PKR
Veteran
From PetaPixel:
https://petapixel.com/2017/10/19/dying-likes-social-media/
Local to me there is a famous structure that is often photographed from a vantage point that ends in a cliff, with a 300 ft drop. Kids and young "adults" (30 yrs and younger) stage themselves at the edge of the cliff for selfies.
I don't know the number of deaths or injuries. Signs and fences don't work. The cliff area is often the site for national TV spots - so, it's famous and attractive. I think the local politicians are concerned with any press coverage of accidents effecting the very big tourists business.
https://petapixel.com/2017/10/19/dying-likes-social-media/
Local to me there is a famous structure that is often photographed from a vantage point that ends in a cliff, with a 300 ft drop. Kids and young "adults" (30 yrs and younger) stage themselves at the edge of the cliff for selfies.
I don't know the number of deaths or injuries. Signs and fences don't work. The cliff area is often the site for national TV spots - so, it's famous and attractive. I think the local politicians are concerned with any press coverage of accidents effecting the very big tourists business.
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
PKR,
Fell out of tree when I was a kid and landed on my head. I have a scar on my left cheek from that fall.
I'm pretty scared of heights to this day.
Cal
Fell out of tree when I was a kid and landed on my head. I have a scar on my left cheek from that fall.
I'm pretty scared of heights to this day.
Cal
PKR
Veteran
Well, fell out of the top of a swing-set when 5-6, broke my right arm. Fell off my bike a few years later, broke my left arm. Sewer cover dropped on my foot and crushed my toes, about 10 then. I spent years riding a bicycle 200 miles a week and hang out of helicopters (strapped in) with the doors off for aerials. These are dangerous things. But, I'm not stupid about doing them. I don't go within 20 feet of the edge of that cliff. I don't know what's under it for support. These kids leap into the air and dance at the ragged edge for selfies or pictures taken by others. If you lost your balance, you're over the edge. I hear sirens several times a week, going up that road on sunny days.
panerai
Well-known
If told not to. people are going to do it anyways.
Here in Ontario we have an area called the Scarborough Bluffs. Loads of signs warning people to stay away from the edges, but people have to have that selfie.
Numerous rescues (at tax payers expense) to get the idiots that slip over the edge. Those are the lucky ones
DON
Here in Ontario we have an area called the Scarborough Bluffs. Loads of signs warning people to stay away from the edges, but people have to have that selfie.
Numerous rescues (at tax payers expense) to get the idiots that slip over the edge. Those are the lucky ones
DON
Chriscrawfordphoto
Real Men Shoot Film.
Check out this video I just saw on Facebook. A Darwin Award waiting to be earned.
PKR
Veteran
Urbex Photographer Dies After Falling from 20th Floor of Chicago Hotel
From PetaPixel
https://petapixel.com/2017/10/18/urbex-photographer-dies-falling-20th-floor-chicago-hotel/
From PetaPixel
https://petapixel.com/2017/10/18/urbex-photographer-dies-falling-20th-floor-chicago-hotel/
peterm1
Veteran
I do not wish to sound uncaring but it is hard not to conclude that this the Darwin principle at work. Kids do stupid things and you can forgive them for that but adults (for that's what you are when you are in your 20's) are supposed to grow out of this idiotic phase - it's called the getting of wisdom. Seems we live in a time when fewer and fewer do get wisdom. especially when they have a smartphone in their hand.
http://www.darwinawards.com/darwin/darwin2017-03.html
http://www.darwinawards.com/darwin/darwin2017-03.html
Contarama
Well-known
Mr. Google has the answer to everything don't you know??? Haha
Keith
The best camera is one that still works!
Adrenalin is a drug that addicts. I did things in my youth that I wouldn't dream off these days!
PKR
Veteran
Yeah, me too. But, none of it was photo driven. This stuff is all about being famous, I think. Or some form of social media fame.
If one photographer is famous for being up 20 floors, photographing from 30 floors up, will get some attention. In days past, these people got eaten by wild animals or fell into wells.. walked off the ends of cliffs. Now, society protects them, until they get a camera phone and a FB account.
Keith
The best camera is one that still works!
p.giannakis
Pan Giannakis
I have to say that I am very unsympathetic towards those individuals - if this is how they want to end their life then it is fine by me just as long they don't land on someone's head.
What I find annoying is the cases where the family of the deceased tries to pass the responsibility of their dead son/daughter's decision on the state and take legal action against the council for not putting measures in place to prevent people falling off cliffs with clear signage or balconies.
