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 visit 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 ruins before the vegetation was cleared. In 1961 this pillar of hewn rock was a feature of the Principal Plaza or open space where the Inca would have gathered. The rock weighing approximately 4 tons was known as sacred as many such objects were venerated by the Quechua people of the district even in the twentieth century. Photographs taken in the 1930s show the pillar in this place. Sometime bertween 1967 and 1972 the rock was removed and is now buried nearby.

Camera: MPP Microflex Twin Lens Reflex with F3.5 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 61-02-06© Tony Morrison