Man Nearly Earns a Darwin Award Trying to Capture the Perfect Racing Photo

Photographers sometimes put themselves in harms way in order to capture the perfect shot, but there’s a fine line between taking calculated risks and foolishly putting your life in danger. This 16-second-long video clip shows a guy doing the latter, nearly earning himself a Darwin Award while trying to photograph drifting cars at the Karpacz 2012 races in Poland.

Here’s a photo showing what the man looked like from the driver’s point of view (thanks Emils!):

Although the photographer got a bit too close for our comfort, it wasn’t complete recklessness. Do a search for some tips on shooting auto racing, and you’ll find that the inside of sharp corners is actually a relatively safe place to set up for a shot. Unless something goes terribly wrong, physics should keep the drifting car from crashing into the inside of a corner. It’s the outside of a sharp corner that can be extremely dangerous. In any case, you probably shouldn’t do what this guy did.

Discussion