Ed Lopez, journalist and photographer, was born in northern New Mexico and baptized at the Santa Cruz church featured in this book. His paternal grandmother lived next to the historic church, a circumstance that once prompted his father to say that, as a young boy, he came to know the Mass so well that he could be an altar boy in emergencies.

“I grew up in and around these churches but didn't really learn to appreciate their history and culture until years later,” says Ed. "I also came to see how deeply the Catholic faith was interwoven into the lives of Hispanic New Mexicans, and, by extension, their relatives and neighbors in southern Colorado."

His first experience with photography was in high school, when he was a part-time sportswriter covering sports in the Espanola Valley for The New Mexican, Santa Fe’s daily newspaper.

Lopez is a Vietnam-era veteran who later attended the University of New Mexico, majoring in journalism with minors in psychology and Spanish. He was a Davenport Fellow for business journalists at the University of Missouri School of Journalism.

Specializing in business, he worked at various newspapers around the country, including The Arizona Daily Star, The Democrat and Chronicle in Rochester, N.Y., and The Miami Herald. Ed also was an editor for Wireless Week magazine in Denver.

He is president of RedShift Seven Communications, which offers a range of services including writing, editing, public relations, speech writing, corporate and strategic communications.

Aside from the photography and text for New Mexico Faith, Ed also designed and produced the book using Adobe Creative Suite 2. Ed refines his design skills by producing newsletters and design projects for corporations, nonprofit organizations and trade associations. He can be reached at: edlopez54@hotmail.com