Lunch atop a skyscraper: The mysterious photo that portrays the resilience of a country

Lunch atop a skyscraper: This is, probably, the most epic picture of a lunch ever taken. Its protagonists are not influential or known characters (in fact, until today, only 2 of the 11 men photographed have been identified)
Lunch atop a skyscraper | Image source: Wikipedia

Lunch atop a skyscraper: This is, probably, the most epic picture of a lunch ever taken. Its protagonists are not influential or known characters (in fact, until today, only 2 of the 11 men photographed have been identified), but the epoch in which it was taken is one of the many aspects that made this a legendary photography: New York, September 20 of 1932, in the middle of the Great Depression.

It was a grim chapter for the United States, since unemployment and misery were the norm at the time. The image, of great visual power, became a symbol of the ambition and resilience of the United States in a time of crisis.

Lunch atop a skyscraper | Image source: Wikipedia

During those years, uncertainty was positioned throughout the country. But on West 49th Street, a pillar of hope was being built: the skyscraper that would be known as 30 Rockefeller Plaza.

The image is a sharp reflection of the vertical growth that has characterized and given identity to Manhattan. It has since become an emblem of the city, affirming the romantic belief that New York is a place without fear to tackle projects that would scare the less-risky cities.

Despite the fact that the photo became a symbol of resistance, it should be mentioned that, it was not simply taken at random by the expertise of a photographer who had the unique opportunity to “immortalize” the lunchtime of 11 unperturbed builders on a steel beam atop the 70-story RCA building.

It was taken for advertising purposes. In those years, steel represented one of the symbols of the American dream. The industry was supported by the work of thousands of immigrants who came to build a new country in very precarious working conditions. the effects of the great depression created the need for new paradigms, and the steel was a perfect symbol for that purpose. 

There are other photos of the same day, in which the same workers appear playing football, holding American flags or pretending to sleep on that steel beam, but the image that transcended was that of the lunch. It was published in the New York Herald Tribune, seven months before the building opened.

Much has been written about this photo and one of the things that attracts attention is that, as it is said, it served to denounce the lack of worker safety measures at that time. The idea makes sense, since in the construction of these skyscrapers it was not uncommon for a worker to die due to a fall of high heights.


Charles Ebbets during the documentation


Thomas Kelley during the documentation


Nevertheless, it is difficult to affirm that this was the initial intention: by seeing some of the images of the photographers who made this report, we can verify that they were subjected to a risk identical to that of the construction workers.

Precisely, that presence of several photographers leads us to another of the controversies linked to the photo: who is its author? The answer is that no one knows for sure. Since 2012, the authorship is officially anonymous, but there have been several names with which it has been speculated.

At first, it was attributed to Lewis Hine, who in 1931 had documented the construction of the famous Empire State Building, but the date does not coincide with the taking of this photo, and the building in which the workers are working is not the Empire State.

For many years, it was claimed that the author was Charles C. Ebbets, but other photographers such as William Letwich and Thomas Kelly were also there that day.

The original negative of the photo is stored in Pennsylvania, in a place called “Iron Mountain”, a huge security facility where works of art of incalculable value are stored next to government documents of great relevance.

The original plate is very damaged but several high-quality copies were made from which it is possible to make negatives.

It became such an iconic image that even Ken Johnston (the head of the Corbis archives) says it is “the most recognizable” of the more than 20 million in the Corbis archive. And, he says, it is also its “best-selling” photo, because it has generated more licenses than the agency owns from personalities such as Albert Einstein or Martin Luther King.

 

 

More Stories

Heart of Africa

Heart of Africa

This film is an abstract composite of my memories and experiences from a trip to Rwanda and Uganda a couple of years ago. It was nothing at all like what I expected.
Lucha libre by Avery Danziger

Lucha libre by Avery Danziger

These black and white images were taken when I lived in Mexico in the mid-80's. The color photographs are from a series of over 400 photographs which were taken while I was working as the location sound recordist and still photographer
Los tatuadores de Cuba by Allison Dinner

Los tatuadores de Cuba by Allison Dinner

Amongst all the changes happening in Cuba right now one thing is staying the same, owning a tattoo shop and giving tattoos are prohibited. They are the only art form in Cuba that is still highly illegal.
https://www.dodho.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/bannerpr.jpg

We invite you to participate in the first edition of the Portrait Photography Awards. Our call is open to any artistic interpretation of portrait photography.

https://www.dodho.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/BAnImage.jpg

ImageRights provides intelligent image search and copyright enforcement services to photo agencies and professional photographers worldwide.

https://www.dodho.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/mono2022.jpg

The best 100 images along with the winning images published in the yearly book “Monochromatic – Best Photographers of 2022”

Call For Entries #24 | After 23 editions and more than 100 published photographers, our print edition has proven to be a simply effective promotional channel.

