The German weekly Die Zeit published this photo of the brothers Thomas and Alexander Huber climbing El Capitan in an article discussing ‘voracity for fear’. The occasion for the climb was a documentary ‘Am Limit’ by Pepe Danquart’s that opened on March 22, 2007 in Germany. (photo by Heinz Zak, published in Die Zeit 22.03.2007, Nr. 13).
Being a junkie for perspective, this photo caught my eye. Do you have any photos or links for photos of interesting perspectives?
This image has some lines that converge toward the tiny human figure. Even though they are not parallel lines converging due to conventional perspective, we tend to read them that way, enhancing the effect of the size perspective (difference in size between the two people). A good trick for inducing vertigo.
So far, I have mostly focused on the upper Huber brother. I am still getting dizzy when shifting my eyes to his lower brother. Thanks for explaining my discomfort.
Vertigo is for sure when I move my eyes from one brother to the other.
I like the muscles and see intensity in the upper brother.
Makes me wonder where the photographer was as I see no shadows…talk about intense!
Ginger, translated from Die Zeit:
Four kilometer of rope was arranged in the vicinity of the route (of the brothers) up the wall of the mountain so that four camera people – also excellent climbers – could do the work.
Vier Kilometer Kletterseil wurden neben der eigentlichen Route in der Wand verlegt, um den vier Kameraleuten – auch sie herausragende Kletterer – die Arbeit zu ermöglichen.
You won’t see a lot of paintings like this–if so, they were probably done from photographs! Painters can use strong perspective, though, for example de Chirico:
Not only is the perspective unusually strong here, but the two building facades don’t have the same vanishing point, which adds to the eeriness. This painting reminds me of one of Angela’s we discussed before.
Angela’s painting also evokes a sense of vertigo in me (the street is gliding away). The eerie perspective of the Chirico picture makes me feel a little as if I am crushed between the two solid buildings. It does not evoke a sense of vertigo.
Thus, unusual perspectives can evoke different feelings.
If you look for climbing images in general you may find lots of other interesting perspectives like this one – it is part of the climbing photography genre.
Dan,
Last weekend, I looked at your Ocean pictures. I could not decide which one I loved better, Winter Surf, San Gregorio, or Sand, Surf and Birds.
I grew up at the North Sea.