[RioRico]

I've spent years traveling around Central America without a cellphone. I figure, why let people interrupt me when I'm having fun? If anyone calls, it's usually with bad news.

That's quite a story. Some people would want one travelling there for emergency assistance purposes.

C.A. certainly isn't Denmark. I recognize that, but I've not been in situations where a cell seemed necessary. Prepaid phones are widely available, cheap, so if I'd thought one was called for, I'd have bought it. I *will* take a phone from now on, but more for family than security reasons. Danger? One cousin who regularly drives between San Francisco CA and Guatemala City says that the most dangerous roads along the way are in... Los Angeles. The most trouble I've had in recent years was in Canada. F*cking reckless drivers... And the prices...

Really, C.A. is a glorious place to haul a camera around. It wasn't high on my list of destinations before I was invited to Antigua Guatemala for a wedding a few years back. I researched current and recent events and lost my trepidation. Now I can't get enough. If finances are right, I may head back in a few weeks. Maybe I'll return with a full marimba this time, if I can tie it to the roof of the car.

[GregK8]

This is an interesting topic. I have actually been thinking about this a lot lately since hearing Imogen Heap talk about this, although in a different medium. She says that by giving yourself some limitations, you free yourself from having to make multitudes of technical decisions, which in turn allows you to focus on creating content.

For myself, I think instead of limiting myself to one lens forever, it would take the shape of leaving the house with a randomly chosen prime lens on any particular day, and spend it looking at the world through that lens only. Maybe a different day will bring a different focal length.

I'd like to try it to see what the effect really is.

[ajuett]

For myself, I think instead of limiting myself to one lens forever, it would take the shape of leaving the house with a randomly chosen prime lens on any particular day, and spend it looking at the world through that lens only. Maybe a different day will bring a different focal length.

I'd like to try it to see what the effect really is.

I didn't say forever either

For now, this is my solution until I do find myself consistently limited by one lens.

[yucatanPentax]

I just got it a couple months ago. I've spent years traveling around Central America without a cellphone. I figure, why let people interrupt me when I'm having fun? If anyone calls, it's usually with bad news. If anyone wants to get in touch, they can send email. It's easy to ignore email. I do it all the time.

Honestly, I've found the same to be true: life outside America is much safer than inside, in many cases. The are people much more helpful elsewhere as well.

And we have this, "Oh, I'll just call for help" thing going on, rather than common sense and awareness of our surroundings. Even on a mountaintop, we expect cell phone coverage to save us, when we failed to file a hiking plan at the ranger station like we used to.

On top of it all, there are still wide swaths of Mexico and Central America without cell phone coverage. And, who wants that ring-tone to interrupt on the magic of another land, even when there is coverage?

Mexico and Central America are great places photography. It's like this odd blend of the 1800s and 2010 all at once. Hard to explain if you haven't experienced it. On some occasions there are so many photos you want to take you just cannot do them all justice. Its either miss many or rush through them, being a little careless.

Now that I've got so many friends there, I carry a cheap, prepaid card cell phone now, but I still don't like to change plans just because of a phone call.

[RioRico]

Honestly, I've found the same to be true: life outside America is much safer than inside, in many cases. The are people much more helpful elsewhere as well.

I have been amazed by the kindness and generosity of strangers in Mexico and C.A. I have also been amazed by cops with M16s guarding the ATM booth while I'm inside. I know a Guatemalan girl who's very nervous in NYC and Boston because there aren't enough shotgun-toting guards around.

Mexico and Central America are great places photography. It's like this odd blend of the 1800s and 2010 all at once. Hard to explain if you haven't experienced it. On some occasions there are so many photos you want to take you just cannot do them all justice. Its either miss many or rush through them, being a little careless.

These are mixes of 1st- and 3rd-world nations, of tremendous transformation, of glittering urban sophistication and dire rural poverty, of suburban conformity and scores of indigenous cultures, all adjacent. I've been places that could be Denver, or Naples, or Fiji, or Morocco, or Tibet. I've driven in a few hours from tropical jungles to Alpine peaks to a vast dry valley to urban unrest. I've spent days shooting photos of artifacts in incredible museums, and weeks shooting the same town in all its aspects. I can't begin to describe the complexity and beauty, not without writing a few books (profusely illustrated).

[Cosmo]

This reminds me of Trent Parke, he did a 3 year road trip around Australia, and he wanted to travel really light, so the only camera gear he took was a Leica M6 and a 28mm. And obviously there's Henri Cartier-Bresson who almost exclusively worked with a Leica and a 50mm.

Personally, I'm more than satisfied using a K1000 with a Cosina 28mm, though sometimes (rarely) I have to reach for my 50mm.

