“Some years ago, I was panting my way through the streets of La Paz, trying to shake off altitude sickness and acclimatise to the thin air. After a day or two, I was off to what is arguably regarded as the finest lake in the world, Lake Titicaca. I thought I had seen true azure in parts of the Adriatic, Aegean and Caribbean, but looking at Lake Titicaca was like staring into the heart of a vast sapphire.

I had taken a boat to an island in the middle of the lake, where I discovered a simple settlement of a couple of houses and a wooden shack for a school. I begged the teacher to let me have two desks to stand on. It was crucial to have height. There were two pinnacles with which I had become obsessed: the top of the sail of the fast-moving boat and the apex of the thatched construction. I was sure that the image could only work if I could drop the top of the sail under the clouds and the top of the thatched triangle under the distant mountain range. The battered old school desks did the trick and I stood, somewhat precariously and, by a mere millimetre, triumphant!

It was cold but I was on fire with excitement as I saw the image taking shape. The serenity which I hope this image conveys was in fact born in a climate of frenzy. If I could, I would carry a sapphire in my pocket to remind me of this extraordinary convergence of events; but then I suppose I have the photograph... that will do.”  Charlie Waite