Photo by Andrés Asturias, courtesy of Foto30.

“A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you the less you know,” once said photographer Diane Arbus and that a photograph captures emotions, places, situations, reality, fiction, the visible and the invisible. During the month of September throughout many galleries in Guatemala City, Antigua and Quetzaltenango will celebrate “Foto30, a month of exhibitions, workshops and activities to celebrate photography.

I will like to share the impressions of bloggers, who are attending and participating in Foto30 Guatemala 2008, but first I will like to highlight how galleries and cultural organizations are using blogs to display information about the event, show the reader a preview of their exhibition, and provide more information about the artist, first impressions, critics and suggestions:

1. Casa del Mango [es] (Mango House) , a tiny, yet specialized art gallery and cultural center located in a hidden corner of Antigua. They are hosting a black and white exhibition "Una de Cal, una de Arena" (loosely translated to mean ‘you win some, you lose some’). They recently invited their guests through their blog and kindly requested them to bring some drinks to celebrate with them.
2. The blog of Luna Park Online Magazine [es] invited all the people in Quetzaltenango, where large Independence Day Celebrations are taking place, to attend the opening of Foto30, where a brilliant photographer from Xela, Luis Estacuy will showcase his work. The exhibit is hosted by the Casa Noj` Xela Cultural Center, who also describes the event on its blog, El Azar Cultural [es]. It includes a printed cultural agenda, and also constantly updates its blog to tell people about the variety of exhibitions taking place.
3. In addition, virtual galleries are moving to real spaces for Foto30. Antigua Daily Photo blog presented a Black and White exhibition (promoted and attended by many bloggers) at CafeNose, an open bar that deserves a visit.
4. The organizers created a vivid, colorful, and up to date blog Foto302008 [es], where everyone can find the daily agenda, leave comments, check links to some artists portfolios and start the conversations, which is something that the blog CCE/G [es], did when describing the exhibitions and conferences they will be hosting. Their partner center, EspacioCe! will also be hosting one of the most beautiful exhibition, Laberinto de Miradas, with works from all Iberoamerica.

September is also a good excuse to check out amazing pictures in many Guatemalan blogs, like Paracaidas [es], on her recent post Ceremonial (capturing a Mayan ceremony), or cool shots by Pictoricas blogger [es] Paula Morales, while Jose Manuel Mayorga captured the Foto 30 gigantographics in Guatemalan urban streets. Luis Villacinda´s blog Ex Acto Non Once [es] displays sweet images of kids who took one of the photo workshops .

And there are also photojournalism blogs, like Mi Mundo [es] by photographer James Rodríguez, where you can always find an images of those without a voice calling for our attention.