People and Places
My early Guatemala photographs depict the western highlands. I still believe the western highlands to be the most beautiful part of Guatemala. However, with time I moved farther afield to other parts of the highlands. Thus I came in contact with Maya of different idioms, traditions, and cultural traits than I had ever known.
I always return to a location to give photos to their subjects. What began as a simple experiment, though, appears to have gotten out of hand. What I was doing was not unique, however. Visitors to a place often take and pass out photographs to the subjects of those photos. However, whatever talent I have as a photographer, pales to my ability as a distributor of photos. When I go for a visit, I also come back with photos. However, the visit is my real objective.
Distributing Photographs
I gain enormously through giving away photos, however. The doors of many Maya households open to me. Likewise, my camera and I are a part of many communities. It’s fun to walk through a market, for instance, and have every vendor ask me to shoot their photo. It’s also fun to walk in a procession or a parade and have both the participants and onlookers modeling for me.
I hope you like my photographs, but I believe the real value of my work is the giving of photos. There are way better photographers than me, but there may not be a better distributor of photos. For one thing, passing out 900,000 photographs may be unprecedented world-wide, Some would argue that only a crazy person would do such a thing.
Recently I received mild praise from Oliver, a young Catalan photographer with superior talent to mine. He liked my photos, but told me that the moment a subject looks back into the camera, the photograph is ruined. I explained, however, that I had an ethical aversion to shooting photos of people without their knowledge and permission. Oliver explained to me that he uses a powerful lens and hides well, and so, no problem: no one knows he´s doing it.
Ethical Differences
I don´t agree with his technique. However, these days everyone photographs on the sly. Tourists on public boats on Lake Atitlán routinely aim their cameras at me, even though I’m not that interesting looking. For a Maya woman, however, with her colorful garb, thick long hair, and rare beauty, the invasion of privacy must be an everyday annoyance.
I therefore choose a direct approach to photography and welcome the interaction.this approach affords me.
Mostly I photograph people. However, I include a few photos of places like this of the Cathedral, Antigua Guatemala, Sacatepéquez for context.
Beauty from San Lucas Sacatepéquez
This baby of El Tejar, Chimaltenango interacts with the world while riding on mother’s back.
But she couldn’t be laughing at me in Patzicía, Chimaltenango.
Although in many towns men no longer wear traditional clothing, many men in Patzún Chimaltenango continue to wear white pants and rodillera.
Although she’s now gone, the memory of Doña Chusa lives on in Patzún, Chimaltenango.
This is Blanca as a child in Mocolic Xot Alto,Patzun. However, she is now married in Patzicia.
This cornfield and sunset are in Patzun but remind me of Illinois.
This rabbit in Panimaché, Chichicastenango, El Quiché is loved but fattened for a reason.
She looks to be from China but is from Joyabaj, El Quiché
Her town, Canton Quivala, had no potable water, but my parents made water a reality there.
This woman was from Solol’a but is now deceased.
This beauty is from Caserio San Isidro, Aldea Sacsiguan, Sololá, Sololá
This school girl is in a parade in Panajachel.
This girl is from Palomora, San Andrés Xecúl, Totónicapán
She lives in Patachaj, San Cristóbal Totónicapán
Claudia and her sisters from Aldea Chiquilajá, Xela lost their parents when they were young and therefore lived with grandparents.
Geidi is from El Llano del Pinal, Quetzaltenanago.
This woman is from San Luís Jilotepeque Jalapa but in San Mateo, Quetzaltenango.
This is the Factory of Cantel, Quetzaltenango. The people of Cantel, however, fought the opening of the factory in 1884.
Naranjales, Colotenango, Huehuetenango
The woman in foreground wears the blouse (huipil) of Santiago Chimaltenango, Huehuetenango,.
A painter copied this photo of a woman and her grand-mother from Santiago Chimaltenango, Huehuetenango in a mural in Samayac without permission. However, since its public art, I don’t care.
