In 2019 it was 180 years since photography made its appearance. Undoubtedly, this new way of creating, protecting, and in which images circulate introduced a new dynamic to our way of looking at the world. To commemorate the arrival of the photo in our country and, at the same time, appreciate how much progress has been made in recent years in research on its history and understanding, the colloquium "180 years after photography in Mexico: documentary photography, historical and social document and visual language". The idea for this book arose in that context and gives continuity to that celebration. The book that the reader is holding in their hands contains the work of sixteen photography researchers, from pioneers such as Aurelio de los Reyes and Carlos Martínez Assad, to those who are now promoting new perspectives and interpretations such as Marion Gautreau. The book is divided into three sections: "Primal lights and shadows", where there are works on the first years of photography; "A moment for history", which brings together works of reflection on methods and forms of analysis in relation to the photo and, the last section, "From photochemistry to memes", which contains works based on specific cases and which They give an overview of the photo and its uses from the 20th century to the present day.