Most remote/dangerous place you've photographed? [Archive]

David Karp

10-Nov-2004, 09:28

This is not the most dangerous place I have been, but your comments brought to mind photographer Frank Hurley, who brought a large format camera, along with other items on Schackelton's Antartic expedition, which failed to achieve their objective, but which miraculously ended with all hands returning alive. He rushed into a sinking ship to pull out some of his plates before it went down! Talk about dedication. Here are some sites with quick blurbs about Hurley:

http://www.bfi.org.uk/videocat/more/south/main.html (http://www.bfi.org.uk/videocat/more/south/main.html)

http://main.wgbh.org/imax/shackleton/sirernest-two.html (http://main.wgbh.org/imax/shackleton/sirernest-two.html)

I saw prints of his photographs in L.A. a few years ago, and loved the exhibition.

My experiences are quite tame. I have photographed from the edge of some cliffs, but do not enjoy the experience, and avoid it. I feel very "exposed" when under the dark cloth with no idea who or what is around me, and a cliff on one side of me! Frank Hurley I am not.

Also, I believe many war zone photographs were taken with Crown or Speed Graphics.

David Karp

10-Nov-2004, 09:33

Here are a couple of sites with photos taken by Mr. Hurley:

http://www.shackleton-endurance.com/images.html (http://www.shackleton-endurance.com/images.html)

http://www.kodak.com/US/en/corp/features/endurance/ (http://www.kodak.com/US/en/corp/features/endurance/)

I wonder if he complained about the size of his focus knobs, etc.

Ralph Barker

10-Nov-2004, 09:48

Dave - thanks for the excellent Hurley/Endurance links. Previously, I was pretty sure about being a wimp, but now I'm totally convinced. ;-)

tim atherton

10-Nov-2004, 10:09

Simon Norfolk:

http://www.growbag.com/photographers/simonnorfolk/afghanistan/index.asp (http://www.growbag.com/photographers/simonnorfolk/afghanistan/index.asp)

http://www.photonet.org.uk/programme/citibank/citibank03/norfolk.html (http://www.photonet.org.uk/programme/citibank/citibank03/norfolk.html)

http://www.photoeye.com/templates/mShowDetailsbycat.cfm?Catalog=ZC255 (http://www.photoeye.com/templates/mShowDetailsbycat.cfm?Catalog=ZC255)

Personally - most remote? Probably on Banks Island in the High Arctic

QT Luong

10-Nov-2004, 13:37

Most remote: Gates of the Arctic National Park (http://www.terragalleria.com/parks/np.gates-artic.html): required flying a commuter plane to a community that cannot be reached by road, and from there hiring a floatplane for drop off / pick-up and then backpacking a couple of days.
Not particularly dangerous, unless you hurt yourself or had a close grizzly encounter.

Neal Shields

10-Nov-2004, 14:01

http://truckgenerator.com/subdomain/sueandneal/volcanorim.jpg

This is the rim of an active volcano on Ambrum Island in Vanuatu. But I didn't pack a 4x5 and tripod up there. Unfortunately after hikeing for 4 hours there was so much smoke in the cone that there really wasn't anything worth photographing.

The volcano rains ash continiously at the rate of about 1" per hour, so the fact that the large white rocks aren't covered up shows how dumb it was of me to be there.

Neal Shields

10-Nov-2004, 14:04

Sorry about posting the whole picture, it was supposed to be a link. I guess I need to study HTMLs some more.

Dan Fromm

10-Nov-2004, 19:17

Most remote?

A toss-up between Minchana, Peru and ~ 150 KM NW of Mariscal Estigarribia, Paraguay. Not quite to Estancia La Patria. The last time I went out that way, I drove out from Filadelfia. In Filadelfia I met the Paraguayan journalist Roque Gonzalez Vera, who was escorting a film crew from Spanish TV. They were working on a series about places that no one ever visited. So even Filadelfia must be pretty remote.

Cheers,

Dan

John Kasaian

10-Nov-2004, 21:16

About 14,900' ASL right over the summit of Mt. Shasta in California. I can't wait to get a shot of Denali or Citlaltepetl!

Bernard Languillier

11-Nov-2004, 08:20

As far as I am concerned, I would say that the place where I shot that FELT most remote were the Walls of Jerusalem in Tasmania during a fall snow storm this May.

As far as dangerous places are concerned, probably some exposed ridges in the Japanese Northern Alps in very windy days.

