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DPChallenge Forums >> General Discussion >> Photographer dies taking picture... sad...
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06/18/2006 02:09:18 PM · #1
Copied from the AP...

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyoming (AP) -- A woman lost her footing after stepping over a retaining wall to take a photograph and went over a cliff, falling 500 feet to her death in a canyon, Yellowstone National Park officials said.
The 52-year-old woman was visiting the park with her husband and two children.

Her husband flagged down a passing motorist, who called 911 after the Saturday morning accident at an overlook along the Yellowstone River, park officials said.

A ranger rappelled down the canyon wall to reach the woman, but she was dead at the scene.

[edited to say title was supposed to say "photographer"]

Message edited by author 2006-06-18 14:09:52.
06/18/2006 02:14:23 PM · #2
...after stepping over a retaining wall....

Thats why they have retaining walls.
06/18/2006 02:15:39 PM · #3
sad - as it sounds like something I would do
06/18/2006 02:19:06 PM · #4
Originally posted by ShutterPug:

sad - as it sounds like something I would do


I imagine many of us here have done some risk taking while getting just the right shot. I know I have...
06/18/2006 02:20:55 PM · #5
with her husband and two children, hmm... I think it'd be hard to top that one as worst vacation ever, I wonder how old the kids were
06/18/2006 02:29:00 PM · #6
Originally posted by hsteg:

...after stepping over a retaining wall....

Thats why they have retaining walls.


here here! They put them there for a reason! I would never step over one just to get "that" shot!
06/18/2006 02:35:42 PM · #7
Originally posted by ShutterPug:

sad - as it sounds like something I would do


Goodness, SP, don't do that. It's one thing to make pictures, it's another to get stupid doing it. For example, every time I've been to Yellowstone I see these photographers getting really close to bisons for example, waaaaaay too close, and that in spite of all the many warnings around about it. It's just not worth it to be stupid about stuff like that.
06/18/2006 02:39:40 PM · #8
One bright(!) thing... she died doing something she liked so much...

I know, nothing bright about dying, but she is gone... and must find some positive in everything (kind of my motto)
06/18/2006 02:47:18 PM · #9
There was an article here a few months ago about a photographer who was hit by a train because he was standing on the train tracks and was "so focused on his shot that he didn't hear the train coming." It's always sad when someone dies but I really have to wonder about people.
06/18/2006 02:50:09 PM · #10
couldn't hear the train? that's bad, ESPECIALLY when you're standing on the tracks
06/18/2006 02:53:19 PM · #11
Originally posted by ShutterPug:

sad - as it sounds like something I would do


you mean like falling into a frozen lake and almost killing yourself only to stop and take a picture of the hole you made before running back to get warm? nah... not you :0P
06/18/2006 02:53:22 PM · #12
That is sad. Never cross a retaining wall especially with your children there. You would never want to risk your life or the trauma your children would sustain seeing it.

If you want to take a picture beyond a retaining wall use your tripod as a boom and a remote or timer!!
06/18/2006 02:59:29 PM · #13
Originally posted by ShutterPug:

sad - as it sounds like something I would do


Unfortunately it sounds like something I would do as well. Gave myself one hell of a shock while designing a slave flash trigger circuit on Friday.
06/18/2006 04:15:29 PM · #14
Originally posted by oOWonderBreadOo:

Originally posted by ShutterPug:

sad - as it sounds like something I would do


you mean like falling into a frozen lake and almost killing yourself only to stop and take a picture of the hole you made before running back to get warm? nah... not you :0P


And then going to some man's house and taking a shower.
06/18/2006 05:30:48 PM · #15
That's not sad, that is downright stupid. They have retaining walls and safety barriers for s reason.

June
06/18/2006 05:54:02 PM · #16
I go over and around that stuff all the time. However I avoid situations that are 1 slip and your dead. I carry a rope and tie myself off so I wouldn't fall over a ledge. Most of the places I go dont have safty devices anyway. Avoid the one slip and your dead situations! I'm sure it would look stupid if someone wandered up saw me tieing myself to a rope but I stay alive and safe. oh and Avoid the one slip and your dead situations!

