Guatemala: vendiendo nisperos en el mercado

Quick screengrab from a video shot on Canon PowerShot Elph SD630 in the mercado yesterday morning. I'm tinkering around in iMovie and FinalCut, editing little short form videos using two kinds of footage: lower-res stuff shot on this tiny device, and HD video shot with the Sony HDR-HC3 (shoots video in high-def or standard format to miniDV). The great thing about video on the altoid-tin-sized SD630 (and similar ultracompact devices) is that the device is absolutely unobtrusive. You can move through public places with camera in hand, and not attract unwanted attention in crowds. The Sony HC3 is very small for a camcorder, but -- it's still a camcorder, and it attracts attention in circumstances where crowd attention is not a safe thing. The tradeoff is always stealthability/mobility versus image quality.

Tiny, inexpensive cameras are great for shooting video "notes" for yourself, or capturing snippets of environmental ambience. Nobody's going to want to watch 2 straight hours of this stuff on a big screen, but if the end result is online anyway, the limited res capability isn't a big sacrifice. Thank you, YouTube, for lowering image quality expectations!

Just as with still photos, it seems the camera you have with you at all times is the best one.

Costa Rica: space alien volcano umbrella plants

I'm in Guatemala right now, not Costa Rica. But an internet pal of mine calls CR home, and shot this photo yesterday of Volcano Irazu's crater with a patch of Sombrillas de Pobre (Poor Man's Umbrella) nearby. If I didn't know better, I'd think he lived on another planet.

About that space alien plant, "They are a giant leaf with a perfect stem," él nos explique, "It wards off rain wonderfully, but you can't pick them in the park, of course."

Here in Guatemala, I'm tucked away under heavy wool blankets in a village between two volcanoes: one spews fire, the other water. The wind outside is noisy and forceful tonight. Electricity and internet keep going on and off and on and off again. I can read and fumble around the room by candlelight, but the veladoras won't help me send emails. It's really cold out there, and I'm grateful to be safely inside.