In terms of feeling of unsecurity, probably some suburbs of Kingston Jamaica a few years back (but we had no problem at all actually).

Best regards,
Bernard

jnantz

11-Nov-2004, 08:24

30 stories + up on the HVAC housing of a skyscraper in boston to shoot an "aerial view" of the last gasholder in the area ...
300 feet up on the rim of a quarry that was soon to be filled by the "big dig" ( attached to a deadman for most of the shoot in case the rim collapsed i would only have dropped and lost the camera ) ...

Kirk Gittings

11-Nov-2004, 20:01

Secure nuclear sites at Los Alamos National Laboratories without permission for an article for Forbes Magazine on Superfund Sites. Actually not only did I not have permission, the magazine had specifically been told not to send a photographer and if they did he would be "dealt with accordingly"! I did it. I was never caught. I was never even stopped or questioned. The head of security got in huge trouble when the article came out, but I was long gone.

james mickelson

13-Nov-2004, 09:05

Well, there was this little 16 year old and.....................................

Murray Minchin

13-Nov-2004, 09:19

Twelve years ago my girlfriend and I sea kayaked the coast of British Columbia for six months. Two months were in the winter, two months in the spring, and two months in the fall. She paddled a single and I paddled a double...the front cockpit held our "campfire tent" and my 4x5 gear.

The two months in the winter were on the north and central coast. In two months we talked to other people three times; once in Bishop Bay hotsprings, in Klemtu where we were stormbound for five days waiting out a hurricane force storm, and in Bella Bella where we left our kayaks in storage so we could go home for Christmas and earn a little more money for the next leg. It was a record winter for lack of direct sunshine (translation: constant rain/drizzle) and the eighteen hour nights were l-o-n-g. We, and our relationship, survived!!

This was before satellite phones and GPS were affordable. We navigated with charts and had a small hand held marine radio that was only powerfull enough for line of sight communication.

Murray

Michael S. Briggs

14-Nov-2004, 12:35

Frank, you seem to be asking two quetions: the most remote/exotic location in which someone answering your question has personally photographed, and what LF artists have worked in such locations. For the second question, I suggest Kenro Izu. Not only has he done LF work in remote locations around the world and especially in Asia, he has been doing so with an ultra large format camera, 14 x 20 inch, since before the current resurgence of interest in such cameras. His latest book is "Sacred Places".

Another ULF photographer who has worked in Asia, mainly China, is Lois Conner.

Tim Stahl

14-Nov-2004, 13:12

Flying / shooting from a small single engine airplane in remote (really remote) parts of Alaska.

Street photography in the not so good parts of Philadelphia.

Shooting stuff for the US Army in Panama.

JohnnyV

14-Nov-2004, 18:11

Terence, 2004-11-10 08:22:52> A tie for Newark, New Jersey and Red Hook, Brooklyn, NY (pre-revival).

I'll second Red Hook, Brooklyn. But during revival. Was photographing an old 50's car at an old gas station on a Sunday. A big Italian guy approached me with a money wrench in his hand....

tombob

8-Jun-2007, 16:13

i live in newport, wales...its got a reputation here

Louie Powell

8-Jun-2007, 17:54

Remote? Dangerous? LF? Different questions bring different answers.

Most remote: Soroako, in central Suluwesi.

(It's hand colored.)

r.e.

8-Jun-2007, 20:14

What's the most remote/dangerous place you've done LF photography in and of? ... War zones?

Very old thread that tombob has revived, but what the hell. Israel, Jordan and northern Egypt three months before the invasion of Iraq and in the middle of the intafada. We drove the whole of the West Bank, where there was little traffic (most people having more sense) and where anyone driving a car with Israeli plates was subject to snipers, and we entered Bethlehem, to which the entrance and exit, at the time, was militarily controlled. We also almost entered Jericho, which was surrounded by cement and which is a whole other story. Anyway, Belthlehem was a surrounded city, essentially like a hostile border crossing, complete with a tower at the entrance with machine guns and plenty of troops. Lots of UN and Red Cross cars and journalists. Crossing into or out of Bethlehem, except for military vehicles, was a two hour process. The photographs that I took at the check point were done with a 35mm camera. That was pushing it enough. At one point, I had to speak to the guys with the guns, and when I got out of the car, you can rest assured that I did it slowly and with my hands well away from my sides. Only a lunatic would have tried to set up a large format camera. Nor can I conceive that anyone in his right mind would have been walking around with an old style 4x5 press camera. Apart from those photos, the most interesting "war photos" were taken in Amman, of journalists and photographers with whom we hung out, who were waiting to get visas to enter Iraq. The visa process was very fast for Europeans, Canadians and other members of the Commonwealth - Iraq had a policy of letting the Americans cool their heels, which they mostly did at the Amman Hilton. A very high end hotel, very expensive, bombed about two years ago.

bobc

9-Jun-2007, 23:22

Remote with LF: Mongolia and Antarctica

Cheers,

Josh Z.

