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19 incredible photos from New York City's new teen Instagram sensation

Humza Deas put himself on the NYPD’s radar recently.

SEVENTEEN-YEAR-OLD Humza Deas is a certified daredevil.

The teen, recently profiled in New York Magazine by Adrian Chen, is what Chen calls an “outlaw Instagrammer”, a kid who explores the forbidden, dangerous heights of Manhattan without abandon, snapping photos along the way.

Deas, with nearly 30,000 followers on Instagram, climbs bridges, scales buildings, and slides in and out of off-limit locations, all with a camera in hand.

Chen writes of Deas and the “outlaw Instagrammer” community in NYC:

The best outlaw instagrammers have a specialty that sets them apart, and Deas’s is climbing bridges. In one photo he balances at night on a suspension cable at the top of the Manhattan Bridge as cars streak below him. In another, a friend sits on the sloping steel beam of what appears to be the Queensboro Bridge, his face lit by the glow of a smartphone he’s staring into.

Up until last month, Deas and his friends were an underground entity. Then, a white flag mysteriously appeared on top of the Brooklyn Bridge, replacing the American flag. Immediately, Chen writes, Deas was fielding questions right and left from his Instagram fans. Deas says it wasn’t him, but in an attempt to clear his name, he just ended up putting himself on the radar of the NYPD.

You can read Chen’s profile on Deas in New York Magazine here. Meanwhile, take a look at some of his awesome photos, all posted to Instagram.

PastedImage-5888 Deas is part of a community of photographers that scale buildings and bridges in NYC, looking for the perfect photo.

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PastedImage-10552 For them, photography is more performance — or competition — than visual art, Chen wrote of Deas and this community for New York Magazine.

PastedImage-30308 Capturing Times Square

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PastedImage-97671 Most all of the places Deas shoots from are legally off-limits.

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PastedImage-22118 He's hit most of the bridges in New York. Here's a shot looking downtown from a building around 25th Street and 5th Avenue.

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-Caroline Moss

Read: This coffee shop works on the honour system – and nobody steals

More: Here’s what life looks like when you abandon civilisation

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    Mute Brianán Mc Bride
    Favourite Brianán Mc Bride
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    Aug 31st 2014, 5:08 PM

    Amazing photos, made me a bit dizzy looking at some of them

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    Mute Tweety McTweeter
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    Aug 31st 2014, 5:24 PM

    Looks amazing but if put my life in danger like that when I was 17, my mother would have killed me

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    Mute Paul Fitzpatrick
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    Aug 31st 2014, 5:13 PM

    Tá siad go Deas!

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    Mute Jenta deuto
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    Aug 31st 2014, 5:10 PM

    Some cracking photos but I think you’d want to be mad to scale them dizzy heights.

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    Mute Ron North
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    Aug 31st 2014, 6:34 PM

    Who should one contact to become a certified daredevil?

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    Mute Robbie Curran
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    Aug 31st 2014, 9:01 PM

    Any one who works with junkies in my opinion.

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    Mute Killian Fitzpatrick
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    Aug 31st 2014, 5:58 PM

    Wow, stunning shots!

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    Mute Jenta deuto
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    Aug 31st 2014, 5:10 PM

    Some cracking photos but I think you’d want to be mad to scale them dizzy heights.

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    Mute Conn Rogers
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    Aug 31st 2014, 7:25 PM

    You can say that again

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    Mute Declan Beach
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    Aug 31st 2014, 7:54 PM

    simply amazing photos

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    Mute Alan Cooke
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    Aug 31st 2014, 7:38 PM

    I was wondering if instagram wud take down what’s left of him on the side walk when that’s posted by some one else? Wud youtube erase his video of the 1000 or so foot fall ? The photos may look cool now but the ending of this series of photos may not. Hope his mum can talk some sense into him.

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    Mute JustMade Ireland
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    Sep 2nd 2014, 1:17 AM

    Jinx

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    Mute Seamus Keogh
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    Sep 1st 2014, 5:04 AM

    Quit while you’re ahead lad!

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