31 Photos That Show The Striking Diversity Of Workplaces Around The World

Time to broaden your career horizons?

Forget the familiar office, retail shop, or factory; these competition pictures capture unusual, brutal, and sometimes beautiful workplaces in which some people earn a living. Photocrowd.com, the online photography community, ran the international photo contest to show the world the striking range of workplaces around the world.

Instead of an official photographic jury, the winning images were picked by public online crowdvoting.

Winner: "Fisherman at Work", Thailand, by Duangmon Chaturapitaporn

Duangmon Chaturapitaporn / Photocrowd.com

Runner-Up: "Flock", Tuscany, Italy, by Krzysztof Browko

Krzysztof Browko / Photocrowd.com

Other Entries

"Head for Heights", London, England, by Naf Selmani

Naf Selmani / Photocrowd.com

"Wearing earplugs to muffle the chimes of Big Ben and armed with buckets and cloths, a team of abseilers are busy cleaning the clock faces at the Elizabeth Tower in London." – Naf Selmani

"Torreadora", Transylvania, Romania, by Pal Szilagyi Palko

Pal Szilagyi Palko / photocrowd.com

"This photo was taken in an isolated small village in the mountains called Bratca in Transylvania, Romania. The settlement contains only a dozen houses, several hundred metres from one another, inhabited mostly by old widows." – Pal Szilagyi Palko

"Afternoon Break", London, England, by Darrell Godliman

Darrell Godliman / photocrowd.com

"The Crane Pilot", Nancy, France, by Bastien

Bastien / photocrowd.com

A crane pilot operates at the ARTEM campus construction site in Nancy.

"Foundry Story", Kolkata, India, by Sagnik

Sagnik / photocrowd.com

"This is the hard life. The workers at this iron cast foundry work immensely hard and they do not even wear protective clothing." – Sagnik

Istanbul, Turkey, by Tolga Ildun

Tolga Ildun / photocrowd.com

"A group of workers clean the windows of a modern skyscraper in Istanbul's financial district." – Tolga Ildun

"Barber in Street", Kolkata, India, by Subrata Adhikary

Subrata Adhikary / Photocrowd.com

"These barbers have no permanent place. On this day they were continuing their profession on a footpath in Kolkata." – Subrata Adhikary

"Leathersmith", Shropshire, England, by Jasmine

Jasmine / Photocrowd.com

A leather smith concentrates hard on making a belt in the Blists Hill Victorian Town museum in Telford.

"Science Museum Café", London, England, by Darrell Godliman

Darrell Godliman / Photocrowd.com

"A shot of the Deep Blue Café at the Science Museum in London. Being one of the first people through the doors of the museum in the morning, I was able to get this shot of a waitress preparing for the busy day ahead." – Darrell Godliman

"Porters", Java, Indonesia, by Marek Kosiba

Marek Kosiba / Photocrowd.com

Porters carry loads of sulphur chunks (weighing around 80–100kg) about 3km from the crater of the Kawah Ijen volcano to a nearby town.

"Sri Lanka's Stilt Fisherman" by Anton Yankovyi

Anton Yankovyi / Photocrowd.com

"Fishing on stilts is very common in many Asian countries, but most of all in Sri Lanka, in the Ahangama village. Early in the morning, as soon as the sun rises, local fishermen climb the poles to the level of about two metres and spend many hours there every day. A few years ago they typically earned less than 200 rupees ($1.60) a day, which meant they were unable to afford to pay for their children’s education or other basic needs." – Anton Yankovyi

"Welding" by Ouladallah Amine

Ouladallah Amine/Photocrowd.com

"Smoke Gets in Your Eyes", Dublin, Ireland, by Sean McMahon

Sean McMahon/Photocrowd.com

"And There Was Life", Emalahleni, South Africa, by Leon

Leon / Photocrowd.com

"Men at Work", London, England, by Maggie Railton

Maggie Railton / Photocrowd.com

"Pole Dancer", Barcelona, Spain, by Björn Svensson

Björn Svensson/Photocrowd.com

"Bric-a-Brac", Aix-en-Provence, France, by Mal Smith

Mal Smith / Photocrowd.com

"Orange on White", by Shaikh Jan Mohammad

Shaikh Jan Mohammad/Photocrowd.com

"A man is employed to remove lather from water." – Shaikh Jan Mohammad

"A Break From Work", London, England, by João Pico

João Pico/Photocrowd.com

"Sandgirl", Weston-super-Mare, England, by Gary Owens

Gary Owens/Photocrowd.com

"Garbage for Money", Jambi, Indonesia, by Hendi Syarifuddin

Hendi Syarifuddin/Photocrowd.com

"The men were collecting garbage which could be sold and recycled." – Hendi Syarifuddin

"If You Want to Get Ahead...", Brazil, by Patience

Patience / Photocrowd.com

"In Brazil if you want to sell hats to an ever-shifting tourist crowd, the best way is to carry your stock to them." – Patience

"Nusa Lembongan", Bali, Indonesia, by Peter Sawers

Peter Sawers/Photocrowd.com

"Sports Photographer" by melis82

melis82 / Photocrowd.com

"Milking", Kanagawa, Japan, by Masayuki Yamashita

Masayuki Yamashita/Photocrowd.com

"Break the Line", near Burnley, England, by Kevin Rushton

Kevin Rushton/Photocrowd.com

"The Rice Makers", Bangladesh, by Ata Mohammad Adnan

Ata Mohammad Adnan/Photocrowd.com

"Walking the Track" by Russell Edwards

Russell Edwards/Photocrowd.com