(No) stories to be told by Afroditi Diamantopoulou

(No) stories to be told by Afroditi Diamantopoulou

The idea of my photo series (No) Stories to be told as well as the implementation of it, arose during the restriction period of the pandemic.
Clarity by Patrick Ems

Clarity by Patrick Ems

Patrick Ems, was born 1980 in Zurich. Twenty years of photographic experience, he has become an award-winning fine art photographer, known for his unique black and whity style.
Negative lifestyle habits; Temptations by Jens Kristian Balle

Negative lifestyle habits; Temptations by Jens Kristian Balle

Keeping this definition in mind the conceptual Temptations series was created fixating on the negative lifestyle habits and addictions of humans around the world.
Red Harmony by Nicolò Occhipinti

Red Harmony by Nicolò Occhipinti

The enchanting beauty of a girl with red hair and freckles smoothly nestled in the greens and the browns of a wood, embracing the wild nature in a dreamy atmosphere, a desire of harmony and peace rarely found in the daily chaos of the urban life.
Through the noise by Daria Amaranth

Through the noise by Daria Amaranth

"Through the noise: voices, shades, reflections" is my new series of conceptual and fine art photographs which can be viewed separately but they are also parts of the whole story.
Landscape photography by Alessandro Stefanelli

Landscape photography by Alessandro Stefanelli

I love capturing the beauty of nature, finding and exploring new places, new background. It's like discovering new cultures, new way to see the world and his wonders!
Victoria Knobloch ; What we really want to learn in school

Victoria Knobloch ; What we really want to learn in school

This project is a multilayered one. First I was thinking about how I could raise money for Deseret Community School in Uganda with the tool of art and preferably in collaboration with the children of the school itself.
Documentary photography; Katie by Morganna Magee

Documentary photography; Katie by Morganna Magee

I met Katie in late 2011 when I was working on another series based around mothers. Then 20 years old, she was a single mother to Jaylen, an 11 month old baby boy who was born with Gastroschisis.
Deformed Figures by Nasos Karabelas

Deformed Figures by Nasos Karabelas

The kind of photography i've been dealing with is experimental black and white photography and in particular “the possibilities of deformation of the human body”.
Human skin; Joana Choumali – Hââbrê, La dernière Génération

Human skin; Joana Choumali – Hââbrê, La dernière Génération

Scarification is the practice of performing a superficial incision in the human skin. Social scarification has an ancient origin. It is common practice in Africa (especially in West Africa), where it replaced tattoos that show poorly on dark skin
5 Great Documentary Photographers

5 Great Documentary Photographers

The Best Documentary Photographers published in Dodho Magazine. The great stories by Javier Arcenillas, Madoka Ikegami, Arthur Lumen, Allison Dinner and Jorge Chavarria.
Splits of moments by Moin Uddin Ahmed

Splits of moments by Moin Uddin Ahmed

Almost every good shot captures a unique moment in time. Sometimes the moment happens right away, and sometimes you have to wait a while. It can be as simple as a woman glancing up or as complex as having many disparate elements align within a perfect composed frame.
The Girl Who Escaped and Other Stories by Joan Haseltine

The Girl Who Escaped and Other Stories by Joan Haseltine

Some years after losing my husband I decided to reinvent my life, so I purchased a small ranch in Montana and a camera, neither of which I knew how to operate. I began visiting small towns at night. A woman standing alone on the streets after dark with a camera naturally aroused suspicion and distrust in these old Montana towns.
Ghislain Pascal Director of The Little Black Gallery

Ghislain Pascal Director of The Little Black Gallery

The Little Black Gallery is London’s boutique photography gallery specialising in contemporary photography from around the world.
The 9 Month Story by Satyaki Biswas

The 9 Month Story by Satyaki Biswas

Whether your pregnancy was meticulously planned, medically coaxed, or happened by surprise, one thing is certain – your life will never be the same.
Taxonomie of Fear by Alnis Stakle

Taxonomie of Fear by Alnis Stakle

My most vivid and, at the same time, traumatic childhood memories are associated with fear of death and the different coping mechanisms for dealing with it.

