Haría Ayuntamiento has unanimously approved photographer Javier Reyes Acuña to be honoured as a Favoured Son of the municipality. The 97-year old will receive the award today, as part of Haría’s San Juan festivities.
Reyes bought his first camera in 1946 and opened a photographic studio in the 50s, combining the work with other jobs until 1972. The resulting archive of photos is probably the most extensive visual record of the north of Lanzarote before the arrival of tourism.
Reyes worked at parties, fiestas and took hundreds of portraits, many of which were the first ever time locals had been photographed. Hew was as skilled at capturing candid moments as he was at formal portraits, and some of his photos, such as the ones of women from La Graciosa carrying baskets of fish up the Famara cliffs, have become iconic.
His collection of evocative, often moving, photos can be seen at the memoriadelanzarote.com website.
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