"The other day as I was touring the Taj Mahal, I looked across the Yamuna River and saw a pattern of colored squares laying on the bank. I asked my tour guide, Ali, what they were, and he told me that they were the clothes that people were washing for the nearby hotels. I asked him to take me over there, so we drove across the river and through the slums in order to get there. India is a land of extremes, and they are often in close proximity.
I wanted this image to capture that. There is the opulence and royalty of the Agra Fort in the background, the drying clothes in the middle, and our model and washman as our subject, standing in the most polluted river I’ve seen. After I was done I thanked him the best I could. I don’t remember how many rupees I gave him. Ali and I walked back to the taxi, and I patted him on the back and told him thank you for taking me there and helping me. Shortly after, the weight of the experience hit me, and I proceeded to break down…" -Josh Eskridge