I always feel a little silly and self-conscious taking dodgy pictures of the same thing from the same angle at the same time as hundreds of other tourists, particularly if I’m wielding a relatively expensive camera. And even if the result isn’t too shabby, I’ll know that the kid with the camera phone got the same clichéd shot.

When my better half and I visited Machu Picchu in May 2009, I managed to take some shots of a llama with the Incan ruins themselves in the background. I was pretty stoked to say the least! There were relatively few people around us at that moment. And what people there were had their lenses pointing in other directions.

The proximity, the angle, the backdrop … what had I done to deserve such an opportunity? Me, rank amateur snapper who wouldn’t know an f-stop from a lens cap, taking shots like these!

Then I searched for “Machu Pichu llama” images in my go-to search engine. Of course! What did I expect? … hundreds of people … every day … same herd of camelids … same walk trails … same Incan ruins …

As a rank amateur I’m still very happy with my pic, though!