"Poised on a steel cable a quarter of a mile above Manhattan, a weather-beaten man in work dungarees reaches up to tighten a bolt. Below, though you hardly dare to look down, lies the Hudson River, the sprawling cityscape of New York and the US itself, rolling out on to the far horizon. If you fell from this rarefied spot, it would take about 11 seconds to hit the ground."
"Known for his empathic studies of workers, artisans and immigrants, Hine was hired to document the development of the Empire State Building during its breakneck 13-month construction period from 1930-31. Along with formal portraits of individual workers, he recorded men animatedly performing their jobs: drilling foundations, wrestling with pipes and cables, laying bricks and navigating precipitous steel beams as the colossal skyscraper took shape above Manhattan."
A photograph titled The Sky Boy shows a weather-beaten ironworker perched on a steel cable a quarter of a mile above Manhattan, tightening a bolt. Below lie the Hudson River and the New York cityscape; a fall from that height would take about eleven seconds. The Empire State Building rose 102 storeys to 1,250 ft (381 m) during a breakneck 13-month construction in 1930–31, with men drilling foundations, wrestling pipes and cables, laying bricks and navigating steel beams. The construction embodied daring, endurance and industrial heroism. The site now features bronze reproductions and a staged soundscape that commodifies that historic achievement.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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