Lucas Mulder | Guatemalan Markets

Photo © Lucas Mulder-All Rights Reserved

I was told that the next Foundry Photojournalism Workshop will be held in Guatemala in summer 2014...a great choice, and which prompted me to feature the work of the talented Lucas Mulder in which he showcases Guatemalan markets in monochrome, using candid street photography techniques.

Guatemala is not only La Antigua (although its Semana Santa festivities and processions are phenomenal to photograph), but also has wonderful little towns and areas that are remarkably photogenic. Lago de Atitlan, Chichicastenango, Quetzaltenango, to mention only a few.

I photographed in Guatemala for about two weeks starting with the Semana Santa, and then doing short jaunts to the places I mention above. One of the intriguing aspects I encountered in western Guatemala is the cult of Maximón or San Simón. He is a folk saint venerated in various forms by the Mayan people in Guatemala. This cult ought to provide interesting ideas to attendees of the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop.

Lucas Mulder is a photographer based in Boston, and he's a member of the Ballad photography collective.

Chico Sanchez | La Antigua's Easter Week

Photo © Chico Sanchez- All Rights Reserved

La Antigua is a city with a UNESCO World Heritage Site appellation, and a city in central Guatemala, famous for its Catholic celebration of Holy Week, which commemorates the Passion, Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

All of Antigua participates in the annual event, and the entire week is replete with religious activities. These rituals arrived with the missionaries from Spain, who brought Catholic fervor to the local indigenous population during colonial times. The event begins on Palm Sunday, during which images of Jesus and the Holy Virgin of Sorrow are carried from their churches through the city on the shoulders of devoted followers who carry lanterns while dressed in purple robes with white waistbands. 

On Good Friday, the streets of Antigua are covered with natural, aromatic carpets of flowers, pines, clover, fruits and colored sawdust, which the residents put together and place in front of their homes. 

Chico Sanchez just produced an audio slideshow of the event, with ambient sound and narration/interview.

I've featured the work of Chico Sanchez, a freelance photographer based in Mexico City, on a number of occasions. Chico worked in Venezuela, collaborating with Reuters, European Pressphoto Agency, Agencia EFE, and currently freelances for various newspapers and magazines.

Rodrigo Abd: The Mayan Queens

Photos © Rodrigo Abd_All Rights Reserved

Here's an interesting project undertaken by Rodrigo Abd, an Argentine photographer with AP currently based in Guatemala. He traveled to Coban to document the indigenous women competing to become this year’s National Indigenous Queen of Guatemala. The event was held during the Rabin Ajau National Folkloric Festival in Coban, Guatemala.

Abd used a 19th century style wooden box camera he had bought in Afghanistan, which required the women to hold still for up to two minutes as Abd exposed the images directly onto photo paper. The photo paper is plunged into the developer then into a fixer liquid inside the camera body. A negative image of his subjects appears. Later on, he photographed these negatives to produce the positive versions.

“It’s about having this connection with people I’m portraying because they have to be totally quiet and spend some time only with me, looking at me with my camera.”

This project certainly attracted the attention of the blogosphere, as it appeared on OregonLive.com (much larger photographs) of The Oregonian, and in The Guardian.

The same process was documented by Frances Schwabenland in her The Photographer of Jaipur.