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"The Children of Black Dust" series by Shehzad Noorani

In this photo a girl is holding a little boy, both blackened by carbon dust.  The boy's nose is bleeding due to infections caused by exposure to dust and pollution while playing in the Korar Ghat workshop near Dhaka, Bangladesh. Women bring small children while at work so that they can watch them, although it is not uncommon for young children to also work. This is an extremely dangerous job as the air is filthy from the carbon dust among other wastes and the daily routine involves breaking used batteries in order to collect reusable parts from them. While breaking the batteries, children inhale millions of the fine carbon dust particles  throughout the day, earning only between 5-15 Taka per day (60 Taka is the equivalence of US$ 1). As if this was not heartbreaking enough, it can take a child up to 12 days to earn just one dollar. These children face some of the worst conditions in the world, most suffer from several health problems such as eye and chest infections, none of them go to school, receive barely any nutrition, and yet the kids in this photo still amazingly managed to smile. This is truly an inspiring photo.

Due to this impressive series, the photographer Shehzad Noorani, received an honorable mention from the National Geographic's "All Roads Photography Program". He has done numerous other works concerning social issues affecting millions of people in developing countries. "Daughters of the Darkness" is another of his amazing pieces, an in-depth documentary of commercial sex workers in South Asia.