Unforgiving temperatures of up to 60℃ (140℉) beat down on these saltminers on a daily basis. The mines, situated in the Afar Triangle in Ethiopia, stretch across 38,000 sq miles and at their lowest point are more than 300ft below sea level. Joel Santos travelled to capture the area’s dry, brutal beauty. Here: Dromedaries and donkeys are used to transport the salt. (Photo by Joel Santos/Barcroft Images)

Children with balloons play beside the statue of British comedy legend Eric Morecambe on January 16, 2012 in Morecambe, England. According to scientists January 16, 2012 was “Blue Monday”, the most depressing day of the year. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

James Doran has created two epic dragon sculpture. The first, perched on a dead tree, is called ‘The Wyvern in the Baobabs’ (a wyvern is a type of dragon with two legs and two wings). The other, ‘Wyvern’s Folly,’ is perched on a gazebo made from reclaimed steel and recycled water bottles.

Workers adjust rails at the bed of a drained area of a lake used for the production of salt at the Sasyk-Sivash lake near the city of Yevpatoria, Crimea, September 25, 2015. The area has a long tradition of salt production, prepared from salt flats flooded with water from the Black Sea. (Photo by Pavel Rebrov/Reuters)

A devotee of the Ban Tha Rua Chinese shrine is helped with a spike pierced through her cheeks during a street procession celebrating the annual vegetarian festival in Phuket September 28, 2014. The festival, featuring face-piercing, spirit mediums and strict vegetarianism celebrates the local Chinese community's belief that abstinence from meat and various stimulants during the ninth lunar month of the Chinese calendar will help them obtain good health and peace of mind. (Photo by Damir Sagolj/Reuters)

A tourist take a photograph of a sulphur lake in the Danakil Depression on January 23, 2017 near Dallol, Ethiopia. The depression lies 100 metres below sea level and is one of the hottest and most inhospitable places on Earth. Despite the gruelling conditions, Ethiopians continue a centuries old industry of mining salt from the ground by hand in temperatures that average 34.5 degrees centigrade but have risen to over 50 degrees. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)

Vogue Italia is hosting a series of shows in Milan exploring how the magazine seeks to engage with hot social and political issues and provoke debate through images by top photographers. The Photo Vogue festival in Milan is hosting three exhibitions. The first, Fashion and Politics in Vogue Italia, looks at the magazine’s ambition to be a catalyst for change – in subtle and playful ways. Here: David LaChapelle – October 2004. (Photo by David LaChapelle/The Guardian)

An Afghan man prepares tea for customers at a roadside tea shop on the outskirts of Jalalabad February 2, 2015. (Photo by Reuters/Parwiz)