Guatemala: Accidental Snapshot

Guatemala: Accidental iPhone Snap (Hi from a Kiche' Pueblo in Sololá).

(I'm traveling and blogging from Guatemala right now, so expect a number of posts from me specific to this region. - XJ).

I've spent much of the past week in a K'iche' Maya village in the highlands. One of the children there took this snapshot on my iPhone by accident, I'm pretty sure.

I love it. We were gathered around the wood hearth, trying to stay warm. I was watching the women of the household slap tortillas from corn grown in the nearby milpa. I'd offered the kids my iPhone -- a foreign, seemingly magical device (their dad described it in those words, anyway).

I was showing them how to play around with some apps. I didn't actually show much, they figured things out on their own. Their favorite apps, btw, were: Eno's "Bloom," and "Koi Pond" (Which I learned would be called "Uk'ob'al Kar" in the Kiche' language, that's how you'd say "small pond full of fish.")

I'm blogging the photo because -- I don't know. I loved the composition, the dreamy-floaty quality. It reminds me of a painting I saw in a famous person's home in LA a few weeks before I left the USA. I like it a lot more than most of the "real" photos I've "deliberately" taken on this trip with "good" cameras (yes, I love over-using quote marks).

Sometimes accidents, or chance creations in the hands of children, are better than things we might choose or control.

I'm heading back to the pueblo shortly, but here is another phone-snap of where I'm sitting and typing now. Guatemala is extreme beauty, and extreme suffering.

Previously:

Discussion

Take a look at this

#1 posted by Anonymous, May 26, 2009 2:29 PM

How come all of the photos that her iPhone takes look ten times better than anything that mine ever does, even when the photos were accidental?

#2 posted by sf, May 26, 2009 2:30 PM

no mention of the creepy grey alien in top left corner?

#3 posted by Xeni Jardin, May 26, 2009 2:38 PM

Silly commenter. That's the tortilla monster!

The Chapin cousin of the Chupacabra.

#4 posted by Antinous / Moderator, May 26, 2009 2:45 PM

I would just like to point out that, if you've never had a warm, homemade corn tortilla, you haven't lived. They bear no resemblance to those round sheets of rubbery yellow plastic from the supermarket. They taste almost like cornbread.

#5 posted by knodi, May 26, 2009 2:46 PM

Hey, Xeni, you reminded of something I've been curious about for a while- why do you travel so much (I mean, any reason besides love of travel or love of the place?) How do you fund your trips (self? sponsor? monies earned from stuff you do while you're there?)

I don't mean to pry, but whenever I see a person doing the kinds of things you do, I think to myself "how far away am I from being able to do the same thing?" (whether I ever will or not) I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks this way...

#6 posted by dcwaterboy, May 26, 2009 2:55 PM

FYI, this post is referenced on DisneyCopyrightViolations.com -- http://www.disneycopyrightviolations.com/?p=240 -- for the "hidden Mickey" in the tortilla basket.

#7 posted by nosehat, May 26, 2009 2:58 PM

IMHO, one of the best things you can do with a digital camera is put it into the hands of a child that doesn't have any notions about "proper photography".

Great shot!

#8 posted by TheCrawNotTheCraw, May 26, 2009 4:59 PM

The of-the-moment nature of this reminds me of some of the photographs of Cartier-Bresson.

#9 posted by felixjawesome, May 26, 2009 5:24 PM

John McNamara, my drawing professor at UCBerkeley, says there is really no such thing as an accident when it comes to artistic composition, but rather your right-brain/aesthetic-mind occasionally makes decisions/impulses without consulting the left-brain/logical-mind rest of your brain.

Beautiful photo.

#10 posted by D3, May 26, 2009 6:02 PM

Very nice - Vermeerish.

#11 posted by Dewi Morgan, May 27, 2009 6:50 AM

Initially I saw it as a hand reaching below a tablecloth, but now I understand, and feel hungry.

#12 posted by jimbuck, May 27, 2009 6:56 AM

That pic could have been taking in the Mexican state of Yucatán, or one of the neighboring states. And I'll agree with the earlier poster - a traditionally made fresh tortilla is the one of the best things ever.

#13 posted by Anonymous, May 27, 2009 7:25 AM

I hope you get a chance to visit Lake Atitlan while you are in Solola. its just down the hill 5 kilometers or so. It really is the most beautiful place.