One thing that did not please me were Peter Kaplan's images of the nudes perched in dangerous places ["Top of the World," page 30].It is all right for Mr. Kaplan to risk his life, but placing models in danger for the whim these photos express is just depressingly irresponsible.

Maybe he could dangle from the Eiffel Tower or the Space Needle. ... At least he would get a kudo or two for comic relief.

— Royal Mason, via e-mail

The editor responds:The models who posed for Kaplan's nude images were there on a completely voluntary basis. At no time were the models put "in danger." Kaplan and his assistants are experienced climbers who practice the same rigorous safety procedures as ironworkers...

Lofty recollections from the inventor of "height photography."

Situated 746 feet above the waters of San Francisco Bay on May 24, 1987, photographer Peter B. Kaplan was fulfilling his lifelong dream of capturing majestic images from atop one of the towers of the Golden Gate Bridge.

At the same time, however, he thought he was about to get a bird's-eye view of one of the world's greatest catastrophes.

The event was the 50th anniversary celebration of the 1.7-mile-long icon. Kaplan, who had practically invented an entire genre of photography shooting images from tall structures, which he termed "height photography" recently had been named the official photographer of the Golden Gate Bridge...

On the cover: “Height photographer” Peter B. Kaplan hangs just below the red light on top of the Empire State Building’s antenna, roughly 150 feet higher than the roof of the 105th floor. 

Cover photo: © Peter Kaplan