FIVE-DAY BLACK & WHITE PHOTO CHALLENGE – DAY 1

Santiago Atitlán, Guatemala – 1987

Scanned from Kodak Tri-X negative film

Guatemala is one of the world’s most colourful countries due to the textiles woven and worn by the local people. It may therefore seem a bit peculiar that I start a black and white photo series in Guatemala and I have no idea why I loaded a camera with black and white film when I travelled there in 1987.

Lake Atitlán is often regarded as one of the world’s most beautiful lakes. It is ringed by the three volcanoes: Volcán Atitlán, Volcán San Pedro and Volcán Tolimán. I was staying in the village of Panajachel and on one beautiful day decided to take a ferry trip across the lake to Santiago Atitlán. The village is home to descendants of the Maya who today are regarded for their weaving skills.

I was roaming the back streets when I found this girl sitting in doorway to her home and weaving wrist bracelets. I chatted with her a bit and took an interest in her weaving and asked if I could purchase one of her wrist bands. I bought a red and black one which even to this day dangles off my camera bag. In parting, I grabbed my black and white camera and fired off a few shots and then a few more in Kodachrome. Despite all of the colours of the textiles and the half banana on her basket I prefer the black and white version.

I present this image for another reason though. When I developed the film and printed this image in the darkroom I thought it was my best photo ever. I entered it in a photo competition and was sure I’d win a prize. I was shocked when I discovered I didn’t even get an honourable mention. I then looked at the winning photos and saw what the judges saw: interesting angles, striking lighting, creative use of depth of field. My photo of the little girl showed none of that and I accepted that it wasn’t a great photo. I then realised why I thought in my mind that it was a spectacular photo. When I saw this little girl start to appear on paper in the developing tray in the darkroom it brought back a flurry of warm memories of that glorious day on the ferry surrounded by three towering volcanoes, my exploration of Santiago and my short encounter with this darling girl. The judges in the photo competition didn’t experience any of that but for me this is a gold-medal winning image because it brings me back to that day in 1987.