Featured Stories

My Name is Shahrukh by Debiprasad Mukherjee

My Name is Shahrukh by Debiprasad Mukherjee

These were the first few words uttered by a 7 year old, when he was rescued by the RPF from Platform No.4 of Sealdah Station, Kolkata, India. As the little child pushed his way through the crowd of thousands of people in the platform,
Interruption by Indranil Banerjee

Interruption by Indranil Banerjee

Busy street corners, Blaring horns of vehicles, Homeless people sleeping on the footpaths, traffic jam,school children of a nearby girls school crossing the road, like all their daily routine, It was just like another day in the Metropolitan.
Portraits by Justina Soulas

Portraits by Justina Soulas

The pictures that I make are my way to travel to the past. I make these pictures to reconnect with who I was. With a slower pace. With the colors of yesterday. With my childhood and with those games.
The Nenets by Sara Bianchi

The Nenets by Sara Bianchi

The Nenets are an ethnic minority with fewer than 50.000 people dedicated to reindeer breeding. They live in Yamal peninsula, Siberia. Yamal in the language of the indigenous means "the end of the world"
Stories of Russian women; You are mine by Mary Gelman

Stories of Russian women; You are mine by Mary Gelman

«You are mine» is a series of stories of Russian women who endured domestic partner violence.These stories are about power and control of one person over another.
So Coney! by David Godichaud

So Coney! by David Godichaud

Coney island isn't only Wonder Wheel and burger shops. It is also and before New York's beach where all communities from Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens are merging during summers to escape the heat.
Lifepod by Gianluca Micheletti

Lifepod by Gianluca Micheletti

My project consists of inserting some primates - they share with humans up to almost 99% of DNA - in safety capsules that will regenerate a form of primordial life, in a future day, after the extinction of the human breed.
Moment of Youth by Gregor Kallina

Moment of Youth by Gregor Kallina

Vietnam is a country of young people. More than half of Vietnam's population is younger than 25 and 70 percent were born after the Vietnam War ended in 1975. Since the 1990ies the young vietnamese people are called "song voi" (fast living), myriads of them are cruising on their motorbikes through the big cities of Hanoi and Saigon today.
My Wonderland by KireevArt

My Wonderland by KireevArt

Photography certifies experience and at the same time narrows - limiting him to searches of photogenic, turning experience into the image, into a souvenir.
The departed by Zhou Yulong

The departed by Zhou Yulong

When my grandfather passed away that year, I stood beside him. The weeping people had gone, and there were only the two of us. He lay there as if he were asleep, and I stood in a trance in a dream.
Faces – Small worlds by Mofeed Abu Shalwa

Faces – Small worlds by Mofeed Abu Shalwa

A group of faces of some flying insects , part of my second project, Hovercraft flies, dragonflies, bees and wasps I photographed with focus stacking technology. It took me a few months to create and photograph this project until it was completed in the following year, to study the presence and search for these creatures.
Shiny Ghost by Rachel Cox

Shiny Ghost by Rachel Cox

Rachel Cox lives and works in Lansing, Michigan, USA. Prints from Cox’s series have been presented at The Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, Houston Center for Photography, David Weinberg Gallery in Chicago, and the Philadelphia Photo Art Center.
Greatest jockeys; Fortza Paris by Marco Cheli

Greatest jockeys; Fortza Paris by Marco Cheli

Fortza Paris; Marco Cheli’s project was selected and published in our print edition 16. Over the years, until today there are many young Sardinians, specifically from Barbagia, who leave their island with the dream of becoming a jockey of the Palio di Siena.
Wiebke Haas ; Fine art equine

Wiebke Haas ; Fine art equine

Wiebke Haas is a dedicated award-winning equine and animal photographer from Germany. Ever since she was a little girl she dreamt of hoof-beats and flying through the fields on a back of a horse.
Suri Portraits by Piper Mackay

Suri Portraits by Piper Mackay

Inspired by their environment of wild trees, exotic flowers and lush vegetation. The Suri tribe use the clay soil of bright yellows, startling whites and rich earth-reds to paint each other’s bodies and make bold decisions about their outfits.
The Athenians by Socrates Baltagiannis

The Athenians by Socrates Baltagiannis

Athens, capital of Greece and one of the most historic cities in the world. Also, one of the cities that the media has turn their spotlights on for almost 6 years now, due to the economic crisis.

Trending Stories

Ralph Gräf: With A Holga Through Brandenburg

Ralph Gräf: With A Holga Through Brandenburg

In this conceptual project I have tried to capture impressions and different moods from the country of Brandenburg in analog black and white photographies.
From raw to polished: The journey of a tussar silk material by Shirshendu Chowdhury

From raw to polished: The journey of a tussar silk material by Shirshendu Chowdhury

This story is based on a day visit in a rural village of silk makers, India. It is a winter morning and people are busy in several activities to make Tussar silk which has rich texture and natural deep gold colour. I have tried to capture few moments of their lives and activities.
Markku…Polo by Markku Lahdesmaki

Markku…Polo by Markku Lahdesmaki

Polo is the sport of kings. Here in the Coachella valley, California  -it belongs to everyone, to the Eldorado and Empire clubs, to young and old, to women and men, to the green grass and vast sky. And to a photographer’s curiosity.
Drawn into isolation – Lockdown diaries by Jai Thakur

