José Luis Neyra

José Luis Neyra (July 9, 1930 – November 6, 2019) was a Mexican photographer.

Early life and career José Luis Neyra was born in 1930 in the Former Federal District of Mexico. Neyra (1930- 2019) was a Mexican photographer who devoted the majority of his career capturing the presence and day to day lives of people. He was a self taught photographer, but began working as a professional photographer in 1961.His admission into the Club Fotografico de Mexico in 1963, was his official and proper start of his profession. He wanted to prove that by photographing the human presence, the individual photographed becomes the protagonist of the photo itself, which tells the viewers a story that goes beyond a photo's visual aspect. Neyra believes that being able to encapsulate the world within an image is significant and defines what photography is about. Because of this, Neyra's work is labeled as "Spontaneous Photography," acting in the moment and waiting for the right moment in order to get his lucky shot.

Most of his photography is in black and white.

“Metáforas” was one of José Luis Neyra's famous exhibitions and most recent exhibitions that was displayed in the Museo de Archivo de la Fotografía (Photography Archive museum) in 2012 and remained opened until 2014. It was basically like visiting a part of Mexico that is no longer there. The exhibition included what Neyra called "Short Stories," which were his photographs that were shown with noise in the background, the noises were environmental sounds or music which helped narrate the setting. His work has been displayed in multiple museums and galleries, for instance, some of the places that have exhibited Neyra's work have been, Casa del Lago, Carrillo Gil Art Museum, Mexico City, Palacio de Bellas Artes Museum, Mexico City, the Meridian International Center, Washington DC, the Nexus Gallery, Atlanta and the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

His death on November 6, 2019, was announced by the Mexican minister of Culture.