"Let's face it, the heroes these days are not the lawyers or the politicians, the heroes are the guys flashing the money," says Narco music promoter Joel Vasquez outside a Narco-Corrido club in Los Angeles. "The market is bigger than ever. I think we can be the next Hip-Hop."

Shaul Schwarz has been working in Mexico for four years now. "At first, I was focussing on the violence that broke out, but then I started going beyond the violence and looked at how it was affecting millions of people in so many different ways," the Reportage by Getty Images photographer tells BJP. "I've been looking at how violence has become a cult in music, in art, in the culture. There is a trend towards glorifying violence. Narco traffickers are now the new models for fame and success. It's surprising how big it is."

Schwarz's images were selected for this year's Visa Pour l'Image photojournalism festival. But something you won't see in Perpignan is the feature documentary born from this work. "As much as I like photography, I find that there are a lot of stories that can't be told in pictures," says Schwarz. "Sometimes, the complexity of the situation can only be described with moving images. For example, at concerts, the lyrics are crazy, and you need to hear them to understand how violence has infiltrated this business. They are spitting out what they feel, and you can't explain that with a still image."

Schwarz also thinks that in some situations "it can be minimalistic to be a photographer. I just feel that sometimes you can miss so much - for example, the light can be bad and you'll miss the moment." But, he admits, shooting an actual feature documentary is still a daunting task. "It's an 800-pound gorilla."

Contract builders working on monumental graves in Jardines de Humaya contemplate the constantly changing skyline of the cemetery. With drug war murders in the city last year, narco graves are big business. Narco luxury is expressed as domed mausoleums erected to commemorate drug war victims. Sinaloa, Culiacan, July 5, 2009. Image © Shaul Schwarz / Reportage by Getty Images.

For more information, visit www.visapourlimage.com, www.shaulschwarz.com and www.reportagebygettyimages.com.