The paper showed 14 photographs by Balázs, a staff photographer at the Hungarian News Agency (MTI).
Attila Balázs said he had been ?tickled? by the idea for the series of photographs for a long time because of his interest in physical labourers.
?When I was a kid in Apagy, my dad was a Hungarian and history teacher, and we always had a field, we always grew something. We called day workers a number of times, so I worked a lot with them,? he said.
MTI photography desk chief editor István Virágvölgyi gave Balázs ?the final shove? in the project?s direction when he asked if any of the desk?s staff knew of a topic that involved travel by bus from home to work.
??Of course I do,? I said. ?In Tiszadob.? So I packed together my stuff, called the farmers ? who each have orchards on 150 hectares ? and started for Tiszavasvár one morning at five,? Balázs said.
?I got to know the day workers? shift chief, and from that point on, I spend the whole day with them. I went with the bus that took them and talked with them on the way. We had our morning snack together as well as lunch, and I too pitched in to work.?
Balázs said the day workers? toil had changed little in the 30 years since his childhood.
?These people have the lowest level of prestige on the employment scale, but they are satisfied with their fates and feel fortunate just to have work. They speak with the highest regard for the farmer who has called back the group for coming on 20 years, even out of earshot? he said.
Balázs took more than 400 pictures on the day with the day workers. Thirty were published by MTI.
?I didn?t count on such a big success,? he said, adding that the European Press Agency (EPA) had taken over practically the entire series, which is pretty rare.
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI)
