( CNN ) The greater adjutant stork is a majestic bird . Standing about 5 feet tall with an average wingspan of 8 feet , it soars over the Boragaon landfill like a great protector . It knows the residents and shies away from strangers . `` They are intelligent birds . Every time I got close to them they would fly away , '' photographer Timothy Bouldry said . The dirty , wet conditions of the landfill attracted the endangered stork , and the stork attracted Bouldry . Through a series of photos taken within a day , he captures what it 's like to live inside one of the largest dumping grounds in India . The Boragaon landfill is located in the city of Guwahati , about 300 miles from Bangladesh near the Bhutanese border . It 's 94 acres of mostly fresh waste , surrounded by swamplands . ( Other landfills , Bouldry says , contain older , compacted trash . ) For the past seven years , Bouldry has traveled the world photographing landfills . He 's visited places such as Haiti , Venezuela and Colombia . The greater adjutant stork initially drew Bouldry to Boragaon , but he became connected with the people . About 100 families live inside the Boragaon landfill . Every day , they search the area for treasure -- a tiny scrap of metal , a bit of plastic , maybe a bone . They use large hooks to sort through the garbage , which sometimes reaches two or three stories high . They work in teams , and more than often they are barefoot . `` They do n't look at the things they 're doing as being unsanitary or unhealthy or unsafe , '' Bouldry said . They collect plastic , metal and wires and sell it by the pound . The families make around $ 2 per day . Their homes are constructed by recycled materials , with sometimes several families living in one shanty at a time . With no electricity , no running water -- and an overabundance of trash -- they are experts at repurposing . `` You might see a refrigerator being used as a closet , '' he said . Social media . Follow @ CNNPhotos on Twitter to join the conversation about photography . Some of the children living in Boragaon go to school on scholarship , but most of them work in the landfill to provide for their families . But do n't be deceived : The people living here feel anything but destitute . Bouldry uses words such as `` love , '' `` hope '' and `` spirituality '' to describe them . `` I found that the landfill community is content , '' Bouldry said . `` They are not jaded by modern civilization . '' Bouldry lives and works inside the La Chureca landfill in Nicaragua , one of the largest landfills in the world . He helps the people living there grow gardens fertilized with compost he makes with organic waste from local smoothie shops . In addition to his photography , he teaches English and yoga classes a few times per week . But why ? Bouldry went to art school in Boston . He 's no stranger to sophisticated civilization . He said he found humanitarian photo projects to be the most fulfilling , and he became especially intrigued by landfills even though they are `` scary , dirty and kind of grotesque . '' `` This is my 'thank you ' to the informal recyclers of the world , '' he said . Timothy Bouldry is a photographer based in New Hampshire . You can follow him on Facebook and Twitter .
Photographer Timothy Bouldry spent time at a massive landfill in Guwahati , India . He took these photos of the waste dump and its surroundings.