Recently, a group of Russian tourists risked a one to three year prison sentence to capture some photos — from the top of Egypt’s Great Pyramid, the only one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World still standing. In a blog post by the group (which can be found here roughly translated into English), the group describes how they avoided security guards, waiting until nightfall to scale the nearly 140 meter (about 455 feet) pyramid under cover of darkness, making the dangerous ascent with ancient stones threatening to crumble beneath their feet. The resulting shots show the surrounding pyramids and monuments from a unique perspective that may never have been seen before, with the glowing lights of Cairo far below:
This group was far from the first to attempt scaling the Great Pyramid, as they reported finding many inscriptions and carvings at the top in many different languages. While we can appreciate the beauty of the photography (even though it was acquired illegally), if every tourist tried this, there might not be any pyramids left to admire.
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It’s ironic that these idiots got away with it while there are three Russian artists in Russian jail right now for practicing THEIR craft. Hey Picture Perfect … Pull down this post now.
They’re rocks folks, it’s not the end of the bloody world. The issue isn’t from a handful of people, but ‘everyone’ climbing the bloody things.
The real question is why there are not already professional shots done with people who actually know what they’re doing to avoid damaging things in the middle of the night.
Have to disagree, Kathy. Michal’s wording is not strong enough. Totally agree with Kevin; no photo is worth abusing our environment. Have to disagree with James. No’s 6, 7, and 9 are from ground level, so really have nothing to do with this dubious exploit as they are far from unique. Of the remaining 6, 4 feature members of the expedition. That leaves 2, and one of these is badly framed to include a partial leg and foot. An easy fix, but not ready for publication as presented. Finally, we have a snapshot of . . . What? Yellow sand. Oh, goody.
I have a strong aesthetic dislike for art about art, artists, and the creative process. Seems like writers lacking real inspiration write about writing. I call it creative masturbation. Here we have the bulk of photos taken on the pyramid about the process and the players. Just an ego trip by wankers, about wankers wanking.
Awsome
I might not have worded it as strongly as Michal, but I am in total agreement with him.
these shot are just breath taking..
Stupid and so wrong. It’s not just a tower, bridge or building they illegally climbed on. It’s more than 4000 years old and you can’t just fix it when they destroy it….
You’er not a good photographer, if you don’t respect your environment.
And as Michal already said, you should not support something like that by posting they pictures!
Arrogant, stupid assholes. Idiotic criminals. You should be ashamed to publish those pictures. Those people broke the law and damaged an ancient monument by climbing on it. By showing those pictures you have further inflated egos of those morons who no doubt will try again to pull a similar stunt. Dickheads.