In the late 1960s, Valdir Cruz first came to these sites on hunting and fishing expeditions along the Jordao River, which flows through and on past Guarapuava to create the remote remarkably beautiful falls of Salto Vaca Branca and Salto Curucaca. The photographs included in O Caminho das Aguas concern these and other of the many waterfalls that extend from the capital of Parana at Curtiba to Foz de Iguazu in the western tip of the state, at the junction of Paraguay and Argentina, a distance of about 400 miles.

Valdir Cruz has witnessed the slow disappearance of the waterfalls and entire river landscapes due to the construction of dams for power plants. On the other hand, he appriciates what those plants have done economically for the region. Knowing that some of the falls in the region may fall prey to future economic development, Valdir cruz regards this opportunity to document a landscape of such beauty as a trust, an obligation. His photographs serve as a witness to the beauty of what is there now.

Edward Leffingwell
From the FotoFest 2004 Catalogue