About
I was born in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico, on January 3, 1986.
My mother is from Nogales, Sonora and my father from Santa Bárbara,
Chihuahua, converged on the border when my mom got a teaching job and
my dad had left his hometown behind to look for opportunities in the city.
I grew up in Ciudad Juárez with my two brothers, one four years older and the other four.
years younger, in the care of my mother who at the time had to act as father
as well. Between skateboards, friends and grunge music from the 90s I navigated my adolescence
under the always extreme climate of the border.
At the age of 20, I started working at a local photography studio, taking photos
of weddings, quinceañeras and special events, at the same time I took classes from the
Degree in Sociology at the Institute of Social Sciences and Administration of the
Autonomous University of Ciudad Juarez.
What started as a casual job that helped me pay for school,
became a calling of vocation. I will never forget that first camera that at times
I borrowed my boss to go out and scan the city through the lens.
I developed an interest in the process of documenting not only those events
personal and important to the people, but the events in the city, as well as the day-to-day
day and the details that one misses if one does not have a camera on one's arm; which took me
to make the decision to change the course of my career by transferring to the Bachelor of
Visual Arts at the Institute of Architecture, Design and Art
A few years later I got an internship as a Photographer at a local newspaper
called El Norte, in which I worked alongside journalists and photographers with a lot of
experience and in this way I got into the local media,at a time when
violence in the city was at an all-time high.
David Peinado Romero / Mexico
In an organic way, I managed to transition to a position of Plant Photojournalist in
one of the most well-known and alternative means of communication in the city called
La Polaka, which was characterized by being a "no frills" platform and focused on
the red note I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to work on this
medium in particular, since it helped me build a journalistic ethic that would mark the
rest of my career.
I also worked for a time in a business-focused magazine covering
maquiladora industry events. Shortly after I accepted the position of Photojournalist
staff for the main local newspaper, El Diario, where fortunately I was able to do
use of the experience that I had acquired since I covered notes from social, red note,
local stories and long-term projects.3 years ago I left that position to dedicate myself to independent journalism, and
I currently collaborate with agencies such as Xinhua, AFP, Nur Photo, Zuma, Pacific Press
and media such as La Silla Rota, El Universal, Aristegui Noticias, Infobae,
The Mexiqueño and Cuartoscuro.
My work is focused on topics that have touched my community and echo
elsewhere in Mexico and Central America, such as migration, cultural dichotomies,
violence, drug trafficking, femicides and forced disappearances.
This path of photography has been for me almost a personal catharsis
allow me to meet stories and people who have left a mark on my life, to be able to
know these universes so foreign to mine, and at the same time so close. and make them
justice by bringing these photographs to the collective memory. I have also created a network
of fellow photographers from many parts of the world whom I thank for
share your experience and advice with me and that I hope to continue cultivating.
The resilience to remain in a changing environment, adaptability and empathy
to relate to the environment and the subjects, as well as the journalistic ethics that
allows discerning between what needs to be reported and what does not, have been the foundations of
these almost 15 years of photographic career.
