photo friday - Heights - Friday, September 26, 2003

dubrovnic, july 2003

heights: photofriday

When I was a child I was terrified of heights. Not just in a "can't go up there" kind of way... but in an "if I do I might just accidentally throw myself off the edge" fear. I have improved with age yet every now and again I get gripped with the panic. Even climbing the stairs of St Pauls in London I found myself unable to move. Stagnant. There was no forward or even illegal backwards momentum. I was rooted to the spot.
Why?
The stairs were see through and there was a hole in the floor directly below me that showed the distance from the top of the dome to the gallery floor below.

This shot was taken in Dubrovnic.
Below the rear of the elegant steep walls of the ancient city, people swim in the beautiful Adriatic sea and dive off the rocks.
A crowd on many levels had gathered to witness the only female "jumper" of the day. Where she is leaping from, on the extreme left of the shot is about 30 ft above the water below. I was sitting sipping a beer about 20 ft above her.
There is no way I could ever have jumped like that.
I am terrified of heights.

posted by jen @ 6:21 PM