What I find annoying is the cases where the family of the deceased tries to pass the responsibility of their dead son/daughter's decision on the state and take legal action against the council for not putting measures in place to prevent people falling off cliffs with clear signage or balconies.
PKR
Veteran
US Tort law.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attractive_nuisance_doctrine
"The doctrine is designed to protect children who are unable to appreciate the risk posed by the object, by imposing a liability on the landowner.[1] The doctrine has been applied to hold landowners liable for injuries caused by abandoned cars, piles of lumber or sand, trampolines, and swimming pools. However, it can be applied to virtually anything on the property of the landowner."
This can be anything. The big difference is the age limit must be extended to 30 or 40. Lots of 30 year old children these days.
p.giannakis
Pan Giannakis
PKR
Veteran
When working in public with a crew, it attracts a lot of unwanted attention. We have to pay city police to keep the area safe in order to get insurance for the project. People, usually photo students, will block sidewalk traffic, try to get over barricades, etc., just to see what we are doing. Ten years ago working in public wasn't a big problem. Today, it's risky.
The other thing that has changed is, these people often expect you to stop working in order to answer their questions. Entitlement..
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
Peter,
Statistics say that between the age of 40-55 is the time of one's life when you are least likely to die. You can smoke, binge drink, not exercise, and eat excessively, but eventually all this bad behavior catches up with you. Pretty much it is dumb to waste money buying life insurance, unless it is to protect your wife or family.
Another statistic is that by the time you reach 65 half the people you graduated high school with will be dead. So you rudely transition from the least likely part of your life to one of your most risky to where you have a 50% chance of dying.
At the age of almost 60 I find myself kinda reverting back to the days of my youth embracing risk, I am not reckless, but I guess some people might think what I do is dumb.
A few years ago I walked through Highbridge Park. Other than at the entrances, the pool, and the skateboard rink underneath the George Washington Bridge, it is basically a feral abandoned NYC Park in not the best neighborhood.
I was in gladiator mode, knowing if I ran into trouble that it could be the fight of my life. I carried two Leicas in a bag so my hands were free to fight. Somewhere in this unmaintained park I ran into a young guy in his prime, kinda muscular. We stood twenty feet from each other just looking at each other. One step forward by either of us would of been aggression.
In essence I had returned to the 1970's, a time of my youth, and I guess I was challenging and questioning if I'm the same man as back then. The young buck and I moved away from each other and went off in different directions, but later that afternoon we ran into each other again.
I'm sure that young buck saw a wirery old man that might have the advantage of the jump. It likely was displayed that I was in other situations like this before, and I was. And this experience only reinforced who I am.
On another note, I use to be bike bum. Kinda like a surfer where biking was my lifestyle, but today I no longer bike in NYC. Vision Zero is suppose to have made NYC a safer place for pedestrians and cyclists, but the numbers don't lie.
The 25 mph speed limit has created bad congestion, and this only makes aggressive drivers more aggressive, and in fact pedestrian deaths have actually increased. I'm talking about 200 people who get killed walking on sidewalks, not people crossing intersections. Also the increase in bike lanes has cause an increase of pedestrians being hit by cyclists. Just last week I saw a woman bleeding from the head laying on the ground who was struck by a cyclist on 86th and First Avenue.
Only last year I hammered a single speed titanium bike up Third Avenue timing the lights as if I were a cab. So imagine an aggressive cyclist taking a lane and doing the speed of traffic and keeping up with cars from 79th Street to 101st Street. Meanwhile I'm dodging double parked cars and delivery trucks, pedestrians, buses, and turning cars.
I could of kept going up Third Avenue (no bike lane BTW), but I reached my destination. Not bad for a 59 year old man. Lately I have been hearing of too many hit and runs, and for me the risk of permanant injury at this time in my life is not worth it. I still miss my biker lifestyle though...
Cal
Bob Michaels
nobody special
I take the contrarian view. The couple in the video made a conscious fully informed decision to engage in risky behavior. In this case, they endangered no one other than themselves.
I support their freedom of choice in cases such as this when the outcome impacts no one other than themselves.
I support their freedom of choice in cases such as this when the outcome impacts no one other than themselves.
PKR
Veteran
Cal;
I quit riding a few years back because of horrible accidents friends were in. One lost a leg, another is just really messed up after many corrective surgeries. I'm not as quick as I once was. Both these friends were about 30 and under. Most of my old riding pals have quit. Some began swimming. One surfs several times a week.
