Children of the Andes

Ok, thought I'd share a few of my Portrait shots from the Peruvian trip. The portraits haven't been easy, I only had an ultra wide angle lens with me on the trip, which means I always had to be up in people's faces to get a head shot. But with a bit of luck, some of these I thought turned out ok. And I think these really have some cultural flavour to them.

The girl above was selling traditional alpaca nit wears. And she brought her pet lamb along. Just when I was ready to take a photo of the lamb beside her, she picked it up and swung it towards her, and the moment was just perfect.

I've taken the photo above on my way to the Colca Canyon, which is the deepest Canyon in the world. This little girl, her mum and alpaca were hanging around tour bus lay-bys, waiting for tourists to take photos and in exchange for a few peruvian Soles.  I did feel a bit of dilemma, as I am told that these children would give up school to come here to make a few quick Soles for the family. So by taking the photo and awarding her with money, I have encouraged her to give up school. But if I didn't take the photo, I would have lost one of my favourite photo from the trip of my life time. Trying to make myself feeling better about the act, I simply told myself to accept the way of life there, as it's part of the culture in the region, and if it means she'll have to give up school to bring bread to the family, then I am much rather her family is fed first.  After all, what's good of schools if your stomach is empty?

The girl above was staring at the chocolate one of our travel buddy was eating. Naturally, she received her share, and she seemed very happy about that.

This little kid was a local living in one of the huts deep inside the andes. When we met her, she was full of life, and I think it says it all in her smiles.

More locals we've met on our Lares trek. Sometimes I was really confused about where they actually came from, because at times it seemed there's not a single house for miles and miles. But these children are the real shepherd of the andes, and they all know the region like the back of their hands! photo below, a young shepherd herding his two llamas.

The photo above were taken just after our highest pass of the hike, approximately 4800m above sea level. Around the highest pass, there's a huge blizzard going on, and once you come down/away from the point, things cleared up.

I really like the clothing contrast between the girl above and the people in the background.

A peruvian boy wearing traditional clothing, dashing around the plaza de armas in Cuzco.