Bryce PEATLING
High altitude photography  2017
from the series High altitude photography
ink-jet prints 15.0 x 24.0cm  (each) 

reproductions courtesy of the artist and Beaconhills College Berwick Campus

TOPshots 2017-18 Finalist
VCE Media 3&4

Artist statement:

For my Year 12 Media production, I sent a camera to an altitude of 21,000 metres using a weather balloon. This is technically classified as ‘near-space’. I decided to do this project because I really wanted to challenge the expectations held against young artists and students when it comes to the work that they can produce. I gained inspiration through websites like YouTube when I found videos of other people doing similar projects. It’s ridiculously hard, if not impossible to be ‘original’ in our day and age. However, I believe that because I knew my work was ‘uncommon’ it motivated me as I wanted to fascinate as many people as possible.

I launched the balloon from a small town called Elmore, in the driveway belonging to a farming family. I needed to calculate many different things, such as the dimensions of the materials the balloon would be lifting as well as their weight. This was required in order to ensure that I used the appropriate amount of helium to achieve maximum lift. The weather was also a major concern as I launched during the school holidays and every single day but one was rainy and windy. I was extremely fortunate to have gained approval from CASA (Civil Aviation Safety Authority) on the day that I did, because the sun was beaming, there were no clouds in sight and the wind was still. 

Once the balloon was in the air, we jumped straight into the car and began following it using multiple tracking devices. This was a stressful experience because we were confined by the road laws, and couldn’t just drive across the acres of farmland that consumed our surroundings. I had a rough idea as to where the balloon was going to land thanks to a program which simulates the flight path. Once the balloon had hit the ground, we still had around an hours worth of travel in order to reach it. All of the equipment landed perfectly in the backyard of someone’s property in Waggarandall. It could have landed in a tree, in a lake, or even on the top of Mount Buller. However, all we needed to do was drive up their driveway and pick up the equipment. I was extremely lucky for everything to work out as well as it did and I couldn’t be any happier with it’s result.