The workshop highlighted how documentary photographers in India and China have depicted the lives of industrial laborers and the complex relationship between laborers, factories, and the media. Scholars from various universities presented on photographers who explored themes like man-machine relations, shifting labor relations during industrialization, and competing narratives around automation and worker complementarity with machines. Their photos revealed both critiques of labor exploitation and narratives of industrial progress. The discussion provided insights into how photography captured the interplay between traditional values and the costs of modernizing nations.