1978 Street Photography in Downtown Lima, 1978 Walker Webb Watson with Don and Christine Johnson

© 2025 Walker Webb Watson, 1951. All rights reserved. · 1978-01-01T00:00:00Z

while traveling through downtown Lima, Peru, Walker Webb Watson joined friends Don and Christine Johnson for a morning walk through one of the city’s circular plazas. There, they encountered a street photographer practicing a traditional technique using a “cámara minutera” — a portable box camera capable of developing prints on the spot. This archive includes both the paper negative and positive produced during that session, offering a rare glimpse into a vanishing photographic craft. What the Photographer Is Doing: The photographer uses a wooden tripod-mounted box camera, which functions as both a camera and a miniature darkroom. Here's the process: - Step 1: Exposure — The photographer loads light-sensitive photographic paper into the camera and takes a portrait of the subjects (Walker, Don, and Christine) in front of a monument. - Step 2: Development — Inside the lightproof box, he develops the exposed paper using chemical baths. This first image is a paper negative, showing inverted tones. - Step 3: Contact Printing — He then mounts a copy holder onto the front of the lens, places the wet paper negative onto it, and re-exposes it onto a second sheet of photographic paper. - Step 4: Final Print — The second exposure is developed inside the box, producing a positive print — a finished photograph ready to hand to the customer. This method, common in Latin America and parts of Europe throughout the mid-20th century, allowed photographers to work independently in public spaces without access to a studio. The process was fast, tactile, and deeply personal — often involving conversation, improvisation, and a sense of ceremony. Walker’s documentation preserves not only the image but the craftsmanship and cultural context of street photography in Lima during the late 1970s. Sources: •  1978 Downtown Lima Peru archive entry •  Guide to paper negatives and contact printing •  Mastering paper negatives in alternative photography