Humza Deas Scales New Heights For “F8 and Be There”

Move over, Margaret Bourke-White. There’s room on that girder for a new generation of daredevil photographers with smart phones who will take any risk to get the shot. Humza Deas started climbing bridges and skyscrapers in New York City for the adrenalin rush and street creds, documenting his feats with selfies of his shoes. Think of him as a kind of vertical flaneur, soaring rather than strolling, with a rarefied perspective on the street. Instead of LIFE Magazine, Instagram is his platform.  Now he’s beginning to parlay social media fame into a paying gig.

Humza Deas perches vertiginously above Time Square in New York, documenting the “be there” moment with a selfie of his shoes. His laconic comment on the shot: “power trip” [Source: WNYC Sideshow/Instagram]

Deas perched vertiginously above Time Square at night for this “be there” moment. His laconic comment on the shot: “power trip” [Source: WNYC Sideshow/Instagram].

Who is Humza Deas? from Humza Deas on Vimeo.

 

  • Humza Deas (@humzadeas) • Instagram photos and videos
    As of 013015, @humzadeas has more than 105K followers on Instagram.
  • Who is Humza Deas? on Vimeo
    Humza Deas is a New York based photographer. This video is the start to a web series that showcases who Humza is & what he does. | Film & edit by Sean Colello. | Song: Nina Simone - Feeling Good | Instagram: @Humzadeas & @Sgtcolello | Tumblr: Humzadeas.tumblr.com & Sry-thx.tumblr.com
  • Sideshow Podcast: At 17, Humza Deas Puts Shame in Your Instagram Game - Studio 360 012715
    Humza Deas isn’t impressed by his nearly 100,000 Instagram followers, though he should be. He earned every one surfing subways, climbing bridges, and scaling New York City’s skyscrapers for the perfect photo. The ambitious 17-year-old taught himself everything he knows about trespassing and now, on the cusp of adulthood, he’s teaching himself how to be an even better photographer. | It’s not exactly surprising that a high school student in 2015 started taking photos on a smart phone. “I never owned my first camera until four or five months ago,” Deas says. At the age of 16, he bought a second-hand iPhone and began posting lifestyle photos to Instagram—skateboarding, streetscapes, and heavily filtered portraits of friends. | Soon enough, Deas wanted to up his game. After seeing a video of daredevils free-climbing a Beijing skyscraper on YouTube, he figured out a way. “This is what I can do—this is how I can be original,” he thought to himself. Though he had little to no experience climbing much of anything, he was confident that skateboarding and “being fascinated with edges of buildings to do tricks on” had prepared him plenty.

For the record, here is an historic shot of Margaret Bourke-White, age 27, perched on the scaffolding enclosing the Chrysler Building under construction in New York in 1931.  [Source: ‘Great Lady With a Camera’: Margaret Bourke-White, American Original | LIFE.com]

Margaret Bourke-White, age 27, perches on the scaffolding enclosing the Chrysler Building under construction in New York in 1931. [Source: ‘Great Lady With a Camera': Margaret Bourke-White, American Original | LIFE.com]

 

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