Incredible Balancing Acts & Tightrope Walking

"QUANTUM SHOT" #857
Link - article by Avi Abrams

Up on the Roof: Not for the Faint of Heart

If you've seen Harold Lloyd's classic comedy "Safety Last", you may remember his daredevil stunts of dangling from skyscraper clock's minute hand at a dizzying height and generally climbing without any significant support, producing huge thrills and frights. Today we are going to see more vintage and modern examples of such mind-bending balance, done for the camera (without any computer and special effects):

(man balancing on a piece of wood on the roof of a skyscraper 1939 (some say, Harold Lloyd himself?), photo via)

Here is another twist on this dangerous "game of chairs", all performed in the 1920s-1930s:

(images via)

American equilibrist J. Reynolds, performing acrobatic and balancing acts on high cornice above 9th Street N.W." in 1917:

(left image via)

Another insane chair balancing stunt was recently performed by French equilibrist Henri Rechatin in Moscow, overlooking the Red Square - see video here:

(images via)

Here is another balancing act involving chairs, this time performed by Chinese acrobats:

(image credit: Henry Atkinson)

And finally, here is an insane acrobat performance on a ledge of the Empire State Building, photographed by Otto Bettman in 1934:

(image via)

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These are fabricated balancing situations - created by Chinese artist Li Wei:

(images via)

"Li Wei states that these images are not computer montages, but that he uses mirrors, metal wires, scaffolding and acrobatics".

(images via)

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Extreme Heights Tightrope Walking Feats

The following beautiful, atmospheric image was captured by French photographer Sylvain Emmanuel Prieur:

(image credit: Sylvain Emmanuel Prieur, via)

Extreme slackline walking in Austria, by the Australian daredevil Michael Kemeter:

(image via)

Not tightroping, but a BASE jumping platform using a vertigo-inducing suspended bridge in Gimmelwald, Switzerland:

(images via)

And then, there is a newly popular activity among photographers and urban explorers: rooftopping. One of the masters of this extreme approach to photography is Tom Ryaboi (see more of his work here):

(images credit: Tom Ryaboi)

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"All in a Day's Work" Balancing

This kind of maintenance requires great balancing skills and no fear of heights: