NEREO LÓPEZ MEZA is one of Colombia's most renowned photographers. He began his career in Barranquilla, Colombia, in 1952, when he worked as a photographic correspondent for the national newspapers El Tiempo and El Espectador, and for the magazine Cromos.

Among Nereo’s accomplishments was his participation as director of photography and actor in the experimental film, La Langosta Azul (The Blue Lobster) in 1954, the screenwriting debut of Colombian novelist Gabriel García Márquez. Nereo won First Prize at the International Photography Contest sponsored by Kodak at the 1963 World Fair in New York. He also was the only Colombian photographer selected to travel with Pope Paul VI on his trip to South America. In 1982, Nereo acted as the Official Photographic Representative of the Colombian Cultural Agency (Colcultura) in Stockholm, Sweden, where he covered the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony and its presentation to Gabriel García Márquez.

His illustrious career was further recognized when the "Nereo Center for Photographic Education and Culture" opened in Bogotá in 1987. Nereo: A National Photographic Homage was published in 1998. He was also awarded the Medal of Honor by the Colombian Ministry of Culture (the highest honor for an artist in Colombia). In 2000, Colombian President Andrés Pastrana awarded Nereo with the Boyaca Order, the most important award granted by the Colombian government to Colombian citizens.

Nereo's photographs are acknowledged as one of the most important visual accounts of the history of Colombia.