Photography’s my hobby. For others, it is a way of life. Steve McCurry is a professional and is one of the best practitioners of the human portrait that I’ve seen. I highly recommend you take a look at his post on the Grit, Grind and Glory of Work, then explore the rest of his site! It is truly incredible.
I am hesitant to post any of my photos of people, because I don’t think I’ve got a single shot of a person which approaches any of his. So I won’t try.
I don't have anything good, but I can evoke a TRON environment.
I realised while browsing that I a project like this for scientists could be amazing! The variety of places that scientists work in – from the immense Large Hadron Collider, to the jungles of Malaysia or a poky basement lab in Imperial College – would provide an endless array of interesting backdrops. The way Steve brings his photos to life isn’t the scene but the people, though. Having dipped a toe in the science communication pool and tried to do a photo project of scientists lately, it’s not easy!
It was a peculiar thing: the problem we encountered with the project was that scientists didn’t think they were interesting. I might elaborate more on this at a later date, once the feature is published… until then, why are you still here? Go to Steve’s blog!
David Robertson 
Steve McCurry is one of the most inspirational photojournalist in the world. His portraits touch deep within our being and pluck the strings of our soul… Good luck on getting a shot of the scientists
Heading over to Steve’s blog, but I wanted to say that I actually really liked the photo you shared!
That poor bugger in Pakistan (last photo on the page you just linked)
We all perceive our surrounding differently. Of course, we all perceive people differently too. Makes life more interesting. imo
His images are gorgeous….the shot of Vesuvio Bakery in NYC is now iconic/historical as it closed many years ago and has now been renovated and transformed.
But interesting that so many of the images of work (that are actually visually compelling) are from developing nations of people who are non-Caucasian. I guess photos of white people sitting at computers (which so many of do now for “work”) is less exotic.
I agree, I noticed that immediately – I wonder if familiarity creates a sense of the mundane which doesn’t capture us so much. I also wonder if physical work (in some sense) is easier to capture and more evocative than office-style work. Someone sweeping a street or working a factory line has ‘purpose’, while someone at a computer is quite ambiguous.