Locally, when traffic is slow, motorcycles take over the bike lanes. These guys are doing 40-50 in the bicycle lane. It's pretty scary to have one come up behind you.
Riding with traffic is necessary for survival. If you can't do 30 mph for a few blocks, you're in trouble. Before the texting children who drive, other bike riders were the biggest problem for most riding in the city. Now it's phone users. I almost hit a bike rider (not a cyclists) the other day when he swerved into traffic from the bike lane. He got into the middle of two lanes. He was texting while riding his bike.
pkr
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
PKR,
I think you draw a correlation between distracted driving and increased danger. The nail on the head is the use of smart phones by dumb people.
My friend Brent had on a wrist brace, and when I asked what happended, I was told he was swiped by a car. "Did the driver stop?" I asked, and Brent told me, "No."
Another friend, a fashion photographer, was T-boned by a mail truck. Again the driver did not stop.
Witnessed a car hitting a cyclist one night. Jersey plates. Left him for dead.
I will repeat that I saw a woman laying on the ground bleeding from the head that was struck by a cyclist. In this case the cyclist stopped. There was a bike lane BTW.
A friend of mine I ran into while jogging home. Tim's friend was hit crossing the street by a large man riding a bike at a high rate of speed descending a hill. Tim's friend had a broken jaw, missing teeth, and his brain was bleeding.
"Maggie" my gal had a student that was struck down by a cyclist on the 59th Street Bridge. Was seriously hurt and was left for dead.
Interesting to note two years ago I almost was a news story. A cab driver was pulling out. Thought he was in drive when accually he was in reverse. The cab drove over the low nose of a new Camaro and somehow got hung up on some wrought iron fencing surrounding a tree, otherwise me and one of my neighbors from my building would of gotten hit or killed by an errant car that would of otherwise backed into the lobby of my building.
I don't want to be permanently injured, I want to retire in good health, and I want to be vibrant. Still agile enough that I jumped onto the hood of a turning Mercedes rather than having my knee taken out by a bumper. The driver stopped, and he had thought he had hit me. I thanked him for stopping because it was partially my fault. It was at night and I was wearing all black. I kinda did a modified push up off the hood while kicking my legs out.
If I take a risk I'm really thoughtful about the risk verses the rewards. A selfie is a cheap frill. If I'm going to risk my life it has to be worth more than that.
So on a September 11th, I think more that 7 years ago, (Statue of limitations), I was trespassing in Dutch Kills, a railyard. I had a pair of Rollieflexes in a Domke and went there with the sole intention to photograph an ariel view of Madhattan from this kinda abandoned railyard having scoped out the area previously.
As I mentioned I'm afraid of heights, but I climbed up this walkway that bridged several sets of tracks. On top basically I was standing on loose planks. I started shooting and I took notice of Police Helicopters on patrol in Madhattan. I would wait for them to clear out of my shot. Below was a panoramic view in the foreground of Newtown Creek that divides Brooklyn from Queens and Madhattan loomed in the horizon.
Then I heard a helicopter flying/hovering directly over me. I scrambled and threw a Tele Rollieflex in my Domke with the other Rollie. I basically was running for my life because I did not want to get arrested, and I scurried like a cockroach looking for cover. The chopper was orbiting looking for me, and I only ran when I figured I had their blind spot.
You should know that in my past I was a bicycle racer, both mountain and road, and that when I was 49 years old I ran the NYC Marathon off the couch without any training when a friend who was an elite runner overtained and was too sick to run offered me his bib to run in his place one day before the event. I ended up finishing the marathon in under 5 hours. The point here is that I am a very fit person, but I was perhaps 52 years old on that September 11th.
So I have to run across this bridge that more or less has gaps between railroad ties, and if I fell threw I could easily break a leg. I make it across and the only cover is alongside the railroad embankment under a canopy of trees. This thick rail road gravel is like quicksand because with every lateral step I have to ascend an avalanch of gravel that gives way with every step I take.
Eventually cat like I come upon a street overpass and figure a way to get to the street. Meanwhile the chopper is circling in wider orbits looking for me. It took a while to elude them. Interesting to note that they broke off, but that was a head fake and they resumed their search for me.
Anyways, here I am on a social media platform, talking about my acrophobia, and taking dumb risk for the sake of photography and a reputation.
Truth be told I gave up on trustpassing for a while in separate event was acually aprehended by three men in black wearing badges. I was released, but two weekends ago I was with Andre in the Bronx and we were shooting an abandoned railyard. LOL.
Cal