[tokyoso]

One cousin who regularly drives between San Francisco CA and Guatemala City says that the most dangerous roads along the way are in... Los Angeles.

LOL.

Don't know much about Guatemala except the coffee rocks, but its safe to say Mexico City is a dangerous place to be. Or perhaps I've watched one too many late night american detective shows about single white male scammed shirt-less by hapless latinas in S.A.

[RioRico]

Don't know much about Guatemala except the coffee rocks, but its safe to say Mexico City is a dangerous place to be. Or perhaps I've watched one too many late night american detective shows about single white male scammed shirt-less by hapless latinas in S.A.

Yes, you have watched too much TV etc. (Actually, DF [that's Mexico City, the District Federale] is a rather rotten place which I've avoided since the 70s.) And I'd watched too many 80s movies about Central American genocides and civil wars. Then I was invited down, and I researched, and lost my preconceptions.

But consider: A decade ago in Italy, I ran into an old Brit couple in adjacent accommodations. The wife refused to have anything to do with USAnians. When finally impelled to socialize, she cried, "But you Yanks have all those GUNS! How many guns do YOU have? How many people have you shot and killed?!?!?" I didn't mention my Ruger .22 or my Army service, but I could otherwise honestly claim innocence. Point is, her perception of USA was based on TV, on all the shows about USAnians... shooting each other. That's how the world perceives USA based on the images we transmit: we're all busy shooting each other all the time. It's on TV and in the movies and on the Web, so it must be true, eh?

That's the outside perception of Mexico now: cops and druggies killing each other and anyone in sight. But in the news today are Mexican govt reports that over 90% of the drug-war dead are cartel troops, not cops nor bystanders. And 99% of the country has other stuff to worry about. Most of the places I go in Mexico or Guatemala, I feel much safer walking around at night than I do in comparable California-Nevada towns. And no saucy Latinas have tried to steal my shirt (nor anything else) since the 70s, not in DF nor elsewhere. Grumble...

Go. Avoid the border area, it's not Mexico. Avoid Sinaloa, and DF. Acapulco is ratty now too, worn out. Only stay in a sex motel near a prison if you have a strong stomach. That just leaves 96%+ of Mexico to be amazed at and beguiled by. Take camera and lenses and batteries etc. Take your time. Time is different. Sometimes it's too fast but usually not. Or just go to Antigua Guatemala for a bargain room-and-board language school for a few weeks. You won't want to leave.

PS - Guatemalan coffee: In gorgeous Antigua Guatemala, next to Posada la Merced run by Kiwi Gail (unless she's retired), is Fernando's Cafe. Best coffee in La Antigua, and thus in Guatemala, and thus in the world. Gathered every day from local fincas (plantations), roasted and ground and brewed in the front room by Fernando himself (who samples too much of his product), all the coffee you can drink, along with a desayuno typico (native breakfast -- eggs, cheese, beans, plantains, thick little tortillas) for about US$2.25 (unless the exchange rate has changed). Ay yi yi. Give a hug to Corazon the kitchen boss. And don't forget to climb the volcanos.

[tokyoso]

PS - Guatemalan coffee: In gorgeous Antigua Guatemala, next to Posada la Merced run by Kiwi Gail (unless she's retired), is Fernando's Cafe. Best coffee in La Antigua, and thus in Guatemala, and thus in the world. Gathered every day from local fincas (plantations), roasted and ground and brewed in the front room by Fernando himself (who samples too much of his product), all the coffee you can drink, along with a desayuno typico (native breakfast -- eggs, cheese, beans, plantains, thick little tortillas) for about US$2.25 (unless the exchange rate has changed). Ay yi yi. Give a hug to Corazon the kitchen boss. And don't forget to climb the volcanos.

that's fascinating, RioRico. We need to see you post more photos of S.A. That'd be quite interesting.

Mean while, I'll go back to watch my 'Once Upon a Time in Mexico' DVD.

[Ira]

Honestly, I've found the same to be true: life outside America is much safer than inside, in many cases. call.

I respectfully, and emphatically, disagree.

[Ira]

Third world is third world, and as much you may love the "experience," you are much better off having a heart attack in Harlem or the Bronx than ANY capital city in Latin America.

[henryjing]

I have to say, nice gallery.
The combo of K-x with DA 40 used to be my favorite. However, sooner I found 40 is not wide on the APS, though I got some nice shoot of landscape. But if you wanna your photo have more information, or you wanna your photo to hide a story in it. 40 is not enough, and 21 is a good option.
However, if you use the film camera, and say MX+M40 as a camera and a lens, I may agree more.