10-Jun-2007, 02:45

Well... Maybe not really dangerous... But it does give me a chance to share recent natural encounters.

This past weekend I was hiking with the 4x5 about 2 miles from the car at dusk when I came across a mountain lion about 50 yards in front of me on the trail. I must have been quiet enough (probably not a good thing in hindsight) coming up the trail that he didn't know I was coming until we saw each other. He quite casually walked across the trail and disappeared into the forest. I spent about 10 minutes listening to twigs break as he retreated. It was certainly a privilege, even if it did get my heart pumping a bit.

Then just today while taking the dog for a walk I practically stepped on a snake. I'm pretty sure it was harmless (certainly not a rattlesnake) but still... Nearly stepping on a snake in rattlesnake country is not something I'd like to repeat.

I'm waiting for that inevitable encounter with a bear... I have my tripod jedi defensive swings memorized ;)

Brian K

10-Jun-2007, 05:03

Most dangerous? Utah. I had a bullet whiz by me at Utah lake last year.

tgtaylor

10-Jun-2007, 08:13

Well, I'd have to agree with Bill Jefferson's post above except for me it was 1967. Otherwise I'd say night photography (with a tripod) in the San Francisco tenderloin district.

tim atherton

10-Jun-2007, 08:33

Most dangerous - maybe Londonderry at the height of the "Troubles"?

Most dangerous and exotic? Maybe several kilometers out on the sea ice on the Beaufort Sea at night trying to photograph the Aurora Borealis when there was also a Polar Bear around and you couldn't hear much because of the creaking and groaning of the ice (at least I had my trusty .303 with me...)

Ben Chase

10-Jun-2007, 10:07

(at least I had my trusty .303 with me...)

Let's hope the first shot lands where it needs to! A friend of mine has a .454 Casull, and if you have ever shot one of those pistols - there's no doubting it would stop just about anything.

Wonder if bear spray also works on Kodiaks, or would it just make their meal a bit more spicy?

tim atherton

10-Jun-2007, 10:45

Let's hope the first shot lands where it needs to! A friend of mine has a .454 Casull, and if you have ever shot one of those pistols - there's no doubting it would stop just about anything.

Wonder if bear spray also works on Kodiaks, or would it just make their meal a bit more spicy?

It's a trusty old Lee Enfield SMLE No.1 MkIII that I bought for $50.00 and eventually put a modern stock on.

Used a lot for caribou for food travelling along the arctic coast. Only shot a polar bear once - it had come into town and was eating dogs and then was heading for the school playground for some small tasty kids...

On bear spray - I think if a polar bear is that close, you've had it. They aren't afraid of humans - they just figured you are a seal standing up. The spray would probably just add a nice bit of spice to the meal...

Vaughn

10-Jun-2007, 19:21

I've taken the 4x5 on some solo Grand Canyon hikes that seemed fairly isolated. Took some photos with the 4x5 looking across Franz Joesph Glacier in NZ...had to keep an ear open for falling rocks. After I moved on, I some some pretty good size rocks rolling over the place I had been. Been lots of places where it would have been deadly to have brake a leg or something. But I'm no fool...I've never photographed in the inner city...LOL!

Vaughn

adrian tyler

10-Jun-2007, 23:27

i was photographing inside the auxilluary building in a nuclear power station during the fuel rod change 3 weeks ago, leaning over the pool of water where all the waste fuel rods are stored to get a shot... got some great portraits too with all that tension going on, but i looked a picture myself with the protective overalls and headgear lugging a wooden 4x5 around...

Terry Hull

11-Jun-2007, 06:26

Most remote-Antartica. Most dangerous Vietnam 1968.

vann webb

12-Jun-2007, 19:11

Downtown Raleigh, NC. Got accosted by a wino with all my gear strewn all over and tripod set up for a night shot. Was by myself and have never felt so unnerved. Guy was extremely crazy. Haven't been back to that area ever again. Most remote place. The desert on the way to the north rim of the Grand Canyon, I guess qualifies as the road to nowhere, so to speak. Hardly dangerous, though. I like remote just fine. It's people that scare me when I'm trying to photograph.

