Erik Castro is an award-winning photojournalist and short filmmaker whose work—often created in collaboration with nonprofits—focuses on social issues such as housing insecurity, immigrant labor, and the lived realities of underserved communities.

His upcoming documentary, Creating a Photojournalist, is a deeply personal film spanning five decades. It traces Castro’s journey from a boy in 1970s Los Angeles—lovingly captured on his mother’s 8mm camera—to a seasoned photojournalist documenting both beauty and hardship. Throughout his career in Northern California, Castro has also remained a full-time stay-at-home parent to his two children. Creating a Photojournalist explores the images we preserve, the stories we choose to tell, and the personal decisions that shape how we tell them.