Warning: if you suffer from a fear of heights, you might want to skip today’s post. I dig heights, and these photos are giving even me the yips! Here’s some puppies instead.

Urbex: the exploration of man-made structures, usually abandoned ruins or other rarely-seen elements of the man-made environment.

Rooftopping: a type of urbex which involves climbing onto the roofs of skyscrapers for the purpose of taking photos. See also craneing and buildering.

Vic Invades is a young photographer who engages in urbex and rooftopping, and whose Instagram is bursting with heart-stopping New York City photos taken from great heights. My first thought looking at them was “his poor mother.” And of course, it’s not just the laws of gravity (and Murphy) he’s defying to capture these stomach-lurching photos. There’s quite a bit of criminal trespass going on, too.

VI describes himself as the Robin Hood of photography because he believes these spectacular views shouldn’t be the exclusive property of the rich and privileged. I take his point, but I promise you that very, very few of the rich and privileged are climbing out on their skyscrapers to enjoy these death-defying perspectives.

His photos are clearly an outpouring of his youth and energy; of his feeling of immortality and his need to explore. He may have gotten my attention with his daring, but it’s really his skill with a camera and his sense of composition that kept me interested. I give him credit for all of that talent, no matter how much I want him to GET DOWN FROM THERE THIS INSTANT.

All photos are the property of Vic Invades (and make me feel a little whoopsie).

(Via)