"Holding up a Mirror to Peru"

Machu Picchu was on Jeremy Arkes’ must-see-before-I-die list, so earlier this summer he and six friends traveled to Peru for two weeks. They were on a train from Cusco to Lake Titicaca when he leaned out from the rear car’s balcony with his Nikon N80 to snap this photo. “I just wanted to get a picture of the train and some mountains,” said Arkes, an economist who lives in Santa Monica. “I had no idea I’d get that great reflection.”

Why the Los Angeles Times chose to feature this photo:

"This photo exploded out of the screen: the arid landscape and yellow grass, the intense blue of the sky, the purple mountain that looks seems to slip from the sky into into the train car windows. The reflection temporarily makes you think that the window is transparent, and that element of surprise draws you in." (By Robin Rauzi, Assistant Travel Editor)