Is photography a high risk activity?
 

You might be interested in this:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hansvan...7594222213140/

I do warn anyone of a sensitive disposition to avoid the link. I suffer from vertigo, and it makes me feel very ill at ease just looking at the last few pictures.

NB: I changed the link as the original one was using the pictures without permission.

OMG !

Quite amazing....

What you don't see is that this isn't quite as death defying as it first appears. There is a ledge between the two rock outcrops just below the bottom of the frame. Well its about a 10-15ft drop so he risks a broken leg but not much more.

I suspect that this is a fake. Either the situation is not as it appears or someone has been very creative. Looking at the pictures it appears that he must jump up to reach the cliff. If he can really do this then he is of Olympic calibre.
Of course, we don't know if his jump was successful!

http://www.snopes.com/photos/natural/canyonleap.asp

HTH

There is a series of pictures and yes he did make it, though reading the photographers comments only just!

Walwyn is pointing us the right way, his link makes the images far easier to view consecutively & shows the full situation. Tho would add he risks dropping his equipment the whole way down.

Yes, it was not quite as dangerous as the photo suggests. (What, a photo lie? Never!) Still, a ~7m fall onto a rocky ledge is dangerous. And the ledge was narrow. Had he rolled off the ledge, or stumbled, he would have gone to the big darkroom in the sky. Whatever the exact truth, the jumper is a certified loony, and long overdue for a Darwin Award.

This question brings me back to my own theory of "Its about the photographer not camera" in this case photography per se. A high risk person remains so in whatever he or she indulges. Lets hope they are not our pilot in next oversea flight....

Output
 

I would like to see the photos the guy took and was it worth the leap??

Good point.
I am certain that you saw the better picture and he got the adrenaline rush he was after...

A drop of 10-15 ft can do a lot more damage than that. Last September, there was a story in the local newspaper of a builder who had fallen 9ft off of some scaffolding, he died from his injuries after battling for his life for three weeks in hospital. I know of other serious injuries from smaller heights than 10-15 ft.

Even if he does "just" break a leg, such an injury in this location would not be trivial, I hope he had insurance that covered him for being helicoptered out of here. My opinion is that the guy is a few frames short of a full reel.

As a former climber I can attest to the risk factor in this activity. I suspect he was a confident climber probably having done several solo climbs(without ropes) so was supremely confident in his ability to make the jump.

I have only ever done 3 Solo climbs. 2 V diffs and a Severe. Whilst i was confident I could do them and they were on 10 metres high or so they were very nerve wracking not having the safety of a rope being attached.

I greatly admire his nerve!! Not for the faint heated. Personally I would have set up a safety, ledge or not!!

Nogbad

Thanks for prevailing safety.
Such nerves soon leads to faint body of existence though.:)

What I am amazed from the serious climbers is their perseverance and goal orientation, when is covered by umbrella of safety. Looking at guys who for instant climb El Capitain in Yosemite (You remember this from "Close encounters of the third kind - 1977") that is about 1 Km vertical rock and takes 3 days and nights to climb fully (of course if not adversely shortened the other direction), as to how they do their other things, you know what???!!!:):confused:

Sassan they have strict guidelines of what "you take in, you take out"!!

This means they have to pack all the you know whats in haul bags and take it with them on the climb. This includes all their water, food cooking equipment etc. Half of the time is spent hauling huge bags up after them.

When its all done they then have to haul the "you know whats" all the way down and take it out of the area to be disposed off in the correct manner.

The park authorities are very particular about keeping the area clean.

Nogbad

Nogbad would you be wearing same footware?

Hi George, I suspect he had some form of Rubber soled footwear. Normally climbers wearing crippling Rock shooes made from Aviation "sticky Rubber" which grips like you know what to a blanket! However it is possible to get whats known as approach shoes made from the same knd of Rubber. In effect trainers with climbing soles. I suspect he was wearing these!

I wouldnt want to spend lots of time in a pair of rock boots if I was'nt climbing they are so unconfortable.

Nogbad