"before the pictures stop"
It's such an important project. Photographing a couple like Steve and Michelle was challenging for so many reasons, but they offered up so much privacy to get the public to understand something deeper about the tragedy of being homeless. So thank you National Press Photographers Association for the 1st place award. Link to contest: http://competitions.nppa.org/monthly-news-clip-contest/photo-story-essay/2018-09-september/west/38430/... Continue Reading →
I met these three ghost hunters on assignment for The Press Democrat. They are members of Nor-Cal Paranormal Research Society based in Cloverdale, California. We went to their favorite place to search out those in the after life, the Cloverdale Cemetery. I arrived early and roamed the old graveyard photographing some of the weathered tombstones. It... Continue Reading →
The Press Democrat gave 2 days of coverage to tell the complete story of BROKEN, a year-long project that aims at showing intimate details of life for homeless couple Steve Singleton and Michelle Last. No doubt the editors and staff at The Press Democrat have thrown all their support behind this project which was elegantly... Continue Reading →
https://vimeo.com/erikcastro/broken PROJECT LINK: BROKEN a year in the life of Steve & Michelle (Published online 09/09/18) at The Press Democrat) When Santa Rosa, California declared a homeless state of emergency in late 2016, they were part of at least 10 city and county governments to do the same on the West Coast. The following year, The... Continue Reading →
This is my third year working on HARVESTER. The project is growing and so are the challenges for many of my subjects who come to the U.S. to work. Images from the series will be on display at the Healdsburg Center for the Arts beginning on opening night, July 22, 2017 from 5pm to 7pm.... Continue Reading →
I was invited to produce portraits of Petaluma residents or anyone in the neighborhood at the Petaluma Arts Center on June 17, 2017. About 60 people showed up for the 4 hours I was shooting. These 3 portraits are my favorites. The top portrait is Cris Pulido with his 7-day-old daughter Eve. He's the only... Continue Reading →
I was with my wife, niece and 10-year-old daughter during the Women's March in Santa Rosa, California along with millions of others across the world. Local news said over 5,000 attended in Santa Rosa. Here are a few moments for that rainy day.
These are a few images from my shoot for Leafly, an online resource for news and information about cannabis. I photographed a popular cannabis festival known as The Emerald Cup in Santa Rosa, California. State voters just passed a ballot measure legalizing recreational use of marijuana and there was plenty on hand to sample at... Continue Reading →
I never lived in a fire zone since working as a news photographer until moving to Northern California where fires seem to come more often than rain. So I wasn't surprised to get a call on a recent Sunday morning from The Press Democrat assigning me to photograph what would be one of the worst... Continue Reading →
