Recent times have seen employment, or should I say unemployment, become a key issue effecting many sectors of society. This issue has impacted, not only U.S workers, but also our neighbors south of the border. Despite this hardship however, many have managed to secure gainful employment. As an editorial photographer I have chosen to take to the road, and with camera in hand, document those who were successful in their quest for work.

When looking for work it helps to have a skill or a trade as these two welders prove.

Crop workers, on the other hand, are considered to possess neither trade nor skill. They earn their pittace by the sweat of their brow as they pick fruit or vegetables in the oppressive heat of the mexican sun. These hard workers provide the staples a majority of americans and mexicans cannot do without. Though not technically skilled as tradesmen and women, what they do provide can be considered as such.

This poor mexican man below gets down on his knees to create a walkway. The entire process involved scooping sand, turning it in to clay, creating a wooden frame, then pouring the soft clay into the frame where it would later harden. As I looked on, I could see the man took great pride in his work. Standing alongside, I was impressed by his precision and his accuracy. In the end the proceeds of his efforts equalled the cost of a Big Mac in the U.S. Nonetheless, he was thoroughly gratified with his work and happy with his pay.

Turning my attention to another hardworking, poorly overlooked and underpaid group, I drove to Aspen, Colorado. It was there I found them, hard at work; a mass of photographers. It was pre-dawn and they had gathered there to take photos of a famous mountain. Although I, too am a photographer, I chose not to join them but rather, make them a subject of my blog.

BTW: That last segment was meant as sarcasm.

(Next blog: March 1, 2012)