Wow... The Google Map (satelleite) is really telling.

Amazing shots like allways!.
Congratulations.

Remind me the 'blood diamond' movie.

I really love your blog, thanks for telling us the world by picture.

Great pictures. Number 18 is my favorite.

Isn't it amusing to see all the suffering involved to saciate the vanity of people that have too much money and too little brain and can spend in a single sparkling stone the amount of money that could sustain one whole family in one of those places for a long time?
Strange world we live in.

Great Pics. Those miners are working in an inhospitable environment.

Correction to Pic#17. "Five men" are watching as miners work together to move sand and gravel up the side wall.

These photos should make everyone reconsider jewelry.
Great job bringing thought-provoking issues to our attention.

http://contentinacottage.blogspot.com

24 is amazing. I had no idea they came in a rainbow of colors. There is so much work involved in supplying the world with their gems.

It's heart breaking to see so many kids involved in the mining.

#17. Four men?

Amazing blog!

The shot of the child being lowered into the hole is amazing.... thank you.

- Blake J. Nolan
http://www.BJNArt.com
http://www.StormBrainDesigns.com

#24 is simply beautiful. wow.

Awesome photos, yet so, so sad. Number 8 captures it all for me, the look on the man is so humbling :-(

Fifth man added, thanks for the feedback.

The tone of the comments seems to be "we shouldn't buy jewelry because of the work conditions it requires to extract." The job doesn't look like a picnic to me either. I certainly don't want to trade places with these folks. However, they all came because mining was easier and/or paid better than whatever their other options are. If the jewelry industry vanished, they would all be worse off than they are now.

The #18 is wonderful.. simply wonderful !

The first inclination upon seeing these pics is to feel sorry for these people until I consider this; They do not sit in freeway traffic to commute to work, they are free of the burden of worrying about global economics and how its affects their 401k, they do not take heart medication to offset cardiac conditions brought on by stress induced high blood pressure, they do not worry about the cost of home heating oil, they are not counting on their tax returns or the yearly 4% raise, etc;, etc;. I would not want to be a gem digger in Madagascar however if I knew nothing else I am sure I would lead a satisfying existence.

Thank you for your consistently visionary glimpses into these fantastic worlds. It's so important for people to experience photos like this.

Exquisite, Sad, Compelling...

Fascinating look into an industry I didn't know existed in Madagascar.

I wish the images did more to describe the actual working conditions though. As seen in the first few comments here people are calling for boycotts and claiming that this is a decent way for a Malagasy man to make a living. Either could be true from the pictures presented here. Obviously the child labour element should be of universal concern though.

There are certainly places where working mines like this are evidently much worse looking at similar pictures. These people at least seem to be working independently and are not surrounded by armed guards and indentured. While the pictures don't seem to tell the whole story the links you've provided no doubt will. Cheers.

This is one of the best photo journalism sites out there! Kudos and keep up the brilliant work :)

Suggestion: You guys should have a world map at the top highlighting the geographic location.

Oh my...
This looks so unreal, hope that our children will do better than us.

Darren from TheJunction

RyRy, in fact, those people depend upon the world economics completely: should there be nobody to buy the gems they mine, they will have no source of income whatsoever. The only reason they do not take heart medications is having no money for that; thus having a cardiac disease means a certain death to them.

Our world is Utopia in the ancient Greek meaning of the word, where each citizen has no less than three slaves; but now the slaves and the masters are separated geographically. The well-being of anyone of the Golden Billion is sustained by the work of these men and the likes of them.

The wealth is the people. They are the gems.

comment 15 : if we didn't have the gem trade these people may be able to get educations, work on farms or even move to cities. There may be a very short term economic reorganization if we stopped buying gems, but I'm sure their economy would survive.

comment 17 : Yeah, poor us with our cars, health insurance, paid vacations clean water, internet connection and education.

I just have a hard time dealing with child labor; with that in mind I'd like to make a plug for a site. I do NOT work with them or have any affiliation, besides buying my fiance's engagement ring from these great people.

http://www.brilliantearth.com/

Brilliant earth sells conflict free sapphires and diamonds set into beautiful reprocessed (recycled) gold rings. They're really great products, and it's all the better knowing that no child had to live in squalor or leave school for it.

The #18 is the best! :)
Congratulations to new collection!

Alex
http://www.recentnews.co.uk

Love this blog. Every time I read it, I learn something now, and the photos are superb as well. Any way to provide info on the equipment used to take some of these shots? I'd be curious to know what camera body/lens were used for a lot of these.

Keep up the great blogging!

