Carlos Villalon

Carlos Villalon

Carlos Villalon

Bogotá, Colombia

Santiago, Chile. 1965. Studied graphic design at VIPRO university in Santiago and then photography at Parson’s New School in New York City.

In 2003 he became a contributor of Redux Pictures after working several years with Getty Images news. Since then Carlos has mostly focused his work in Latin America following its cultural, social and political aspects from the point of view of one plant, Coca and its counterpart, Cocaine.

His work has been published in many magazines including National Geographic, National Geographic Adventure, Outside, Colors, Newsweek, and Nature Conservancy.

Since 2000 Carlos Villalon has split his time between New York City and Bogota, Colombia.

In 2004 Carlos won an honorable mention in the POYi awards for his work “Cocaine Country” that appeared as a cover feature in National Geographic magazine. In 2010 he was awarded second place general news in World Press photo contest for his work “Cocaine Gangs” in Medellin, Colombia.

Instagram Website Stock Images
Carlos Villalon Details Portfolio
Show all Reportage
Writer Dan Molinski's hand after being submerged on an oil puddle left after an National Liberation Army or ELN in Spanish, guerrilla attack, Puente China, Colombia, September 2, 2014.
A youngster who works as a porter stands in the Darien jungle, Panama, August 20, 2019.
A paramilitar from the Elmer Cardenas block with an AK-47 assault rifle tattooed on his chest, Acandi, Colombia, 2007.
A porter rests in the Tuquesa river in Panama, May 18, 2017
A french tourist descends rappel style the water falls of Fonce river in Santander, Colombia, June 6, 2008.
A farmer waits his turn to sell his cocaine base to a trafficker.
From an early age, children learn to use machetes to prepare the plants ready for sowing in a new coca field.
The village's main street, 14 de Septiembre, is often used to dry the coca leaves that are harvested in the surrounding farms.
Two children fill 25-kilo sacks of coca leaves in the San Francisco Coca Leaf Growers’ Association, Bolivia, 2007.
A shirtless drug dealer weighs the bags of cocaine base that peasant farmers have brought him to sell.
Illegal migrants ride a cargo train, called The Beast, towards the city of Ixtepec, Mexico, September 22, 2011.
Colombian guides explain to venezuelan migrants what their are about to encounter in the Darien gap jungle, before they let them out of Las Tekas migrants camp, early in the morning, Acandi, Colombia, September 11, 2022.
Immigrants from Haiti and Cameroon in the Darien jungle, Panama, August 23, 2019.
Veruzca, a migrant from Venezuela, rests with her baby while David, a 7 months old toddler, is carried away by his mother, Rabi, Darien gap, Colombia, September 11, 2022.
Migrants from Haiti get caught on a crevasse along the Death river, Colombia, September 8, 2021.
Two migrants, mother and daughter, walk pass a human skull in the Darien gap, Panama, January 30, 2023.
Haitian immigrants walk along the Parraganti river in Panama, August 24, 2019.
Helped by some of our guides, these immigrants from Bangladesh try to sort the waters of a flooded Parraganti river, Panama, August 24, 2019.
The body of a migrant lies in the Darien jungle, Panama, August 25, 2019.
Hundreds of migrants going up the hill towards the Panamanian border in the Darien gap, Colombia, February 25, 2023.
Migrants, mostly from Venezuela, take a rest in the Tuquesa river, Darien jungle, Panama, September 12, 2022.
An Embera indigenous guide, takes a rest while carrying a baby who was given to him, by the boy's mother (unseen) through a steep mountain, Panama, October 27, 2021.
Jose Lopez, 30, carrying his daughter, Joseyli, 4, during a climb through The mountain of death, as this portion of the Darien is known. Darien gap jungle, Panama, October 27, 2021.
Bryan Anselm Chiara Mirelli