The last herb pickers

In Podlachia (Podlasie) – one of the cleanest regions in Poland – for many generations locals have been gathering medicinal plants – wildly-growing herbs. They pick flowers and leaves, dig for roots and peel branches for bark. They’re often bothered by heat, pestered by mosquitoes and ticks, they need to remain in a bent position for many hours at a stretch, and then they must carry back everything they’ve gathered. Alas, there are very few real gatherers left – they’re mostly elderly people that have been harvesting herbs from the wild for several dozen years now. My goal was to save their fading figures from oblivion and pay tribute to their hard work.