I don't know why some human rights group doesn't plaster photos like these all over billboards and the airwaves around Mother's Day, Valentine's, and Christmas to show people where those bits of jewelry they are purchasing for their loved ones really come from.

Beautiful..Image # 18 is now my desktop background. One commenter mentioned that if the gem trade stopped, these folks would be better off, but I disagree. Nothing is ever going to convince people to now desire objects of beauty. A better option would be for these people, this society, or the gem industry (which does not seem likely) to organize some sort of body to make sure that these people are not getting paid peanuts for their finds, and then have it sold for thousands on the market. The deserve a good cut of what the gems actually go for on the market. For some reason, I doubt that the guy behind the inspection desk there in the desert is giving them their fair and deserved portion.

Devastatingly beautiful and equally sad. So much we can live without.

I'm torn between two important questions. 1. Don't buy gems because it creates these conditions. 2. Are these conditions better than what they would have had and not buying gems would then send them back to worse conditions.

As long as they aren't being objected to forced labor or torture then I think that any stimulation to their economy is an improvement upon their current condition. I lived in France and there were thousands of immigrants from Madagascar who came there because there was no work for them there.
Aaron - Cancer Treatment Net

The developing world is mostly associated with gem mining because that's where the stones are for one thing. And there are no opportunities for education or jobs in the cities. Often miners are part timers who mine when they aren't farming. So it's a way to supplement their income. Not all mining is evil. It often provides income where no other choices are available.

Madagascar is a gem-rich nation. The income from gemstones helps them keep their economy running. If it weren't for that industry, there would be way more people living on hand-outs from charitable organizations. The infrastructure of Madagascar is horribly antiquated, or non-existent. Most of the country is accessible only by flying or jeeps. And the jeeps break down quite often while traveling there.

It's not an easy issue, and it's far from evil or purely humanitarian. Like so much of the rest of the world, it's just what it is. Ilakaka is a very prominent area that produces many different gemstones.

Comment 17:

"The first inclination upon seeing these pics is to feel sorry for these people until I consider this; They do not sit in freeway traffic to commute to work, they are free of the burden of worrying about global economics and how its affects their 401k, they do not take heart medication to offset cardiac conditions brought on by stress induced high blood pressure, they do not worry about the cost of home heating oil, they are not counting on their tax returns or the yearly 4% raise, etc;, etc;. I would not want to be a gem digger in Madagascar however if I knew nothing else I am sure I would lead a satisfying existence"

You truly know how to take the value of what you have and make it seem like its a problem. Poor you with your access to health care, education, opportunities, the means to buy a home, and earning enough income that you have to pay tax. Honestly, poor little you.

Anyone who looks at these photos and tries to compare their existence to our lives in the United States and Western Europe should be ashamed. These people work in horrible conditions for a paltry sum. For what? So that you can wear the sapphires they harvested and complain about traffic and high gas prices. WAKE UP!

We pay more out of pocket to sustain our luxury lifestyle. These people give their lives so we can have that luxury . What price are you willing to pay for that necklace, traffic or expensive gas?

I would be curious to how the environment is impacted by this - how widespread is the mining on Madagascar, that has some very unique flora and fauna?!

Just wanted to say thanks for the amazing job yo do on this blog. I leaved in Madagascar for 4 years, and went through Ilakaka once. I remembered seing women sorting gems in baskets normally used for sorting the bad rice from the good, in the middle of the street. And a wooden casino, looking just as a sloon might be on the outskirts of the town.

I also remember other places along the road, where you could see the evolution of a mushroom town, from tiny straw huts where people had just begun to dig, to wooden houses and then to a place like Ilakaka, with all its concrete "gemstones" shops along the main road, and all the big holes in the ground in the background.

Amazing place... really Far-West like

pic#18 simply the best, and this is really a great blog,will follow "The Big Picture" every week,thanks.

Le travail en plein air... il n'y a que ça de vrai !!!!!
Un avant goût de ce qui nous attend pour chercher... de l'eau à peine potable !!!!!

I just discover this website.
Amazing pictures and important subject.

Congrats!

The J / K navigation through the pictures works great and it is pretty cool!

