William Cooper Mitchell's photographs of Nicaragua go beyond the average tourist's

William Cooper Mitchell’s images taken in Nicaragua are a beautiful insight into the Central American country. Shot in black and white on 35mm film, his photographs delve deeper than the average tourist’s snapshot. “Every year I try and escape the city… to shoot some images away from my commissioned work and live on the coast for as long as possible,” William says of his month-long trip out there. It’s this immersion into Nicaragua’s pace of life that is so mesmerising and personal about this series.

With his camera as his companion, William found himself “renting a place on the beach from a Canadian guy, his local girlfriend and their dog Pirata” and “driving for an hour off the Panamerican highway on dirt roads, through dried up river beds” among other adventures. The spontaneity allowed the photographer to capture the beauty of Nicaragua as it presented itself, rather than chasing that “perfect” shot.

“Nicaragua is poor. Cattle ranches, outdoor brick ovens, water wells in the front garden and cattle roaming through the houses. The people are incredibly happy and friendly, large families all living together and supporting each other,” says William. And it’s the people that stand out in the series like the couple dancing, the boy giving his friend a saddle, and friends climbing out of the sea.

Throughout the trip, William shot in both colour and black and white, “while [Nicaragua] is a very colourful place, it feels like a 70s Western, and the black and white felt more timeless,” he says. It gives the photographs this subtle drama, making the sunlight beautifully cinematic and the waves quietly menacing.