People are often advised to stay away from volcanoes for safety reasons, but cameramen like Bradley Ambrose, who film molten rocks in volcanoes, are bound for a few close calls.
One such incident, however, had Ambrose telling himself not to repeat the same mistake of getting too close to danger again because, if he were not lucky enough, he would have been covered in lava bombs.
The cameraman from New Zealand was filming at the Marum lava lake in Ambrym, a volcanic island in Vanuatu's Malampa Province, which is known to have one of the most active volcanoes of the world, when suddenly, a burst of lava nearly showered him.
Ambrose, an award-winning photographer who describes himself as an adventure seeker, related that he was taking videos when a pulse of gas suddenly came out, causing a large lava splatter that covered the area where he was.
"I was filming on the edge when an extremely large pulse of gas just came out and caused a huge lava splatter that basically covered this entire area. I was in the middle of it," Ambrose related, adding that he just ran when this happened. "There's not one shot that's worth that, so I'm going to back off and get some more protective gear on."
Fortunately, Ambrose managed to run away fast enough. His camera and GoPro, mounted on his head, also recorded the incident, which he shared on YouTube on Dec. 28 and which has so far reached more than 40,000 views.
The video's description says that Ambrose took temperatures of the previous lava ejections in the area, and these ranged between 600 and 800 degrees Celsius.
Although filming volcanoes and lava is nothing new for Ambrose, the splatter that he was lucky to have missed was the closest he had come to being covered by the extremely hot stuff -- it could have cost him his life. It should also be enough warning and reminder for him to film at a safer distance next time.
"That was probably my closest call ever to being completely covered in lava bombs," Ambrose said.
Besides filming volcanoes, Ambrose has also worked as an adventure photographer taking footage of extreme weather events worldwide, including those that occur in Siberia, Australia, Ethiopia and Rwanda. He was also a breaking news cameraman.
Here's Ambrose's video shared on Youtube:
