As selfies go, this one went as far as any sane person would probably contemplate; right into the mouth of an active volcano, full of red-hot lava.
Explorer and documentary filmmaker George Kourounis and fellow daredevil Sam Cossman had cameras along as they descended into the Marum crater of the active Ambrum Volcano on the South Pacific's Vanuatu archipelago.
The Marum crater is filled with an active, churning lake of lava.
"Going down into the crater of Marum has been a dream of mine for many years," Kourounis told The Huffington Post. "It was exhilarating, to say the least."
Kourounis and Cossman used a GoPro wearable video camera along with a Sony NX Cam and a Canon 5D still camera to document their look into what Kourounis called a "window into hell."
As the man behind the television program Angry Planet, Kourounis is renown for taking up adventures at the extreme end of the spectrum.
He and Cossman were taken to and then into the Marum Crater by pioneers of volcano exploration, guides Geoff Mackley, Brad Ambrose and Gareth Hawken.
The group of intrepid -- some would prefer the term foolhardy -- explorers spent four day at the volcano, descending into the crater with cameras to hand twice.
Kourounis, whose idea of an easy day at work is chasing tornadoes, said it easily qualified as the most extreme experiences he's had.
"Getting to [Marum] was kind of like a reverse climbing of Everest," he said. "The volcano fought back at us, and we had to deal with terrible weather, tremendous heat from the lava, descending and ascending 400 meters of near vertical, loose rock face, acid rain so strong that it could have come from a car battery, and a variety of other craziness."
He got close enough for splashes of lava to melt holes in the clothing and a part of one of the cameras, he said.
It's such a hazardous spot that more men have traveled to the moon than have walked down into the Marum Crater, the description accompanying the posted YouTube video noted.
Lest you doubt just how close to the bottom Kourounis got -- in case the YouTube video wasn't evidence enough -- here's his selfie.
Definitely beats the usual "here's me at the restaurant with my friends" snap.
