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Antigua In Black and White — I am 100% Chapin

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Here’s your illustrated Guatemalan Spanish word of the day: Chapín nickname for Guatemalan. That’s right, chapin is the nickname used by Guatemalans and others that you can use interchangeably with guatemalteco. Guatemalan use the nickname chapin with pride. I believe Guatemalans are the only people in Central America that use their nickname with pride, but … Read more

Portrait of a Christmas Decorations Vendor

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Those familiar with Christmas posts will certainly recognise the face of this woman, my Christmas decoration vendor. Every year she shows up on the parque central of San Pedro Las Huertas with all kinds of festive decorations, from the authentic Guatemalan stuff to the glitter artificial stuff as shown here in the background. I believe … Read more

Portraits of Strangers: An African Face in Antigua

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He said he’s from Uganda. He was so jovial and well-humored, even chatty. He suggested I visit the African continent where I can find lots of interesting faces for portraits. This magnificent portrait was captured during one of the private photo walks I lead last weekend. I used several techniques here to approach him and … Read more

The Antigua Guatemala Town Crier

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If you have follow the daily updates from AntiguaDailyPhoto, you should know this guy by now. Sergio is the leader of crier group, pregoneros in Spanish, who dress up in colonial-style clothing and go around crying the news of the city or the promotions of a business when hired, as in this case, by Casa … Read more

Guatemalan Portrait: El cañero

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Th Guatemalan Spanish word of the day: caña or vara are the words used in Guatemala for reeds. Often one gets to read only the negative news from Guatemala as the mass media is mostly interested in broadcasting the sensationalistic stuff. Not here, not today. Just as often, I try to bring to your the … Read more

Guatemalan Portrait: Up Close & Personal

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We continue the series Guatemalan Portrait with this intimate picture of a young girl doing what young people do nowadays, socializing 24/7 via WhatsApp, Twitter, Texting or Facebook. Can you guess how close was I when made this portrait? Also, what are your feelings regarding this obsession with being connected and publishing constant updates of … Read more

Guatemalan Portrait: Take My Picture

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This week we begin a series of up-close portraits, taken within six feet, of strangers we have encountered on the streets of Antigua Guatemala as part of the photo walks I lead. These street portraits of strangers are part of the assignments I give to the participants on my street photography walks. By the way, … Read more

Street Portraiture in Antigua Guatemala

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Another goal that I set for myself this year is to do many more street portraits of locals and visitors alike. I want to share the faces of the people I meet and perhaps a tiny bit about their lives. For instance, I took the portrait of this couple who were sitting together working on … Read more

Norman Ávila, The Guatemalan Weather and Geo-location Guru

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Here’s another dramatic portrait for the newly created Portrait category. As always, follow the white rabbit to look at the other entries on Portrait series. By the way, Norman’s portrait was taken a few minutes before the portrait of Melody the Mennonite; the first portrait on the series. I met Norman a few years ago … Read more

From The Parking Lot to Antigua Guatemala

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I met filmmaker Meghan Eckman at Calle del Arco on Sábado de Gloria and what a glorious meeting that was. Meghan filmed and produced an interesting and offbeat documentary about one particular parking lot in Charlottesville, Virginia. You can find The Parking Lot Movie on Netflix and iTunes. As many other before her, she felt … Read more