Robert,
Once again you bring us rich treats. Is your impression here different from Nicaragua and in what way?
Asher
Oh yes - shooting in Guatemala is totally different than my experience in Nicaragua. People in general are not as receptive to having their photos taken. Discretion must be used because there is a tradition allowed particularly in the areas that we live in - called Mayan Justice. Anne and I have seen on the Guatemalan news on different occasions - men walking around with their hair lit on fire and the police just watching as the mobs of people taunt them. Such justice may be for a theft or some immoral act. One story continues to circulate about a photographer who was stoned to death here - but it was in 2000 and old singular horror stories do live - - - particularly among the locals.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/731981.stm
That said - just as in Nicaragua - I feel no sense of danger as I walk around the streets and through the markets. I get constant warnings to not carry a camera to these areas or pull out my tablet - - - but I do just as I have done since receiving those same warnings in Costa Rica in 2008 and 2009 as well as Nicaragua for the years we lived there. I am street smart and aware of potential situations, but cannot live in fear of those things happening. My methods have served me well for quite some time now with no incidences whatsoever.
This trip I am still out on the streets, but have decided that being I have such a massive collection of candid street photos of people - that I am starting to ask people if I can take their photos for a slightly different look. I did that this week and had a success with it. I have a post on that.
This week I also started delivering photos to some of the people I had photographed in the streets earlier this year (I never got that going in Guatemala like I had in Nicaragua). This always has and by the responses I got on Thursday - will create new friendly opportunities for my to photograph in those areas as people talk.
Attempting to deliver a print to the parents of 2 children that I photographed running around with the pigeons at the central park earlier this year - - - on asking different people there if they recognized the children - one woman took liberty to rant about me photographing children. I'm not sure if it is related to the fears I have already discussed - or it could be that she is the wife of one of the 2 men who make their living sitting in the park with cameras and taking photos of locals who want portraits taken - and then the people come back to the park and purchase the same 4x6 prints from them that I use. Either way, I may just use more discretion photographing kids or people in general at that park. I don't really shoot much there anyway.