To Ry-Ry: Please do not assume that these people are ignorant or "know nothing else": most of the people I met in Madagascar were perfectly aware of the extravagant ways in which we live in the west (even if they didn't necessarily understand them: "Why on earth would you pay to buy your pets special food, and then throw away your leftover meal scraps?"). They're not ignorant, but they are not necessarily unhappy, either (check out picture 18 for proof). Unlike what our western, money-focused society would have us believe, the people of Madagascar continually proved that poverty is not always analogous to misery.
On the note of whether or not to buy gems- these are people who have just recently come to rely on a cash economy. Ben Matthews-- I don't necessarily agree with you that this leaves them "better off." Rather than growing their own food, now they must have money in order to buy it. If they can't find any more stones, what will they do now that they've given up their other livelihoods? And don't think for a minute that the money you pay for gems is making it to those who labor to find them. 10,000 ariary is worth just a little over $5 US-- now re-examine picture #9, and think about how many middle-men there are between the miners and us.
I don't know what the solution is, but I don't think it's to buy more gems.
Thanks.

Extraordinary photos
Great work
Thanks

quote: " I lived in France and there were thousands of immigrants from Madagascar who came there because there was no work for them there."

Then the real issue (that almost nobody addresses) is getting people to not bring more people into a world where there are virtually no prospects for them. Having children is no 'blessing' to those without the ability to provide for them, where poverty and hunger are rampant.... they are just leaving 'hostages to fate.' We should be aggressive in providing birth control, before more suffering comes into the world.

I disagree very strongly with the Frenchman in quote 44. By "we" I assume he means the west. We have no right to aggressively "provide" birth control in other people's countries. Besides having children is a natural right and a way for these families to help provide for each other. Who will look after them in their old(er) age? Not the state.
You say birth control would thwart more suffering in the world but do you not realise that suffering is the norm for human beings, especially the 95% of the global population who live outside of the developed world.
The western (American enforced) extreme free market capitalist structure has done nothing for the vast majority of humanity. It serves only a tiny group of "special" people.

These pictures by Roberto Schimdt tell this sad but intriguing story of hope and saphires beautifully, sympathic to the subject and composed to a high aesthetic.
degree.

Its great to see so many people taking an interest in photo-journalism. Many say that press photography is dead, the public are not interested.

Kudos to Roberto Schmidt - some of these shots are near perfect.

There are plenty of sapphires that come right out of the US. Yogo sapphires from Montana are completely natural and require no heat treatment to bring out their color, unlike a lot of sapphires found elsewhere in the world. Furthermore, since they are mined in the US, they have to conform to all kinds of regulations.

Seriously, do a search for yogo sapphires.

Thank you for sharing your beautiful pictures,its full of emotion and rich in colour.

Not to mention lab-grown sapphires, which require only the exploitation of of a few chemists...

JUST BEAUTIFUL.........................

brilliant set of photos

exeptional

beautiful photography! I am a gem buyer and want-to-be jeweler some day and these pictures (and story) make me respect and cherish the stones i buy and wear all the more. I knew the process of mining but to see the pictures really drives it home!
I can only imagine the out cry of all of you ppl when you realize that these families only make at best a few dollars a day for their work and the gem cutters (even master cutters) get less than a dollar an hour just to make the beautiful stones we all buy and wear!
Not only are the stones thousands of years old and come from the earth but the whole process to make a gem is crazy!

thank you for the story!

I love 8th the most. It has a lot emotion in it. Thanks again Big Picture for the great shots.

Hooolllllyyyyy &^$#. Yeah, look at the gooogle map of Ilakaka, Madagascar. There are so many holes in the ground, or they are trees. You really can't tell, but they look more like holes.

I want to buy one of these jewels, and I want to pay full price. But I want that full price to go to these people who are literally wasting and wearing out their lives in search of these stone. I don't want my money to go to the 'middlemen'.

Why, in this so called, 'flat world', can't I do this.

Beautiful set, thank you for sharing.

As we all know, the only economic system to share the income equally, namely socialism, is inheritantly BAD. So it's natural for these people to die either of hunger or of hard work, that's what they deserve for not inventing guns and creating colonies to pillage all over the world, right?

I'm not sure why people are making claims of exploitation. The people in these pictures don't appear to be miserable to me. It's certainly not a glamorous lifestyle, but I don't believe you can make a comparison to a western lifestyle. The children who are not working certainly seem to be enjoying themselves. And if we were to stop buying gems that certainly would not "improve" their lifestyle. If someone could explain to me how that would improve their lives I am all ears

Que horror!!!!!!
Hasta cuando se van a estar esclavizando a la gente especialmente a los NIÑOS, no vengan con el cuento que ese es su modo de vida, ese es el abuso de unos cuantos sin corazon para con esa gente, sabiendo esos abusadores que la educacion es lo mas importante, pero ellos perderian.
Como fotos muy bien tomadas, pero es una bofetada al mundo que dice estar luchando contra la pobresa .Educacion es la solucion, que lastima .

