The renowned Mexican photographer Manuel Álvarez Bravo was Graciela's teacher and mentor. Meeting Bravo led her to switch from cinematography to photography. As Graciela Iturbide describes, "He always told me: 'Graciela, don't rush, there's time, there's always time.' That was his motto; he even had it on a small sign in his lab. The funny thing is that I associate that phrase with a field trip we took together. He chose a spot he thought was interesting, set up his tripod, adjusted his camera... and settled in to wait. I don't work like that, but his attitude was instructive."