The family that hosted me in Ecuador was the Saransig-Moran family. They were very gracious and kind, and after having stayed at their house for a week and getting to know the young twins, I decided to ask if I could shoot photos of them doing the things they do as part of their normal life. Juan Gabriel especially was, at first, not keen to let people photograph him. I respect this but was able to gain his permission after getting to know him more…and I was very lucky, because when other people tried to photograph him he still would usually hide (sometimes behind my shirt).
Here Juan Gabriel stares off at the Andes from his backyard.

This is the first photo in the essay that I put together, the whole thing can be seen at www.sportsshooter.com/peterhoffman