(WILMINGTON) -- It's one of the most recognized photos in the world:

In the black-and-white image, 11 blue-collar workers sit on a beam, nonchalantly dangling hundreds of feet above New York. They're smoking cigarettes, reading papers, and chatting. The only thing keeping them from plunging to certain death is a skinny piece of steel.

To celebrate an anniversary of the steelworkers' archive, the company that owns the rights to the photo decided to ferret out the photographer.

It took a private eye firm and months of investigative work to find the man behind the lens. That's because news photos were not regularly credited in the 1930s.

But just before Halloween, the company, Corbis, credited Charles Clyde Ebbets for taking the image.

Ebbets' daughter is a Wilmington resident. Tami Ebbets Hahn says her photographer father was a professional with a sense of humor and adventure.

Copyright 2003 Associated Press, All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.