Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Friday 14 July 2017
Frozen in time: Old-school camera captures Andean festival

SINAKARA VALLEY, Peru “But once on the ground, enous costumes, some
(AP) — One by one, Asso- the project also represent- wearing masks, others
ciated Press photographer ed an enormous logistical holding harps or other mu-
Rodrigo Abd positioned the complexity.” sical instruments, sat still for
traditional dancers, musi- Abd and two assistants, up to two minutes as Abd
cians and vendors in front Victor Zea and Ignacio made exposures, light shin-
of an old-fashioned box Gonzalez Vigil, used three ing through the lens onto
camera in Peru’s Sinakara pack horses to transport photographic paper inside
Valley as a colorful An- the heavy camera, its tri- the box.
dean festival exploded all pod, black cloth to block Abd produced negative
around them. light during developing, prints of each picture by
The men, women and chil- processing chemicals and passing the photo paper
dren were among the tens a tent through near-freez- through developer and
of thousands of pilgrims ing temperatures to a plain fixer sloshing inside the
representing some eight In this June 12, 2017 photo, 15-year-old Aldair Monchea poses about 14,700 feet (4,500 box. The negative prints
nations who came to this for a portrait in the Sinakara Valley, in Peru’s Cusco region, meters) high, set amid a were then hung with plastic
sacred place in Quispican- during the Qoyllur Rit’i festival, translated from the Quechua
chis province in Peru’s Cuz- language as Snow Star. Associated Press
co region for the annual Aldo Machaca Quispe, re- val that also coincides with
Snow Star Festival, shortly ferring to the image of Je- the reappearance of the
before this year’s Christian sus Christ venerated in the star cluster Pleiades in the
feast of Corpus Christi. region. Southern Hemisphere, sig-
After their portraits were He sat for a portrait with his naling the abundance of
made, the subjects spoke son Brandon, 6, and said he the harvest season.
of the beliefs and rituals hoped to pass down the But this year, he chose to
they keep alive in the 21st traditions to the boy. bring his old-fashioned box
century.
camera, a primitive device
built of wood and modeled
on ones he saw portrait
photographers using in Af-
ghanistan while he was on
assignment there in 2006.
With a lens and space for
a developing lab inside,
the box camera uses 19th
century technology to pro-
duce luminous, black and
white images.
“The idea of making por-
traits with my wooden
camera of the pilgrims ...
was beguiling,” Abd said of
the project.

In this June 12, 2017 photo, 30-year-old Ivan Flores poses for a
portrait in the Sinakara Valley, in Peru’s Cusco region, during
the Qoyllur Rit’i festival, translated from the Quechua language
as Snow Star.
ASSOCIATED PRESS

snow-capped mountain clothespins to dry in the An-
range adored by the Que- dean air.
chua people. With each one, the process
Inscribed on UNESCO’S was repeated to make a
Intangible Cultural Heri- positive print.
In this June 13, 2017 photo, tage list, the Peruvian fes- The result was a series of
In this June 12, 2017 photo, 22-year-old Jefferson Valdivia poses nine-year-old Jose Carlos tival features a pilgrimage stunning images of peo-
for a portrait in the Sinakara Valley, in Peru’s Cusco region, Cahuana, dressed as by local people to the ple in traditional garb little
during the Qoyllur Rit’i festival, translated from the Quechua a character known as sanctuary where a boul- known outside the Peruvian
language as Snow Star. “Majeno”, poses for a portrait der with an image of Jesus Andes.
ASSOCIATED PRESS in the Sinakara Valley, in Christ known as the Lord of For dancer Guido Yupaniki
Peru’s Cusco region, during
the Qoyllur Rit’i festival, Qoyllur Rit’i (pronounced Cereceda, worship of the
Last year, Abd used digi- translated from the Quechua KOL-yer REE-chee), or Snow Lord through the festival “is
“I’m proud to be another tal equipment to photo- language as Snow Star. Star in the Quechua lan- very meaningful for the An-
soldier for the Lord of Qoyl- graph the three-day festi- ASSOCIATED PRESS guage. dean world. He’s God and
lur Rit’i,” said 33-year-old People in colorful indig- love for all of us.”q