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A pretty picture

A 14-year-old boy from Peru becomes an internationally acclaimed photographer.

This award-winning photo brought 14-year-old Juan Carlos Cabellos $400.

Photo: Juan Carlos Cabellos

One day you’re sleeping on the street and making a living singing; the next, you win an international photography contest. This happened to 14-year-old Juan Carlos Cabellos from Huanchaco, Peru, when he won the BID Challenge in April. BID is a Netherlands-based organization that runs a business plan competition for entrepreneurs in developing countries. Juan Carlos’ picture of a Peruvian man selling fish at the market in Celendin won him a $400 first prize—equal to two months of his father’s wages.

When Juan Carlos was 11, he left home. To survive, he boarded the interstate buses daily to sing songs for passengers’ loose change. Juan Carlos lived this way until he was picked off the streets and settled into Mundo de Niños, a shelter for street children. Last year, he joined FairMail, a company producing fair-trade greeting cards in Peru, as a student photographer. He shot the winning image during his first photo trip in February. As part of his membership, Juan Carlos not only gets health insurance, but 50 percent of the profit from the sale of his pictures, which he intends to use to finance his education and bring electricity to his parents’ house. At FairMail, Juan Carlos packs cards in sets that he and others sell on the street. He also gets photography training from volunteers who mentor him. These days, although he’s not doing it to earn a living anymore, Juan Carlos has a lot to sing about.