Home Made High Altitude Photography, Pacific Star II

So you wanna take pictures from the edge of space. Don't think you can? Photographer and cinematographer Collin Rich did, and he did it for next to nothing.

Collin posted the following video on Vimeo of his second high altitude photography experiment, Pacific Star 2. The images were all taken using two digital cameras, purchased online for a mere 45 bucks and then attached to a home made weather balloon. The balloon was able to reach an altitude of 125,000 feet before bursting and deploying the chute on the insulated box carrying the cameras which then descended for 35 minutes, landing near an old olive orchard near Santa Paula.

Pacific Star II from Colin Rich on Vimeo.

Rich's first attempt is also posted on the site. His Pacific Star 1 balloon managed to travel a distance of 96 miles and reach a height of 33Km. While he was able to retrieve the cameras, insufficient insulation caused the condensation on the lenses of the camera rendering many of the photos unusable.

Links And Additional Content

You can see stills from both Pacific star experiments as well as more of Collin's photography HERE on his website.

If you've never spent any time on Vimeo before you should take some time to check it out as well. Think of it as You Tube for artists.

Image Credit: Collin Rich

Video posted by Vimeo user:Collin Rich