Death-defying self-portraits of falling

It's an understatement to say photographer Kerry Skarbakka puts himself in perilous situations. He leaps from great heights--often a cliff or ledge--and then clicks the shutter. He photographs himself falling in a series titled The Struggle to Right Oneself. Using a clever combination of daredevil imagination, martial arts, and some rigging gear, Skarbakka captures that proverbial 'point of no return,' the space in between an action or an event, of scary mid-air suspension. The concept behind the work originated as a way for Skarbakka to deal with the loss of his mother to brain cancer and then to the events of Sept 11. "I was dealing with issues of control and the sense of loss of control...and how I could realize this project through the act of giving up control and falling, flying, dreaming and levitating."

Skarbakka will be exhibiting his solo work at the Kopeikin Gallery in Los Angeles in May 2013.