TITLE: Coal miners of Dhanbad

Coal, some call it black diamond, and for others, it is a curse.
Dhanbad, India, is known for coal mines, some legal and some illegal. Many accidents have happened in these illegal abandoned coal mines. The laborers work for a pittance and risk death caused by breathing in coal dust or from accidents such as the one in February where 13 workers--including women and children died, and many more got buried under tons of coal.

AUTHOR: Robi Chakraborty (United States)

My earliest memory of my love affair with the camera began in Kenya where my father allowed me to play with his Yashica twin-lens reflex. Things which unravel out of your childhood are destined to stay with you for life, often biding their time until they emerge out of the shadows to become the only pathway.

Next, in Kathmandu, he bought me a Chinese-made plastic camera, my first. All I did for a few days, was have the back open, click the shutter and watch in wonder. None of the above actually amounted to me clicking any shots. It has been a journey of learning discovery and exhilaration since then. Photography, is a passion I feel, it consumes and transforms me on a tangible level, making a wanderer without a timetable. I could not have prayed for anything better.