heights

5 Reasons I Love Rooftopping and Will Do It Until The Day I Die

The word "rooftopping" first appeared in a book called "Access All Areas" in 2005 by author Jeff Chapman. In this book Jeff refers to this activity as an offshoot of urban exploration. It's been called skywalking, roofing, and most recently New York Magazine called the people who do this "outlaw Instagrammers.”

Call it what you will, people have been going on roofs for decades (and probably even longer) for their own reasons, from Dan Goodwin's stunts to Philippe Petit's rope walk across the World Trade Center towers. Exploring rooftops is nothing new.

Rooftoppers Climb Up the World’s Second Tallest Building, Snap Breathtaking Photos

Editor's Note: This goes without saying, but we neither condone nor encourage you trying this at home. Be Safe!

I'm a firm believer in a healthy respect for gravity, but Russian rooftopping daredevils Vitaliy Raskalov and Vadim Makhorov don't have that problem, and to be honest, they get some spectacular photos because of it. Case in point, check out the video above in which they take you on a POV journey up the second tallest building in the world, where they shot some incredible images.

BTS: Hanging Off a Building to Capture an NYC Window Cleaner Ten Stories Up

In early August, the New York Times ran an article on New York City window cleaner Brent Weingard alongside some footage that showed the man scrubbing and squeegee-ing away at massive apartment windows in the West Village.

Thanks to the vertigo-inducing footage of Weingard strapped in ten stories up, the piece got a lot of attention, but one of the main questions the Times got after running it was "who was the daredevil behind the camera?" Thankfully, they've put together a BTS video in response.

GoPro Captures Vertigo-Inducing Footage Atop the One World Trade Center

One World Trade Center was finished in New York City last Friday after the final section of the spire was hoisted up and installed. The skyscraper is now the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere and the third tallest building in the world based on pinnacle height.

To document and celebrate the completion of the tower, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey decided to fix a GoPro camera to the final spire section as it was hoisted up and installed. With its fisheye lens pointed straight down, the camera managed to capture some crazy footage (shown above) of what it looks like to be hanging 1,776 feet in the air.

BTS: Photographing From Urban Heights with Russian Daredevil Rooftoppers

Rooftopping photography is a dangerous new fad in which daredevils climb to extremely high (and often off-limits) urban locations in order to shoot vertigo-inducing photographs. Two of the most famous practitioners in the world right now are Vadim Mahorov and Vitaliy Yakhnenko, two young Russian daredevils who have attracted a great deal of attention for their images (they're the same guys who recently snuck to the top of Egypt's Great Pyramid).

If you want to see how the duo works, check out the short 6-minute documentary film above (warning: there's a bit of strong language). It's titled "Roofer's Point of View," and was created by HUB Footwear.

Daredevil Poses for Vertigo-Inducing Pics While Hanging From Great Heights

"Skywalking" is a photo fad that gained quite a bit of publicity last year, and many of the crazy images were created by thrill-seekers in and around Russia.

A Ukranian daredevil who goes by Mustang Wanted is taking the concept one step further: rather than simply climbing to high locations and photographing his feet on the edge, the 26-year-old man poses for portraits while hanging off edges by his arms and by his legs. The concept could be described as, "skyhanging."

The Mother of All Rooftopping Photos, On Top of the Tallest Building in the World

Rooftopping photography enthusiasts enjoy climbing to locations that would make most people's legs turn to jelly, pointing a camera straight down, and snapping a photo that commonly shows feet, a ledge, and a huge drop. While in Dubai for Gulf Photo Plus 2013, famed National Geographic photographer Joe McNally managed to snap the mother of all rooftopping photos, seen above. The Instagram snap was captured from the tip of the Burj Khalifa, the tallest manmade structure in the world.

Gutsy Photographer Captures His Own Feet Dangling Off High Ledges

For his project Life on the Edge, Detroit-based photographer Dennis Maitland seeks out high locations for vertigo-inducing shots of his feet dangling off the edges. Rather than use a remote shutter release, he captures all his photographs by hand. Once an acrophobe, Maitland now craves the adrenaline that comes from doing his photography.

People in Fake Squares Photographed from Fake Heights

The photographs in Adam Magyar's Square series appear to show crowds of people bustling about in open town squares, seen from a height that makes them look almost like ants. In reality, each photograph is actually a composite of hundreds of individual photos, and none of the squares actually exist. Magyar photographed strangers walking on sidewalks from only 3-4 meters off the ground, and then blended the photographs together to make them seem like they were captured from a fake height!