John Sargent, CEO of Macmillan Publishers, photographed on his office balcony atop the Flatiron Building, one of New York’s most iconic structures. He’s casually balancing on a narrow windswept ledge 250 feet above Fifth Avenue, flanked by an array of Macmillan’s many best sellers.
Before John stepped up onto the ledge I shot this video, showing off the extraordinary view and the perils of a misstep.
My assistant, Clay Howard-Smith, stood in for John Sargent while we set up lighting and propped the scene with dozens of books borrowed from John’s office. The Flatiron Building overlooks the famously windy intersection of Fifth Avenue, Broadway, and 23rd St. We had to be very careful, lest any books free-fall 23 stories into a crowd of pedestrians.
I also photographed John from street level on Fifth Avenue, to try capturing him in relation to the magnificent Flatiron Building.
While photographing John from street level, I was surrounded by the ever present crowd of tourists photographing the same building, usually with the help of a selfie stick. None of them noticed the lone man balancing on that ledge so high above. The huge lens I was using did attract the attention of a couple of photo enthusiasts, and my assistant helpfully pointed out the tiny speck of a person that I was photographing.