Ruins of the Temple of the Virgins. From the Album of Views from the Southern Railway

As part of his work documenting the undertakings of the Southern Railway, Ricardo Villaalba took photographs recording landscapes and archaeological views along the railways’s path. This photograph focuses on the ruins of the Temple of the Virgins, located in the Puno highlands. His keen eye enabled Villalba to anticipate the interest that this type of monument would soon acquire among scientific travelers. At that time, photographs taken outside the studio implied great difficulty. Equipped with a large and bulky camera, photographers had to also carry heavy sheets of glass and the materials for the preparation of the negatives and the development of the images in the field. The equipment, including the tent that served as a darkroom, could weigh as much as fifty kilos. It is estimated that in these conditions the photographer could produce, with luck, about ten plates per day.