Planet Gopro

When your life is no longer in your own HANDS

Are action cams compelling us to push the limits too far?

While riding a motorcycle, BASE jumping, shooting the curl, or braving the battlefield— more than 10 million people are now using miniature cameras to film what they’re experiencing as it happens in the moment. However, it’s gradually becoming clear: Action cams not only provide sharp images of exciting activities, they also change the behavior of those who wear them— more and more often with fatal consequences…

Two centimeters is all that separates Ilya and Oleg from certain death. The young men are balancing on the metal grid of a crane with nothing but air beneath them for 330 feet. The downward view is not for people with vertigo. It’s the perfect photograph— if it had been taken five years ago. The problem: Nowadays, thousands of so-called “rooftoppers” film and photograph themselves on the roofs of the world using action cams. There are already higher and more spectacular spots. It’s a race for the best pictures, triggered by Gopro & Co. Both of these young men in Yekaterinburg, Russia, know this— and opt for an ultimate test of courage. Ilya firmly holds onto the crane with both hands and dangles from it before grasping Oleg’s arm with his right hand and letting go of the crane with his left. His life is literally in Oleg’s hands— one of which is occupied with pressing the shutter of his device. The photo is shared online and liked thousands of times within hours— a viral mega-hit that would’ve been impossible without a matchbox-size camera.