The art of photography is about more than just capturing an image. It’s about telling a story. That’s the idea behind the new collection from world-renowned Colombian photographer Nereo Lopez Meza, who, in his 89 years, has told many stories.
“As photographers we are witnesses to the time in which we live; that’s why we have to tell the stories like they are,” said Nereo, who currently lives in Queens, New York. “I’m a photographer to recount life.”
Nereo: Images From Half a Century (available through Amazon for $40) features 63 black-and-white photos, each of which displays Nereo’s uncanny ability at capturing human emotion. The book covers only the first half of a storied career that has spanned six decades, yet it includes moving portraits from a budding master. Inside are photos from bull-fights, including one where hundreds of people are running away with mixed expressions of joy and terror, as well as sincere and moving portraits of young children, nursing mothers and the field-hardened faces of farm workers.
The collection also includes exclusive photographs of author Gabriel Garcia Marquez, whom Meza met in the early ’60s when he worked as a photo-journalist. The two would become life-long friends, and Meza would accompany Marquez on a trip to Sweden where the latter artist was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Images is the first book available in the United States to showcase the work of Nereo. And if it garners him any of the attention he receives in his home of Colombia, it definitely won’t be his last.