Aggie

13-Jun-2007, 08:21

Most remote would be at over 16,500 feet in the Andes of Venezuela. Also out in the LLanos area of Venuzeula where I was sent with a 4x4 truck, driver, and two body guards with high powered rifles. I guess that one would also be considered dangerous since if it wasn't all the animals, it was the drug trade that was going on in the region. We ran into two Federales riding bicycles and with better rifles, just cruising the small paths on the way to Hell's Point along the Apure river.

Most dangerous would have to be my recent trip. I was taken twice to a infamous locals cantina in the Heart of Mexico City that was in the Yakuza held and run section of town. First was not so bad. So I took my handheld 4x5 with me for the second trip. Nearly got arrested. They don't like you taking pictures of the prostitues or drug deals. So what do I do, We go to the Zocolo main square and end up in the middle of a communist party rally which had the whole square ringed by thousands of police, federal troops and swat/riot police. I took a few shots and got the hell out of there. Later I learned it turned ugly fast.

Funny thing is I've felt safer on the streets of the Tenderlion in SF after hours than I have out in the wilds of Utah. Sounds crazy, but you have too many nut cases with guns here just doing target shooting, and don't care if you are in the way. You should know better that a can on a rock means it is a personal target range.

Don Hutton

13-Jun-2007, 18:08

I used to spend a fair bit of time shooting in old burned out factories in Detroit (of which there are thousands) when I lived in Michigan. These places are hardly remote (mostly within 10 miles of downtown Detroit), but certainly not without danger. This shot was taken in a very scary spot past River Rouge - one of those places you don't put your head under the darkcloth with any comfort... I used to try to make a habit of only shooting these locations in winter when it was particularly cold to minimize any encounters. However, this shot was on a hazy summer morning.

Hollis

28-Aug-2007, 21:40

Would have to be in China and having my lens pointed a bit too close to a military installation. Not good. Still alive but had some gear issues.

J V McLure

28-Aug-2007, 22:29

A few weeks ago, I set up my 4 x 5 on a dim moonlit night in an old graveyard situated in very run down part of Dallas. I was trying to shoot an image that would have the spooky "feel" of the place. Being under the dark cloth was not much fun at all. I quickly learned it is very difficult to use your eyes when your ears are working in overdrive. About ten seconds before I was taking down the camera and loading the car, I came out from under the dark cloth in record breaking speed. I still don't know what I in the hell I heard. What I do know is that when I left, the first quickload inserted was still in the camera - unexposed.

What I did learn was that a partner is badly needed for such field trips.

J V McLure

Daniel_Buck

29-Aug-2007, 00:02

most dangerous and remote? Well, my hiking takes me a little bit out of the way, but not really anywhere remote. Wandering around in Moab Utah was probably the most remote, and probably the most fun as well! I wish I would have been shooting 4x5 back then!

The most dangerous? Probably being directly behind 600+hp drag cars at the local drag strip. I just hid my face behind the the camera and hoped I didn't get slapped in the knuckles with a rock or rubber! I could hear the rocks and rubber pieces pinging off the back wall behind me! :eek:

http://404photography.net/_galleries/MDD_5.12.07/images/YU1G0702%20copy.jpg

C. D. Keth

29-Aug-2007, 15:20

Ben Chase

29-Aug-2007, 17:17

most dangerous and remote? Well, my hiking takes me a little bit out of the way, but not really anywhere remote. Wandering around in Moab Utah was probably the most remote, and probably the most fun as well! I wish I would have been shooting 4x5 back then!

The most dangerous? Probably being directly behind 600+hp drag cars at the local drag strip. I just hid my face behind the the camera and hoped I didn't get slapped in the knuckles with a rock or rubber! I could hear the rocks and rubber pieces pinging off the back wall behind me! :eek:

Dude, did you set up the 4x5 for that? I'd be afraid to have any of my lenses facing rocks moving at that speed.

Daniel_Buck

29-Aug-2007, 18:10

Dude, did you set up the 4x5 for that? I'd be afraid to have any of my lenses facing rocks moving at that speed.
sorry, i should have mentioned, that was 35mm digital, 1Ds2. I wasn't shooting 4x5 at that time. Not sure I would take my 4x5 to an event like this either, for one thing I'm not sure if I could get fast enough shutter speeds!

