Irapuato, Guanajuato
She was born María del Carmen Sánchez Castañeda in Irapuato, Guanajuato in 1936, but when she was six months old, her family moved to Mexico City where she grew up. As a child, she won a drawing contest with the Excélsior newspaper, and received a camera as a prize. This was the beginning of her work as a photographer, documenting aspects of her life. Her parents separated when she was still young, and she had to work as well as study to help her family's finances. Her aunt owned a photography business, where one day she met photographer Héctor García Cobo. She married him not long after, when she was only eighteen years old.