Daredevil Climbs Landmark to Get World’s First Ever Selfie with Christ the Redeemer

Photography News

On a recent trip to Brazil, photojournalist Lee Thompson of The Flash Pack took a break from covering the upcoming World Cup to take an epic self portrait at the top of Rio’s famous Christ the Redeemer statue:

The statue has been under repair after lightning damaged it in January, and Thompson somehow managed to convince the Brazil tourist board to let him ascend the statue’s scaffolding and rickety stairs with the assistance of two high-wire workers. After a claustrophobic journey, he emerged from the interior of the giant soapstone monument to a precarious position at the top of Christ’s crown. From there, he could look down not only at tourists on the platform, but at the city of Rio de Janeiro stretched out thousands of feet below his perch.

Lucky for those of us who will probably never get to balance atop the famous landmark ourselves, Thompson’s climb was documented via GoPro:

“As far as selfies go, I can’t compete with popes, presidents, and radical Russians, because as a photographer my job is to take the shots, not star in them. But when the opportunity arose to take the world’s first (and so far only) selfie with Jesus, I couldn’t resist.”