Ben Chase

29-Aug-2007, 18:50

sorry, i should have mentioned, that was 35mm digital, 1Ds2. I wasn't shooting 4x5 at that time. Not sure I would take my 4x5 to an event like this either, for one thing I'm not sure if I could get fast enough shutter speeds!

Either way - that's still some expensive gear and glass to have facing 100+mph rocks.

Guess that's why it's a good idea maybe to consider the UV filter (Lens Condom) just for protection.

Carsten Wolff

29-Aug-2007, 19:36

Most remote:
-Ross Island/Ross Sea, Antarctica (that's where Scott Base and McMurdo Station are)
-does rural northern Vietnam count?
-Central Australian outback/desert region;
-outer Torres Strait Islands;

Most "dangerous":
some of the above plus... Palm Island, Australia, hitherto described (by Nat. Geo. I think) as the "world's most dangerous place outside a warzone"....Crap! It's an amazing island with good people. I'm over there quite a bit lately (as its only 50 mile from where I live)...haven't had any issues with taking the Arca 5x7....just asking and not being a jerk worked for me.....same in Vietnam....

cyrus

29-Aug-2007, 20:57

On Mt Damavand (http://www.mountainzone.ir/Tours/Damavandclassictour.htm), an extinct volcano near Tehran.
It wasn't dangerous though, and since its only a few hours from a major megapolis, it wasn't really isolated either - just really really cold.

JW Dewdney

29-Aug-2007, 21:46

out of a helicopter with no door on it...(?)

Capocheny

29-Aug-2007, 22:30

Well, I'd have to agree with Bill Jefferson's post above except for me it was 1967. Otherwise I'd say night photography (with a tripod) in the San Francisco tenderloin district.

I hear you need a posse of bodyguards just to walk around in the Tenderloin District of San Fran... never mind planting a tripod at night! YIKES!!! :>)

Most dangerous place?

My backyard... some bees didn't like the shade of my darkcloth!

They dove bombed me!!! :eek:

Cheers

Zach In Israel

12-Sep-2007, 05:25

I only had 35mm and Medium format but I would say various spots in the west bank. One memorable time I was out at night for some astronomy and astrophotgraphy pulled off the road in the middle of no where, Unarmed with 4 teenagers. An Army patrol pulled up to see what we were up to. Mind you It was 15 minutes drive from my front door and all 4 teenagers speak fluent Hebrew (I don't).

We did get some really nice views of the night sky though.

C. D. Keth

12-Sep-2007, 22:46

out of a helicopter with no door on it...(?)

Surely you were at least harnessed in, right? Helicopters are dangerous enough in their own right. A news crew was all killed a couple weeks ago in AZ.

Greg Lockrey

12-Sep-2007, 23:12

On a minesweeping boat sweeping mines in the Mekong Delta in 1971.

Photomax

13-Sep-2007, 10:43

Not LF, but I got into trouble photographing a brutal arrest in South Africa in the 80's. Three police cars followed me and swarmed around me. Apartheid was nearing its end but the "authorities" still meant business. They wanted to "bring me in" but after a while I walked away BUT I had to hand over my film. I figured seeing the inside of a jail back then was to be avoided.

I also did some shooting in District Six in Cape Town. The district was a long time vibrant area inhabited by freed slaves and people of Malaysian descent. The apartheid government swept in and declared the district was now for "whites only". Some business moved in but it was always a raw nerve. The government wanted some old churches torn down for military housing, but fortunately this never happened. This is one of those churches with the famous Table Mountain in the background. While wondering around the district I was approached by this guy (a local) who urged me to leave the area with my camera as the area was very unsafe.

South Africa, the land of my birth, has come a long way...

SamReeves

13-Sep-2007, 11:37

Stockton, California has to be at the top of my list of dangerous. I had to constantly watch my back just for an hour of train-watching near the old Santa Fe interlocking tower. Some of the most scummy people you'd ever want to meet live there. :mad:

JW Dewdney

13-Sep-2007, 13:21

Surely you were at least harnessed in, right? Helicopters are dangerous enough in their own right. A news crew was all killed a couple weeks ago in AZ.

Oh god, yes!! Most of the time I need the pilot to do a steep bank to get the shot and so I'd fall right out if not harnessed in (doubly - in fact!) - You also have to be sure to have EVERYTHING tethered to you. Having a camera bag just resting on the floor is a huge no-no...! It's pretty fun though! I'll say that much.

