1961 Machu Picchu, Peru. This ruin in its spectacular mountain setting has become the icon for Peru and its wonderful Inca heritage. I was lucky to reach the site before serious tourism began.

Machu Picchu was drawn to world attention in 1911 when the American Yale University scholar Hiram Bingham reached it during a scientific expedition, though he was not the first to get there. A National Geographic Magazine of 1913 has many of his pictures of the site before the vegetation was cleared.This view looks in a northerly direction towards Huayna Picchu, which stands approximately 360 metres above the ruins. This area with its small plaza and steep stone stairway, one of the longest in the site was known in the 1960s as the Zona de las Cáracoles (the place of shells) maybe for making building lime

Camera: MPP Microflex Twin Lens Reflex with f 3.5 77.5mm Taylor Taylor Hobson lens with light yellow filter x 1. Film Kodak Verichrome Pan at F11 - 1/125 second. Developed by hand in Lima, using May and Baker Promicrol at normal dilution.

Negative: Peru 61-02-04 © Tony Morrison