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<h2>Joe Englander Photography Workshops and Photo Tours</h2>
<h2>
Guatemala Photo Tour</h2>
<h3>Celebrations and Processions</h3><p>For those who have never seen the fervency of the Guatemalan Easter-Lent
celebrations and processions, their religiosity is hard to imagine. This
is one of the most magnificent photo-opportunities in the world. From
religious ceremonies filled with emotion to native peoples in their
colorful handmade clothes, during this trip you will have a combination of
opportunities only available a few times in a few places in the world.</p>
<p>The sound of marching bands playing funereal dirges, the smell of incense,
the swirling colors, decorations made of flowers spread across cobblestone
streets, candlelight vigils, and weeping madonnas--all of this is
impossible to imagine. The funeral of Christ proceeding through narrow
streets, walking across decorative carpets made of flowers, moving slowly
from dawn till midnight — this is symbolic to us but actual to the people
participating.</p>
<p>The celebratory week between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday has been totally
taken over by foreigners who want to experience this connection to a more
religious time; as a result, it has become a time of pick-pockets and
overcrowding, of hotel reservations made but not honored. However, the
week preceding that week of inundation has become the week for those who
know, for the people of Guatemala, for the locals — a time when the people of Guatemala and
particularly Antigua celebrate this most important spring holiday for
themselves among themselves. This is the week We'll be there. It is a
week unparalleled in photographic excitement, exceeding even the
processions of Holy Week in variety and veracity. We will be able to
experience as many as four processions, including one not performed during
Holy Week itself, which is a procession specifically for children who carry
the funeral pyres of Jesus and Mary. We will also see the decorations and
experience a most memorable Palm Sunday.</p>
<p>During our tour we will divide our time between the ancient and beautiful
town of Antigua and the hill country known for its colorfully dressed
indigenous people. Customs and costumes of each small village are unique;
the experienced eye will immediately see the differences between the dress
of one village and that of another. We will visit Panajachel, Santiago
Atitlan, Quetzaltenango, Chichicastenango, and other villages famous for
their colorful markets, indigenous arts, and unique integration of Mayan
and Hispanic cultures. In addition to the marvelous religious processions
in Antigua, we will have the opportunity to photograph beautiful and
elaborate ruins from the colonial period.</p>
<p>Our local guides throughout our stay will be English-speaking Antiguans and
Elizabeth Bell. Elizabeth has lived in Antigua for more than 25 years and
is a noted authority and author for the region. She's a UNESCO expert in
Architectural Conservation, with an emphasis on educational programs and
history. Elizabeth and our other guides will ensure that we are in the
right place, at the right time, for terrific photography.</p><hr>
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