In 2004 I found myself drifting down the Amazon in a boat that had run out of gas. I accepted an invitation from a woman I met onboard to stay with her family when we finally arrived at her town, Santarém.

While staying with her I learned that this area of the Amazon faces intense development as the site of a planned soybean exportation port. I began photographing this mid-sized, tranquil town as it existed at the precipice of change, recording the markets, architecture, ancient religious festivals, social life and faces. I frequently photographed at night after the oppressive heat and humidity of the day dissipates and the town awakens.

I returned to Santarém to continue photographing in 2006 and plan to return again. During my second trip I also made images in the small neighboring town of Altar do Chão which appear among the images here.