How musk risk / danger have you taken for a photograph or access to shoot?

[austin granger]

As far as physically precarious large format shots, this one comes to mind:


My mother would have been horrified to see where I was standing.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/austingranger/

[Cletus]

Al -

Nice! This is exactly what I mean with the 'press passes'. There's really no harm done to anyone, or any serious laws broken (I don't think anyway - maybe misrepresenting yourself as a photographer?) and you can sometimes gain access to stuff that you would never be able to photograph otherwise.

One of the most interesting shoots I did this way was a rodeo. I had called ahead and asked if I could be allowed some access to the "back stage" areas (I don't now what they're called) and was told unequivocally not. I went anyway and brought my press pass and then told the security manager - lucky for me it was too small an event to have a press/PR manager - that I was working freelance for a journalist who was doing a story on the rodeo for the local paper. This was in Amarillo, so I guess this isn't the first time this happened. Fortunately no one asked me where the writer was, or any other of the many questions I would not be able to answer and blow my gig! I was allowed unrestricted access to anywhere I wanted to go. I ran out of film before the rodeo was even over. That was just fun!

It's a little different, I think, than Kirk's story of the Los Alamos superfund project, where some could have really gotten i trouble, or possibly even tossed in jail. But then I guess he wasn't bearing the burden of responsibility and hopefully not any consequences if he was caught. The client was, but that's their problem! I love stuff like that though. I guess I watched too much "Rockford Files" when I was a kid!

[austin granger]

I was almost eaten by dogs here (Salton Sea):


Here (Sauvie Island):


And here, at Kurt Cobain's house in Aberdeen, Washington:


http://www.flickr.com/photos/austingranger/

[Vaughn]

I set up the 8x10 in the redwoods, framed the image and was about to put the holder in the camera when a herd of lovely ladies moved in and had some lunch in front of the camera. I took the photo anyway, but the elk were moving enough that none of them actually showed up in the image -- a few minutes long. Then the alpha bull showed up and started to make unpleasant noises. Breaking my all-time record for taking down my 8x10 and stowing it in the pack, I hurried off in the least threatening direction I could find. I climbed over a couple fallen redwoods and that satisfied the bully dude. I believe I forgot to make my usual post-exposure notes.

[Scott Walker]

Broke through the ice @ -30 with my right leg in the water up to about the top of my thigh.
Good quality winter wear and my truck being within about 30 minutes of me made the results much less severe than they could have been.

I regularly photograph in areas that you will not get a second chance if you make a major mistake or if mother nature has just had enough of you.
Probably the biggest risk is avalanche, I understand snow well, test it myself, and take in any snow condition reports, but conditions can change so rapidly and drastically within just a few hundred feet of elevation you never really know what is in store for you crossing any chute.

[Rick Rycroft]

During a coup in Fiji in 2000 I found myself a little too close for comfort. First image is coup supporters trying to disarm some soldiers. Then in the second photo, taken by my friend and colleague, armed coup perpetrators out of the picture frame opened fire, and that's me at right reacting to a haircut I got from a bullet wizzing overhead. Unseen to the left is TV guy that was hit in the arm by the bullet.

[C. D. Keth]

During a coup in Fiji in 2000 I found myself a little too close for comfort. First image is coup supporters trying to disarm some soldiers. Then in the second photo, taken by my friend and colleague, armed coup perpetrators out of the picture frame opened fire, and that's me at right reacting to a haircut I got from a bullet wizzing overhead. Unseen to the left is TV guy that was hit in the arm by the bullet.

Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner. I'm cool with natural dangers. When bullets fly I want out.

[jnantz]

on the roof's edge of a 30+ story building to document a gas holder
( was on the hvac system above the parapet )
on a quarry's edge 300+feet up documenting the walls of a granite quarry
before it was filled ...
and documenting a factory building while people were trying to break in and steal copper.

[Kirk Gittings]

During a coup in Fiji in 2000 I found myself a little too close for comfort. First image is coup supporters trying to disarm some soldiers. Then in the second photo, taken by my friend and colleague, armed coup perpetrators out of the picture frame opened fire, and that's me at right reacting to a haircut I got from a bullet wizzing overhead. Unseen to the left is TV guy that was hit in the arm by the bullet.

I have been shot at twice while doing photography. Once someone put a bullet hole in my truck door while driving slowly on a public dirt road above Abiquiu-looking for images. The other was a bullet through my windshield in the South Valley of Albuquerque while on a commercial shoot-waiting in my car for twilight.

[Jim Shanesy]

I have been shot at twice while doing photography. Once someone put a bullet hole in my truck door while driving slowly on a public dirt road above Abiquiu-looking for images. The other was a bullet through my windshield in the South Valley of Albuquerque while on a commercial shoot-waiting in my car for twilight.

Too bad Paletti wasn't with you. He would have shot back.