“The image was a publicity effort by the Rockefeller Centre,” Corbis’s chief historian Ken Johnston told the Independent. “It seems pretty clear they were real workers, but the event was organised with a number of photographers.”
— blogs.artinfo.com
I guess what makes this photo so powerful is the contrast of the nonchalance of the workmen and the perceived danger of falling to one's death. It's an almost automatic anxiety/fear response, like a blink, that works everytime I look at this photo. If you want the full version of skyscraper anxiety I suggest watching the old Harold Lloyd silent film SAFETY LAST.
4 Comments
staged, not faked
now if we could only stage an orgasm, we'd be set.
Does it even matter? Photographers tweak reality all the time. Bottom line: It's still a pretty damn good photo.
Yo!
FEAR OF FALLING
I guess what makes this photo so powerful is the contrast of the nonchalance of the workmen and the perceived danger of falling to one's death. It's an almost automatic anxiety/fear response, like a blink, that works everytime I look at this photo. If you want the full version of skyscraper anxiety I suggest watching the old Harold Lloyd silent film SAFETY LAST.