A developer and construction team approached me with an incredible challenge—recreating the iconic Lunch Atop a Skyscraper image by Charles Clyde Ebbets. They were constructing an 18-story building in the heart of downtown, and with the nearly 100-year-old Fargo Theatre as a backdrop, I knew we had a rare opportunity. We had to act fast—once we got too high, the cityscape would lose its impact, as this building would tower about 10 stories above most others.
On the day of the shoot, with construction buzzing all around me, I directed 11 hardworking crew members into position—shouting instructions across the steel beams. I made a last-minute adjustment, having the worker on the far left shift and lean against the beam to reveal the theater in the background. The final image exceeded expectations, and the client was blown away. Today, a massive metal print of the shot hangs proudly in their lobby.
Nice photo! I think a small thing you could have done to improve this photo greatly is just shoot at a different time of day so the background wasn't so much brighter than the subjects
possibly... but this way, the background separates the subjects. I think I had a version where I darkened the background, but it was no separation and not sure where to look if it was all the same exposure. But perhaps I'll open it up the raw again and see.