Antonio Zazueta Olmos (born 1963) is a Mexican photojournalist, editorial and portrait photographer, based in London.
Olmos' first book is ''The Landscape of Murder'' (2013), photographs of the sites of murders within London's M25 orbital motorway in 2011 and 2012. He won a first place
World Press Photo
World Press Photo Foundation is an independent, non-profit organization based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Founded in 1955, the organization is known for holding an annual press photography contest. Since 2011, World Press Photo has organized a ...
Olmos was born in Mexico. He studied photojournalism at
California State University, Fresno
California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California. It is one of 23 campuses in the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers bache ...
, United States.
From 1988 Olmos was a staff photographer on ''
The Miami Herald
The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by the McClatchy Company and headquartered in Doral, Florida, a city in western Miami-Dade County and the Miami metropolitan area, several miles west of Downtown Miami. In 1991 he went freelance, focusing on Latin American issues, basing himself in
Mexico City
Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...
covering Central America and the Caribbean for the Black Star photo agency
. Since 1993/1994 Olmos has been based in London, focusing on issues dealing with the environment and human rights.
Olmos has worked commercially, creating images for Penguin books, Polydor, EMI, Sony, Adobe, Pfizer; editorially, working for ''The Guardian, The Independent, The Observer'' and ''The Daily Telegraph''; and for NGOs including
ActionAid
ActionAid is an international non-governmental organization whose stated primary aim is to work against poverty and injustice worldwide.
ActionAid is a federation of 45 country offices that works with communities, often via local partner organis ...
. His personal work has been published in ''The Guardian''.
In 2013 Olmos' photograph of
Sol Campbell
Sulzeer Jeremiah Campbell (born 18 September 1974) is an English professional football manager and former player who was most recently the manager of club Southend United. He previously managed Macclesfield Town from November 2018 to August ...
Between 1 January 2011 and 31 December 2012, Olmos photographed the sites of all 210 known murders within London's M25 orbital motorway for his ''The Landscape of Murder'' project. It includes a photograph of a group of teenagers in Edmonton, lining the garden wall of the house outside which their friend Negus McLean was murdered, which was a finalist in the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize. 79 of the sites photographed appear in his book, ''The Landscape of Murder'', published by
Dewi Lewis
Dewi Lewis (born 10 March 1951) is a Welsh publisher and curator of photography.
Career
In 1975, Lewis was the founding director of the Bury Metropolitan Arts Association which operates the Met.
Lewis also founded and was the first director o ...
Publishing.
Olmos has said of ''The Landscape of Murder'' that "the subtitle of my work is 'an alternative portrait of London.'"
No, this is not Syria and it doesn't happen on a daily basis. It's not even Chicago or Detroit by any stretch of the imagination. Crime has been going down in London for a hundred years. London is one of the safest cities in the world in an urban area of 10 million. ... One of the points that I wanted to explore was that we don't understand crime or murder. Violent crime has more to do with mental illness, domestic violence, organized crime, too much alcohol… It's rarely a stranger coming through your window.
Sean O'Hagan
Sean O'Hagan (born 1959) is an Irish singer, songwriter, and arranger who leads the avant-pop band the High Llamas, which he founded in 1992. He is also known for being one half of the songwriting duo (with Cathal Coughlan) in Microdisney and ...
, writing in ''The Observer,'' included ''The Landscape of Murder'' among his recommended photography books of the year. He said that it was "by turns melancholy and thought-provoking, it will make you see the city in a different, darker light."
Publications
* ''The Landscape of Murder''. Stockport:
Dewi Lewis
Dewi Lewis (born 10 March 1951) is a Welsh publisher and curator of photography.
Career
In 1975, Lewis was the founding director of the Bury Metropolitan Arts Association which operates the Met.
Lewis also founded and was the first director o ...
Publishing, 2013. . With an introduction by
Sean O'Hagan
Sean O'Hagan (born 1959) is an Irish singer, songwriter, and arranger who leads the avant-pop band the High Llamas, which he founded in 1992. He is also known for being one half of the songwriting duo (with Cathal Coughlan) in Microdisney and ...
.
Group exhibitions
* 2011 – Landscape of Murder (joint exhibition with Sarah Baxter), Woolfson & Tay Independent Bookshop, London
Awards
* 2001 – 1st place, People in the News category,
World Press Photo
World Press Photo Foundation is an independent, non-profit organization based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Founded in 1955, the organization is known for holding an annual press photography contest. Since 2011, World Press Photo has organized a ...