from the American Press Association. Just 21 years old, the photographer, Adrian C Duff, became known as “The Camera Kid.” But his exploits would lead to an even more colorful moniker: Adrian C Duff was The Demon Photographer
The appeal of one strange object, which achieved dizzying popularity in my lifetime, and today lives on mostly for nostalgia, is not so difficult to explain. All you need to do is turn one on and wait.
During the civil war, the manufacture of powder and explosives was often handled by the most vulnerable, young women and children, whose labor was needed when so many men had been sent off to war. On March 13, 1863, the confederacy experienced a munitions disaster, in the confederate capitol of Richmond.