The absolute FREAKIEST dangerous situation I'd heard of was a story the computer lab manager at my last university attended - had told me; He used to be an industrial photographer and had to photograph some mine engineering structures 5000 feet or something UNDER the surface of the earth. It was one of the widest excavations ever attempted (and thus most likely to collapse!). That's just about the LAST place I'D ever want to go!! Or maybe I'm claustrophobic!

evan clarke

14-Sep-2007, 03:29

Any place where people are eyeing you and your camera can be dangerous. There doesn't have to be headhunters and pit vipers.

But maybe I'm just jealous that I've never been to the Amazon or Siberia!

I was in a really tough part of town photographing a storefront church around 5:30 A.M. on a Sunday morning. I noticed a guy 1 1/2 blocks away who was looking me right in the eye! Danger is everywhere...EC

Scott Davis

14-Sep-2007, 06:45

Does a Cambodian landmine clearance zone count?

jetcode

15-Sep-2007, 08:56

Downtown Raleigh, NC. Got accosted by a wino with all my gear strewn all over and tripod set up for a night shot. Was by myself and have never felt so unnerved. Guy was extremely crazy. Haven't been back to that area ever again.

I surveyed a live/work loft once at the old GM plant on the Oakland/San Leandro border. It was a nice unit. While walking through the neighborhood I stopped to ask a man what it's like living there. "Oh, you get used to it", he said. "Used to what?", I asked. "The gunshots every night. After that cop got killed on the corner last year the police beefed up their patrols."

Inner city is always risky.

David R Munson

15-Sep-2007, 09:51

About the only truly remote place I've photographed was outer Mongolia, including the Gobi desert. Not too dangerous, though, unless you count the risk of dehydration. East Cleveland was pretty scary in places, but I never actually photographed there.

Scott Sharp

15-Sep-2007, 10:06

Most remote place I've photographed, was on top of Mt. Whitney at sunset. My most vulnerable moment was as a student. I was a photo student in the early 80's at S.F. City College. Out late one afternoon looking for something to photograph South of Market, I pulled into an alley and parked my truck across from an old rail box car. I set my camera up and was under the dark cloth trying to compose a shot of the wheels. I didn't hear a car pull up and two men get out. The next thing a feel a tap on my shoulder and someone asking me what I'm doing. I nearly knocked the camera over coming up from under the dark cloth. I was in shock. One minute the area was completely deserted and the next standing there were two S.F. City cops. I explained I was a student photographing etc.. but I still got a citation for parking the wrong way in the alley and trespassing on railroad property. After they finished with the citation they turned friendly and asked to look under the darkcloth. They parted with a warning to watch myself photographing in the city. After that I was always acutely tuned into what was going on around me as I set up the 4 x 5.

Mark Sawyer

15-Sep-2007, 17:24

Not large format, but definitely fun, and landed on the cover of the national hang gliding mag a couple of times in the 90's...

Frank Petronio

15-Sep-2007, 19:29

I think some of the most dangerous things I've done have been when doing some annual report - industrial corporate type photography. Really tight shots next to spinning sawblades or intense acids; crawling on catwalks over molten glass for Corning; or leaving strobe and power cables strewn through high traffic, damp areas.

But the worst was when we were shooting in a lab that did AIDs testing and a tech came wheeling around a corner with a cart full of blood samples, stopping short when he saw us. Yep, the blood went flying onto the floor...

Brian K

16-Sep-2007, 16:51

Utah, had a bullet whiz by me. Montana, was surprised to find myself about 25 feet from a black bear and her cubs. Newfoundland, found myself face to face within 20 feet of a Bull Moose on a narrow, dense trail. And in an earlier incarnation of my career, foolishly standing behind a tripod in the path of sportscars doing high speed skid pad tests.

Anyone else ever drive 4-5 miles on a narrow, one lane (not quite, just slightly wider than the car) jeep trail with a multi hundred foot sheer cliff drop off, only to find the trail run off ( that is runoff the side of the mountain and leave a cliff where a trail once existed) have no chance to turn around,and to then drive in reverse for 4-5 miles while you try to keep from going over the cliff?

The stupidest thing is my first trip to do landscape photography out west. In 90 degree heat, at 8000' elevation, climbed the Great sands dunes (the 700 foot one of course) carrying 2 suitcase type camera cases weighing about 65 pounds (plus a 10 pound tripod). My heart did things that I hope to never experience again.
I've gotten smarter now......