Charles Ebbets

Lunch atop a Skyscraper (New York Construction Workers Lunching on a Crossbeam) is a famous photograph taken by Charles C. Ebbets during construction of the GE Building at Rockefeller Center in 1932.
The photograph depicts 11 men eating lunch, seated on a girder with their feet dangling hundreds of feet above the New York City streets. Ebbets took the photo on September 29, 1932, and it appeared in the New York Herald Tribune in its Sunday photo supplement on October 2. Taken on the 69th floor of the GE Building during the last several months of construction. 
 In 1932, after 3 years of major economic decline following the Wall Street Crash, the USA was at the lowest point of the Great Depression. By August, 25% of the national working population was unemployed and manufacturing output had fallen by 46%. One of the few ways in which jobs were created, however, was on major building projects, such as the construction of the Rockefeller Center in New York.
Recording the building's construction was an important part of the publicity process, and the man tasked with this project, in the autumn of 1932, was Charles Clyde Ebbets.
He had began working as a photographer in his late teens. As he struggled to establish himself, he earned a living as a movie actor, wrestler, 'wing-walker' stunt man and pilot. His appetite for taking risks and his head for heights were useful attributes when tackling the Rockefeller. Many of his pictures taken in late 1932 were shot hundreds of feet above ground, on the narrow steel beams that formed the building's skeleton, and with stunning background views of New York.
What has made this picture so popular?
This image is not simply a humourous shot of a group of workmen in a dangerous situation - it captures the spirit of a nation determined to work its way out of the Great depression.
The photograph communicates not so much a social condition to be exposed, but an attitude to be celebrated. In these 11 men at lunch-break, we see the common bonds of camaraderie, humor, and daring - the very qualities needed to rebuild a broken nation.
To see more of Charles ebbets work and find out more about his life www.ebbetsphotographics.com
or www.skywalkersthemovie.com