Forgotten County hile working in the state of Guerrero, Mexico, as an interpreter/fixer for a French journalist, I came across a Mexico I’ve never had the opportunity to see. Far from the jet set scene and spectacular beaches of Acapulco, I stumble upon a world of famine.

My Scholarship entry - A 'place' I have visited

Mexico | Monday, January 14, 2013 | 5 photos

While working in the state of Guerrero, Mexico, as an interpreter/fixer for a French journalist, I came across a Mexico I’ve never had the opportunity to see. Far from the jet set scene and spectacular beaches of Acapulco, I stumble upon a world of famine, poverty, violence, abuse and naïveté. As I interpreted full stories, I had the need to graphically record them, being this the first time a picked up a camera for this purpose.

As I witness all these testimonies, I realize that somehow I had to get deeper and verify their accounts in order to help the journalist get the full story behind them. So I left my personal comfort zone aside and start to get information by pressuring government, police and military officials. This got us to be followed by unmarked vehicles, armed personnel and receiving mysterious phone calls on my cell number, and also being detained on several occasions. It was then that I realized that I had more in me, a more adventurous and defying personality, a hunger to get the job done no matter the long hours or lack of food or sleep. And so It was through pictures how I intended to convey what I have experienced and witnessed.

My entry summons the images I captured in Cochoapa, a government-forgotten place deep in the Guerrero mountains, where the machete and the talion law rules everything. Although the subject is cruel and raw and also tried to exposed whatever beauty I could see through my lens.

Winning this scholarship and being able to work and assist Mr. Edwards, will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to receive hands-on/on-site priceless education in developing the art of photography, further my knowledge in the use of DSLR and photographic equipment, not to mention learning from an experienced travel photographer the intricacies of living and working on an overseas assignment.