About six months ago, the Malagasy government decided to forbid the export of ANY rough gemstones from Madagascar as a consequence of perceived rampant smuggling of the precious resource.

A direct consequence is that activity has quieted down considerably, and the remaining miners are most probably more vulnerable today than they were before.

This is a difficulty we have to accept if we are to FORCE international gemstone actors to reconsider the way they do business in our country.

While many disagree with this policy, some of us remember "begging" the more experienced Thais, Sri Lankan, and other operators to support the development of added value activities in Madagascar, more than 10 years ago. They did NOTHING.

My take on this issue:
- Stop feeling sorry for us, lobby your governments and gemstone business communities to do the right thing ASAP.
- We need funds and technical assistance to train/equip Malagasy miners/cutters/jewelry makers -- It would be so easy to provide oh, let's say 500 scholarships a year to young Malagasy persons.
- Don't cry for that kid down the hole, help us make sure he is safer until a better alternative is setup to encourage his parents to send him to a real school.
- Don't come here to buy the gems for peanuts, claiming that "this isn't the international market!" - give them a fair value for their work.
- Most of all, don't think you will change much by taking the time to write in this blog, do something real -- write to our respective governments, petition them, and if you can, come and do something right here, right now.
THAT IS WHAT WE NEED TO HAVE A CHANCE AT FIGHTING BACK AGAINST THE POVERTY THAT DRIVES THESE MEN, WOMEN AND THEIR CHILDREN INTO THE HOLES UNDER SUCH CONDITIONS.

By the way, nice photographs!!

ye 20 male shoma.aksaye khoobi bood....

Nice photographs. I did not know anything about this before. And yes, it does remind me of Blood Diamonds. (ironic I just watched that movie 2 days ago).
It is a hard life that they have. but I wonder what lives they had before then?
Yes, we have the stress here in the developed world, but there is stress everywhere. I do think that the stress we have is much less though than living in that atmosphere. At least for most people in the developed world, we know where our next meal is coming from. We may not always know WHEN it will be due to the lack of time to sit down and eat in some days, but we know that at the end of the day, our bellies will be full.

J
http://www.jowda.net

Get over it you liberals. Go ahead, take away the only income these people have ! Of course, all in the name of "helping" them.

Idiots! I commend them on their ingenuity, creativeness and guess what?! Thy aren't getting gov't assistance. (Except of course from US via the U. S. Gov't in the way of foreign aid.)

They're well fedm they have a job and what do you expect? A house and a lamborghini? Think of it this way - they're arbon footprint is tiny.

beautiful pictures...

Just think -- if we all stopped buying Jewelry, these poor people could be jobless and EVEN POORER than they already are!

Most of the people posting comments here seem to have little knowledge of gemstones other than what they've seen in movies or the windows of jewellery shops. The overwhelming number of sapphires offered for sale in main street shops are 'cultured' (manufactured in a factory). However, 'natural' stones mostly come fromAustralia, Thailand, Vietnam, Sri Lanka. Some even from the USA. Yet some people would destroy the entire gemstone industry on the basis of these (magnificent) pictures. Without bothering to learn the full circumstances of the people in those pictures.

amazing, thanks for the pictures. today has been a particularly surreal day, and this topped it off

Best shots you can ever find on the net !
great work !

Nice :)

Jean Marie said it all in post 60...

Nice pics!

libre arbitre

I'm sorrry to be cheek, but I have to ask....can somebody tell me how it is possible to get such dynamic range shooting against the sun?
The nr.18 astonished me.....it's just....unbelievable!

To Miskin
you are probably right that there is more to the story of where the egmstones come from. This is maybe only one piece of it all. And it just so happens they do exploit people.
And yes, they do have a job. BUT until the people who say "get over it" are forced to wal in theri shoes, I don't think you should have such a harsh attitude. I'm sure you would not give up your posh living in the western world to go live in their life.

http://www.jowda.net

Dall'Italia:
foto bellissime e struggenti.
Come usare internet per evolvere.
Grazie

beautiful

Ilakaka ist no longer a little spot, but a big problem for the security of travelers and locals in the South-West of Madagascar.

Planet vaoVaoWeb

These photos should make everyone reconsider jewelry., as it has already been said.

its not only picture its the portrait of the life of some one ........

The pictures are beutiful,but sad....We need to b gratful for what we have,these pictures make you think...

very very great sharp shooting picture.

I like to picture that show several color of Sapphire I though they have only blue.

gorgeous!

It's marvellous... amazing... really worth viewing and understnding it..