The Other Story in Street Photography - Backroads of Guatemala
In January of last year, I traveled for about three weeks in the Central American countries of El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Belize. As a seasoned traveler who travels with a very competent travel company, I usually do not give much consideration to issues of personal safety. Still, in this part of the world, Guatemala, in particular, has a complex history with attendant issues of high levels of gang violence. For the first time ever, I worried a bit before the trip about things that could go wrong. But after spending time in El Salvador and Honduras, I had come to grips with the reality that there were policemen armed with machine guns on street corners. People felt safer if they were there. There had been no problems at all. The issue of gang violence had receded from my mind.
The day this picture was taken, our group was traveling from Copán, Honduras to Guatemala City. It was expected to be a 4 1/2-hour trip, if we got across the border in a timely fashion. No guarantees there, believe me. We transferred to a new bus at the border. The bus was a bit of a sore point for me and the other 13 travelers. It was small, actually uncharacteristically so, for this travel company. For the first time on any trip I had ever taken, we were forced to rotate among the seats. Our guide would place a sign on the seat we had to occupy each day. Incredibly, the new bus was actually less comfortable than the old bus. And that was where serendipity came in.
I never choose to ride in the front of the bus. Honestly, the bus driver does not need my help, which he might get from this backseat driver. However, because of the peculiar discomfiture of the front seat in the new bus, it was not in the rotation and was thus empty. I was in the back, with no window available. I always am trying to take pictures out of bus windows, never with any real success. But it was painfully clear that if I did not have access to a window there would be no pictures, good, bad or indifferent. So I moved to the incredibly uncomfortable front seat.
Our bus was pulled into the brush so these vehicles could get by.
If I ever get to travel again, I will definitely take my turn in the front seat. It is just a whole lot easier get a picture out of a front window than it is out of a side window. I did not have to deal with reflections. I could see opportunities coming. This was uncomfortable, but fun.
We had not traveled very far when we came to a tiny little town with a big, big traffic jam. We later found out that there had been a gang killing at an event ahead of us and the police had closed down the road, as it turned out, for the remainder of the day and night. Had we even been a little farther on our journey, that bus would have been our home for almost 24 hours. As quick as quick could be, our driver managed to K-turn that little bus around and head for a side road. Let me just say, thank heavens for little buses and bus drivers who know the less traveled roads.
We were off on a big adventure. The road was gravel all of the way. What should have taken a couple of hours, took five hours. For the most part it was a single lane road with heavy oncoming traffic because cars were trying to get around the main roadblock. Nevertheless, all in all, it was a photographer’s dream. First of all, there was constant dust being kicked up. Like rain, or steam, that adds interest to a photo. Most of the oncoming traffic consisted pickup trucks, often with horses in them, an interesting subject matter for me. The road was shaded by trees and it was partially cloudy so I was not struggling to get a good exposure. The trees also added a nice frame. Finally, it was slow going, so I had no trouble getting properly focused pictures.
Do si do.
I took 11 shots. My favorite was one of the first. In a sense I had practiced for it. I took a similar shot on the open highway earlier in the trip. I like the aesthetic of a white truck, white shirt and white cowboy hat, but I needed the background of a country road to improve the composition. The dust was an advantage but only when it was trailing the vehicle I was shooting. I found I could not tell the story of vehicles trying to get around each other or make sense of the lines of cars on a country road.