Project Icarus is a damn interesting approach to high altitude photograpy.
The guys used off-the -shelf hardware (a Canon A470, a Motorola Cellphone, an energizer battery) to take photos of inner space as high as 93000 feet (28 km).
The results, as you can see, are astonishing
![Earth from 93000 feet Project Icarus Earth from 93000 feet, courtesy of Project Icarus](http://space.1337arts.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/thumb.jpg)