On the Edge With a GoPro and a Pole

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This summer, David Frank got an assignment to do a video on a New York City window washer. He thought it would be an interesting story and envisioned himself shooting from a scaffold as it glided along the side of some skyscraper.

“But when I called the guy, I found out he doesn’t do scaffold work,” Mr. Frank said with a chuckle. “He does it the old-fashioned way, by crawling outside the window.”

After rethinking his approach â€" for example, taking his Canon camera and his GoPro, attached to a pole, to the edge with him â€" Mr. Frank was able to convey the skill and calm needed by someone standing on three inches of window ledge. The resulting video, “Man on an Edge,” has racked up more than 450,000 views.

“I’d like to think that has something to do with the photography,” he said.

In the accompanying piece, Mr. Frank, who was deputy director of photography at The Times before becoming a video journalist six years ago, talks about how he got that vertiginous video.

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