“My hope is simple: that visibility becomes protection, and that attention becomes care.” - Art
The Project
I did not arrive at Punto Zero intending to create a body of work. I came as a photographer — trained in light, composition, and the quiet order inside a frame. But inside this small sanctuary in Ciudad Juárez, the practice of making images began to ask more of me. Returning month after month, I came to understand that this was no longer documentation. It was a responsibility.
Punto Zero was founded in 2018 by Beto and Lupe Ayala, a couple who devoted nearly two decades to mental health work before building something of their own. Beto believed that any one of us is just one point — zero distance — from mental vulnerability. That belief became the foundation of everything inside those walls.
The people in this book are not subjects. They are participants in a trust agreement — one built over years of showing up, of remaining, of being willing to be changed by what you witness.
To learn more about Punto Zero or to support their work directly, visit punto0.net.
Where Craft Became Calling
I have spent over forty years learning to slow down and pay attention. Based in El Paso, Texas, my work spans architectural photography, portraiture, and the landscapes of the American Southwest — published in Dwell, Apartment Therapy, Su Casa Magazine, and The City Spaces Magazine.
I am also the founder of MLS Camera Guy, bringing that same trained eye to real estate photography across the region.
As a third-generation photographer, I have had photography woven into my life since childhood. I learned early that a photograph can do more than document a moment—it can reveal beauty, preserve memory, and honor a life. What began as a simple craft slowly became a calling. That calling has never left me.
Left to right: My grandfather, my dad, and me.