Tim

P.S. Avoid the one slip and your dead situations!
06/18/2006 06:19:11 PM · #17
Yeah, and set a good example for your children, so they won't have to learn it the hard way.
06/18/2006 06:30:09 PM · #18
There are a lot of spots in Yellowstone where the walls are stone and short and its not over the wall and down you go. Often there are gradual slopes out for 10 to 20 feet or more before it starts getting steeper. Someone seeing that gradual slope could easily deside to pop over, get a few feet closer and grab that outstanding shot. The falls are always so tragic and hard to grasp. A few years back in Utah a couple on their honeymoon were hiking a canyon and whoop.. over the edge she tripped, gone in a heartbeat. Her husband said he never heard a sound, he looked back to say something and she was gone. Personally, my internal pucker machine keeps me well away from any edges.. yeesh... just the thought chills me. Now my wife, give her an insane hieght and she's on it.

Message edited by author 2006-06-18 18:31:05.
06/18/2006 06:46:50 PM · #19
Monday I was shooting in the dark at place i have never been on an overlook above a cliff face. A tree was blocking the river below and i decided to go over the barrier. I used my flash to make sure there was enough room for me and my tripod. Once over myself, i reached back to pull my equipment over, the bottom of the tripod caught on the barrier and i found myself off balance with a 300+ foot drop in the dark with not a soul on the planet knowing where i was or what i was doing.

That little near slip didn't stop me, with more care i got my stuff over and snapped a few shots before realizing how close i had come to going over the edge. I slowly retreated and gave myself some time to reflect, i really doubt I will ever do that again.

It's a real shame this lady wasn't as lucky, I happen to have some friends in Yellowstone right now who are photographers and around that age with children I really hope this isn't her. If it is I will obviously update when I find out but the husband of the couple i know is a 30 year professional photographer.
06/18/2006 07:23:08 PM · #20
Ain't no fun scraping up what's left after an incident like that either. I used to be a Park Warden and have quite a few work buddies who had to "pick up the pieces" of people who didn't respect signs, warnings and whatnot.

Be careful guys.
06/18/2006 08:12:44 PM · #21
This sounds like a bunch of the guys on the Moab GTG in Canyonlands. John, Brent and others does this sound familiar? Only difference was the cliff at Canyonlands were 1500 feet with no retainer walls and no rangers with rope to go check the body out. Canyonland fall means free animal feed for a day or two. BUT all was worth it for the once in a lifetime pics .... right?
06/18/2006 10:40:14 PM · #22
so what is the difference between taking a shot before and beyond the retaining wall anyway? silly law-breaking woman... it's selfish that she didn't consider her own safety when when putting her life at risk - especially when she has got others who loved her, like her husband and kids. Hope they wont be traumatized by the incident.

p/s: maybe a rotate-able EVF screen would have saved her life.
06/18/2006 10:47:11 PM · #23
.... but did she get the shot?
06/18/2006 10:47:52 PM · #24
Originally posted by Niten:

P.S. Avoid the one slip and your dead situations!




You mean one of these situations?
06/18/2006 10:54:05 PM · #25
Actually, there's a lot of spots where there are pulloffs without retaining walls. The one where I was shooting at Perigrine Falcon was about a 80% grade and no retaining wall. Probably not certain death, but about a 50/50 chance if you stepped wrong. Serious injury at least.

Ursula is right, more people are seriously injured in yellowstone every year by bison than any other single thing in the park. They look like cows, but they ain't. They're sneakier and smarter than they look, tick one off, and they're likely to circle behind you and then charge instead of doing it right away.

Funny that no-one mentioned the amazing story of three girls that came across a bear in the park, did the right thing, jumped up and down screaming and waving their arms, curled up in a ball on the ground when it still charged them. When it got bored of sniffing them, it left. Didn't even do the usual paw and claw even. Not a scratch, now that's newsworthy. People put themselves in stupid positions every day, it's not every day that they miraculously survive a dangerous happenstance.
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