Sometimes you come across a photo in Adobe Stock’s catalogue which literally makes your jaw drop. Fredrik Schlyter’s image ‘Man making a base jump‘ did just that. We caught up with him to find out more about the story behind it.
Adobe: What inspired you to take this picture?
Schlyter: Lysefjorden in Norway has been a favourite place of mine for many years, not only as a passionate photographer, but also as a climber. I’ve spent many days here climbing up stunning 900m vertical walls. Almost every time I’ve climbed these mountains, I’ve seen so called base-jumpers passing me. Sometimes they were so close that I could see their faces and hear them say “Helllloooo” as they passed. In 1998, I did my first solo climb of these walls, spending 52 hours scaling the length of the wall in solitude. Once or twice a day I would also say hello to these “crazy” base-jumpers.
Adobe: Is base-jumping dangerous? Is it something we could do?
I have had a lot of discussions with base-jumpers about the risks involved. The jumpers don’t understand why I would want to spend 52 two hours alone climbing up a wall. For them it only takes 15-40 seconds to get down! Kjerag in Lysefjorden is one of the few places in the world where you’re allowed to jump. This year, over 40,000 jumps have been made from these walls and it’s becoming a huge tourist attraction. A ferry from Stavanger often stops under the walls of Kjerag to let their passengers see the base-jumpers mid-flight.
