Charaña PHOTO STUDIO

The only and unforgettable photo studio of Charaña, a desolate border town at the end of Bolivia.

Charaña is a high elevation desolate border town at the western end of Bolivia on the Andean Plateau, few miles from the border with Chile. It counts approximately one thousand inhabitants.

It is the last station before entering Chile, along the railroad that goes from La Paz to Arica at the Pacific Coast, mainly used during the years for the transport of mining products.

The town grew up around the train station and the warehouses for the storage of goods. A main square, a couple of schools, a cemetery and a couple of soccer fields outside town. Roads are dusty and mostly populated by dogs and llamas.

Shops have no name, they do not need to.

One of these shop is the only photo studio in town. It has only a sign on the window: “SE HACE FOTOS AL INSTANTE”. Not only a photo studio, in fact the single room is used as a butcher shop and on the other side as a photographic set for ID pictures.

A computer to post-produce and a small printer for immediate delivery are in the corner of the room.

The owner also has some dress aside: a white, a rose and a striped shirt, a man's jacket and a pair of ties - in the event that a customer quickly needs a more elegant look.

Another option is, with a small extra money, to choose your own look from a repertoire of different clothes, ready to be pasted in post-production within your own portrait.

Welcome to the only and unforgettable photo studio of Charaña.