I n the eastern reaches of Java, Indonesia, the Kawah Ijen volcano stuns the world with a spectacle of neon-blue flames ...

When you’re in the mine, the sky is covered by gases. Day and night are confused. You feel suspended in time. Sunarto, 41 years old, carries a load of sulfur out of the Kawah Ijen crater.

inside the crater of the Kawah Ijen volcano lies a landscape bereft of life. A turquoise lake of sulfuric acid bubbles like a sorcerer's cauldron, and the earth belches great plumes of acrid smoke.