Drawn into isolation – Lockdown diaries by Jai Thakur

As a part of my job responsibilities as an Analyst, I have been working on a few research white papers on "Risks and Impact of Coronavirus Globally in coming times".
Inland by Nuno Serrão

Inland by Nuno Serrão

I miss the feeling of wonder I had when someone asked me: What do you want to be when you grow up? That’s the hardest part of being grown-up. To find new dreams when I know what it feels like when you have to let them go.
New York; Subway by Sarah Ainley

New York; Subway by Sarah Ainley

These subway pictures were taken about a year ago while I was in school for a bit in New York.
Chatting with Andrea Francolini

Chatting with Andrea Francolini

Since a young age my mother always exposed me to art. Any kind of art. Painting, sculptures, drawings, photography…so I was lucky to see a lot.
Documentary Photography; The courage Mother by James Duong

Documentary Photography; The courage Mother by James Duong

In the beginning of 1962, there was a battle between American and Vietnamese Military in the border of Vietnam and Cambodia. Huong, a 10 year old girl Cambodian, lost her family and ran away from the chaos.
I’m not my body – A story about euthanasia by Michel Petillo

I’m not my body – A story about euthanasia by Michel Petillo

It sets out to document that euthanasia, contrary to suicide, is not triggered by a severe depressive state. It is a conscious decision and a deeply human journey where the dichotomy of right and wrong must make way for compassion and hope.
Natura Mortale by Ilva Beretta

Natura Mortale by Ilva Beretta

According to Amnesty International, torture is practiced in 141 countries, both openly and in secret. Many of these countries have signed the UN convention against torture, but it still goes on.
Lanzarote by Alfons Olle Coderch

Lanzarote by Alfons Olle Coderch

It was’nt the first time that the island was faced with strong changes in its morphology, although unlike the one that nature itself in the garden of Yaiza led to bury it under the black mantle of lava, entered the night of that September 1, 1730 when the earth opened up
Phantomcity by Mirko Arganese

Phantomcity by Mirko Arganese

As everywhere else, the citizens were kept in a catatonic state, distraught by exhausting workdays, and diverted and gathered in big conglomerates for their leisure. There they could find amusement, shops, technologic gadgets. Above all they could not think and feel.

Other Stories

stay in touch
Join our mailing list and we'll keep you up to date with all the latest stories, opportunities, calls and more.
We use Sendinblue as our marketing platform. By Clicking below to submit this form, you acknowledge that the information you provided will be transferred to Sendinblue for processing in accordance with their terms of use
We’d love to
Thank you for subscribing!
Submission
Dodho Magazine accepts submissions from emerging and professional photographers from around the world.
Their projects can be published among the best photographers and be viewed by the best professionals in the industry and thousands of photography enthusiasts. Dodho magazine reserves the right to accept or reject any submitted project. Due to the large number of presentations received daily and the need to treat them with the greatest respect and the time necessary for a correct interpretation our average response time is around 5/10 business days in the case of being accepted.
- Between 10/30 images of your best images, in case your project contains a greater number of images which are part of the same indivisible body of work will also be accepted. You must send the images in jpg format to 1200px and 72dpi and quality 9. (No borders or watermarks)
- A short biography along with your photograph. (It must be written in the third person)
- Title and full text of the project with a minimum length of 300 words. (Texts with lesser number of words will not be accepted)
This is the information you need to start preparing your project for its presentation
To send it, you must compress the folder in .ZIP format and use our Wetransfer channel specially dedicated to the reception of works. Links or projects in PDF format will not be accepted. All presentations are carefully reviewed based on their content and final quality of the project or portfolio. If your work is selected for publication in the online version, it will be communicated to you via email and subsequently it will be published.
Contact
How can we help? Got an idea or something you'd like share? Please use the adjacent form, or contact contact@dodho.com
Thank You. We will contact you as soon as possible.
Submission
Dodho Magazine accepts submissions from emerging and professional photographers from around the world.
Their projects can be published among the best photographers and be viewed by the best professionals in the industry and thousands of photography enthusiasts. Dodho magazine reserves the right to accept or reject any submitted project. Due to the large number of presentations received daily and the need to treat them with the greatest respect and the time necessary for a correct interpretation our average response time is around 5/10 business days in the case of being accepted. This is the information you need to start preparing your project for its presentation.
To send it, you must compress the folder in .ZIP format and use our Wetransfer channel specially dedicated to the reception of works. Links or projects in PDF format will not be accepted. All presentations are carefully reviewed based on their content and final quality of the project or portfolio. If your work is selected for publication in the online version, it will be communicated to you via email and subsequently it will be published.
Get in Touch
How can we help? Got an idea or something you'd like share? Please use the adjacent form, or contact contact@dodho.com
Thank You. We will contact you as soon as possible.