Anyone who gets the chance to visit the Backshop in Marron Hall, the beating heart of the Daily Lobo, may wonder about the image of Sabrina Carpenter pasted on the door, and the one on the other side of the door, and the one above the door.
It’s all the handiwork of Liliana Esparza, Daily Lobo photo editor and University of New Mexico Fall 2025 graduate. She graduates this week with a Bachelor in Business Administration degree and a minor in Spanish.
When Esparza began at the Lobo in 2023, she’d already been working as a photographer with the New Mexico United soccer team.
“I was really looking for a place to meet people on campus, because I feel like UNM is a really hard place to actually make friends. I had all of my high school friends and friends from work, but I was like, ‘I feel like if I don’t leave UNM without having UNM friends, I’ll be so sad’” she said. “So, I was looking at jobs online, and I saw freelance photographer for the Lobo, and I was like, ‘oh my God, Daily Lobo could be perfect.’”
Esparza says she intends to continue her work as a photographer, hoping to photograph women’s sports in Los Angeles after graduation.
In her time at the Lobo, Esparza has captured some of UNM and New Mexico’s most joyful moments — such as sporting wins and on-campus events — as well as times of tension, such as protests for Palestine.
Notably, she photographed the rally hosted by President Donald Trump in New Mexico during his 2024 presidential campaign. She explained that it is one of the hardest shoots she’s done, but also is some of the work she’s happiest with.
“I got some pretty incredible photos from that. It’s hard to describe because using the word proud isn’t really the right thing, but it’s definitely a huge accomplishment and it was a huge assignment for all of us,” Esparza said. “It was an experience that really shaped me. I think as a photographer capturing sports and events on campus, that kind of thing, a lot of times it’s fun energy. I feel like it’s easy to capture smiles and screams and fans and students doing cool fun things, but it’s a whole different thing to capture hatred — I guess — which was really interesting.”
Esparza emphasized the role of photojournalism, its power to spread messages and how she tries to use that power for good.
“I was trained in sports where it’s all about ‘what’s the story? What’s the narrative? What are we trying to push in terms of social media and marketing?’ That was kind of the eye that I was trained on,” she said. “Through photojournalism, I learned how to be more of an observer and to let the story develop itself instead of sort of pushing the narrative. In journalism, it’s about telling what you see, telling the quote unquote ‘truth’ as best as you can.”
Esparza has also served as a mentor for the Daily Lobo photo desk and a vibrant member of the general Daily Lobo community. She hopes her legacy is one of supportive leadership and love for the UNM community.
“I hope that people will see how much I care about UNM and how much I really love it here. I hope to continue that legacy of wanting to showcase our community and all parts of our community. I really hope that I was able to do that as Photo Editor, and I hope whoever’s next is just as passionate about it as I was,” Esparza said.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
Addison Fulton is the culture editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at culture@dailylobo.com or on X @dailylobo
