I originally made this picture in color. The warm morning light and multi-colored garments of the young boy gave it a cheerful, almost festive feeling that conflicted with the physical effort involved in pushing a cart loaded with heavy bags of rice. I converted this picture to black and white, and the conflicting colors vanished, leaving us with an image of the timeless struggle to survive. From childhood on, these children learn what it means to work, and work hard.

This image is a good example of travel photojournalism, rather than travel photography. The difference comes in the approach to the picture. I am acting here as a visual reporter. I had no idea I even wanted to make this picture until I saw it happening before me. I was working on sheer instinct. Nothing was previsualized. I saw the cart coming at me, noticed that there were young children helping to push it, and kept shooting as it passed me. Because it is journalistic in nature, the black and white medium intensified its value as communication. The image becomes more direct, and more universal in terms of meaning. It could be anywhere in Asia, and the black and white form lets me imply it could have been made at any time in the last 30 years. It also becomes much simpler in form – gone are the vivid colors of the print design on the young boy’s sarong and yellow shirt. A red motorbike just behind the handles virtually vanishes in black and white. In color it was a prominent distraction.

Above all, the black and white rendering has removed the symbolic promise of a better day by removing the golden early morning light that bathed the scene in color. That warmly colored light is no longer a factor in meaning. Only the hard work is left.