Lewis W Hine

Hine used his camera as a tool to prompt social reform, and reveal shocking working conditions

Lewis W Hine is perhaps best known for his shots of labourers constructing the Empire State Building in New York. These welders and riveters have an almost heroic air, hoisting beams and balancing on iron girders hundreds of feet up in the air, with no safety equipment in sight. (You may recall the famous image of a group of ironworkers eating their sandwiches and sharing cigarettes while seated on a narrow piece of metal.) These gutsy construction workers took great pride in their work, and were shown to be masters of their machinery. Pictures from the series appeared in Hine’s popular book Men at Work, alongside images of miners, railroad and factory workers, among others.