
Plan de Ayala, is adobe houses and thatched roofs, hand-hewn boards, blood feuds, red corn and family ties. It is a story of a small Mexican Indian village where I lived for four months and spent every penny I had to complete the work I had dreamed of doing since I was a boy. To live in a Mexican pueblo where the old ways of my great grand parents still predominated.
Plan de Ayala is in the Mexican state of Chiapas and had been part of a feudal agricultural system until 1959 when its feudal landowner was shot dead by angry villagers. Until then the reforms of the Mexican revolution were largely ignored in Chiapas because of the state's remoteness.
The church there was owned and built by the hacendero (feudal land baron), all the land was owned by the hacendero, the stores were owned by the hacendero, if you sold your corn it was to the hacendero, and if you worked it was on the hacendero's land and for him.


What is left is a growing population trying to make a living on subsistence family farms that cannot support large families any longer. I arrived as the population was only just beginning to realize this and the economics of unsustainable land use, degraded environment and depleted resources had not yet rendered the paradigms of the past irrelevant. Communal land use, community and family ties still held the community together, although almost all of the region's forests had been clear-cut and the wild game had vanished. It was before the Zapatista uprising took hold.


This story largely reflects boyhood notions I held since listening to my mother's and grandmother's stories of a Mexico once upon a time. I stumbled onto the opportunity of living in Plan de Ayala quite suddenly and had no time to research but only to see and work from my first impressions.
Therefore I photographed its beauty and traditional ways before I learned of the strains that history and the world were placing on Plan de Ayala. I photographed people farming, celebrating, worshiping, fighting, mourning their dead and day-to-day life.


If you are seeking a photojournalist in Los Angeles or an Orange County photojournalist, Ed can often take assignments on short notices for editorial or corporate clients.
Ed Carreón is the real deal. As a Los Angeles photojournalist he is positioned well to cover events and issues from Mexico to Alaska. He has done so for news organizations needing issues covered, and corporate clients seeking an annual report photographer. Some of the clients that have requested his services include the New York, Times, National Geographic, Newsweek, Time, Discovery Channel, Mortenson Construction, Amgen etc.
Whether shooting digitally or with film, Ed can often turn pictures around within 24 hours. If shooting digitally, Ed can often shoot and transmit it on the same day. If you are seeking a Los Angeles photojournalist for a magazine, annual report or wedding, our mission is to create a narrative of the events or issues important to you.
After discussing the client's needs, he will arrive with little to no lighting and work as unobtrusively as possible. He will then put together a series of images that communicate your story and issues with an eye towards the aesthetic. Afterwards he will process and edit the images, assemble digital contact sheets, and email them to you for your final selection.
If your job requires a photojournalist in Orange County or Los Angeles photojournalist, it is considered local travel and he can usually be on site within one to two hours. If your job requires flying, often he can be on location the same day.
Most editorial and commercial rates for photojournalism are negotiated on a case-by-case basis and depend on difficulty, duration and usage of pictures. Editorial assignments located in Los Angeles and Orange County usually begin at $600.