I was at Aperture Foundation on Tuesday to see a panel about collecting photography, and I haven’t been able to get this image out of my mind since.

Eugene de Salignac
Brooklyn Bridge, showing painters on suspenders, October 7, 1914

Here’s the info:

‘From 1906 to 1934, Eugene de Salignac shot over twenty thousand8-by-10-inch glass-plate negatives of New York City. As solephotographer at the Department of Bridges/Plant and Structures duringthat period of dizzying growth, he masterfully documented the creationof the city’s modern infrastructure-bridges, major municipal buildings,roads, and subways.

For years these remarkably lyrical photographs have been used in booksand films, but never credited to de Salignac. The monograph New YorkRises (copublished by Aperture and the New York City Department ofRecords/Municipal Archives, 2007) sets the record straight, andpresents them for the first time as an aesthetically coherent oeuvre bya photographer with a unique vision. As meticulous in record keeping ashe was creative in his photography, de Salignac left five handwrittenlogs that identify each negative by place and date. Many of his vintageprints survive in the city’s municipal archives, most of them still inhis original presentation albums.

His work is a testament to the emergence of the modern city, itsarchitecture and infrastructure, and those who built it. Includedwithin this scope, of course, are New York City’s bridges, the mostfamous of which opened to great fanfare in 1883. The Brooklyn Bridgewould be a continual source of inspiration to de Salignac and aconstant presence in his work. On September 22, 1914, he photographed agroup of painters at work on its lower trusses. He must have had aspark of inspiration that day; two weeks later he returned and posedthe men on the web of wires like notes on a musical scale, the resultof which can be seen in this photograph. The image was obviouslyplanned, as evidenced by the relaxed nature of these fearless men whoappear without their equipment and are joined, uncustomarily, by theirsupervisor. No vintage print of this iconic photo-the most famous of deSalignac’s images-is known to exist.”

This print is still available in Aperture’s limited edition print sale. I learned on Tuesday that you can buy prints on your credit card and then hope to have the money later to pay it back, so I might try that. Or maybe I’ll wait until I have a job. In any case, see more of Aperture’s available prints, here!