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Grand Canyon Photographer (S593c)
From: tom on 5/29/2008 Grand Canyon Photographer is a case of a photographer photographing another photographer. The following pictures
were taken by Hans van de Vorst from the Netherlands at the Grand Canyon,
Arizona . The descriptions are his own. The identity of the photographer
in the photos is unknown.
I was simply stunned seeing this guy standing on this solitary rock in the Grand Canyon. The canyon's depth is 900 meters here. The rock on the right is next to the canyon and safe. Watching this guy on his thong sandals, with a camera and a tripod I asked myself 3 questions: 1. How did he climb
that rock?
After the sun set
behind the canyon's horizon he packed his things (having only one hand
available) and prepared himself for the jump. This took about 2 minutes.
At that point he had the full attention of the crowd.
This is the point
of no return. After that, he jumped on his thong sandals... The canyon's
depth is 900 meters (3,000 feet) here.
Now you can see that
the adjacent rock is higher so he tried to land lower, which is quite steep
and tried to use his one hand to grab the rock.
We've come to the end of this story. Look carefully at the photographer. He has a camera, a tripod and also a plastic bag, all on his shoulder or in his left hand. Only his right hand is available to grab the rock and the weight of his stuff is a problem. He lands low on his flip flops, both his right hand and right foot slip away.. At that moment I take
this shot. He pushes his body against the rock. He waits for a few seconds,
throws his stuff on the rock, climbs and walks away. Presumably to
a bathroom to change his shorts.
The area shown is a popular photographic spot in the Grand Canyon: if a photographer frames his picture just right, he can make it appear that his subject is leaping across a yawning chasm where the slightest misstep will seemingly result in the risk-taker's plummeting hundreds (if not thousands) of feet to certain death on the canyon floor below. What one doesn't see in these kinds of close shots is the connecting ledge just beneath the two rock formations, revealing that the jumper who misses his mark risks falling only a short ways, not plunging "900 meters":
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