Journal 4: Riveter over NYC

My favorite picture is “Riveters attaching a beam,” taken by Lewis Wickes Hine in 1931. In the picture there are four construction workers miles above the city, all wearing normal street clothes and sitting on a girder. In the picture you can see only one other building and the angle the picture is taken lets you know just how high the men are without any protective gear. I prefer this picture to the others, it shows the lack of safety regulations that were implemented during the twentieth. Now you cannot set a foot on a construction site without at least a helmet however these men are god knows how high wearing street clothes and hats. Also these are the people that  built New York City ; Every tower, building, and skyscraper that existed before safety requirements was built by men just like the ones in this picture. Even though the picture does not tell you the economic standing or background of these men you can infer that they aren’t very wealthy and might even be immigrants. They’re risking their lives to build what is probably a landmark, if it is a landmark probably still standing today. These are essentially the men that created the building that make New York City such a great city and such an important city. The thing I like the most about this picture is that it shows that major differences between then and now. In 84 years there have been so many new laws regarding construction and so many new buildings made. The history in this picture just adds to its meaning and makes it a better picture. It’s just weird to know that there was a time when people did not care about the safety of their workers.