Hector Garcia Cobo ( August 23 , 1923 &ndash; June 2 , 2012 ) was a Mexican photographer/photojournalist who had a sixty-year career chronicling Mexico 's social classes , Mexico City and various events of the 20th century , such as the 1968 student uprising . He was born poor but discovered photography in his teens and early 20s , deciding to study it seriously after his attempt to photograph the death of a coworker failed . He was sent to the Academia Mexicana de Artes y Ciencias Cinematográficas by magazine director Edmundo Valdés who recognized García 's talent . Most of García 's career was related to photojournalism , working with publications both inside and outside of Mexico . However , a substantial amount of his work had more artistic and critical qualities . Many of these were exhibited in galleries and museums , with sixty five individual exhibitions during his lifetime . This not only included portraits of artists and intellectuals ( including a famous portrait of David Alfaro Siqueiros at Lecumberri Prison ) but also portraits of common and poor people . He was also the first photojournalist to explicitly criticize Mexico 's elite , either making fun of them or contrasting them to the very poor
1968 student uprising
Tlatelolco massacre
Héctor García Cobo