Bernadette Castillo August 8, 2019

I met Jo a few months after I first started throwing axes when she joined Sunday Green and we’ve been friends ever since. She’s been dreaming about traveling and living out on the road with her dog, Conan, for so long and she’s officially left for a bit of a trial run. She sold most of her belongings and only took what fits in the back of her jeep and teardrop trailer; I got to spend the day with her before she headed out earlier this week and took some photos in this sweltering Texas heat. I wish I’d had some more time to photograph her, but mostly I’m just happy we spent a good amount of time together before she headed out!

I’ve been trying to be a bit more meditative these days, and by that, I mean actually taking time to myself and reflecting on things. I don’t think I’ve ever taken things for granted, but I’m trying to be more mindful of just how blessed I am— and these last few months have really driven that home. I am surrounded by incredible, inspiring people. Bold, brave, intelligent, loving, caring, kind, helpful. It’s been incredible to watch my friends chase their dreams, it’s empowered me to do the same.

Bernadette Castillo July 30, 2019

I went camping with a two of my closest girl friends a couple weeks ago and it was all things wonderful. It’s crazy to think we’ve known each other for nearly 10 years! I really cherished these short days spent together because, well, it’s a fact of life the older you get, the more hectic life gets, and the harder it is to get to spend time with the people to care about. This is also the first time in years we’ve all been living in the same state, all at the same time… we might be living in different cities- but what’s distance when it comes to sisterhood after all? It was incredibly refreshing to have a small getaway with my best friends, away from everything that had been worrying me, just spending time in the moment and in the water. Time with friends and water always brings me peace.

I’ve been disillusioned lately, but it’s truly been my support system that’s gotten me through things. I can barely wrap my head around just how much love and support I have in my life and I am eternally grateful. I know and love and am loved by the most incredible people.

Bernadette Castillo July 5, 2019

Jeff + Haze | Summer 2019

I first met Jeff when Urban Axes opened here in Austin, and he was my first league coach and really one of the first people to introduce me (and countless others) to this sport and community. He’s a guy with a heart of gold, that we all enjoyed giving a hard time at all times, and he’s been instrumental in building the axe throwing community here in Austin. We love him, and we’re going to miss him something fierce.

I’m glad I got the chance to photograph Jeff and his shuttle that he completely converted himself into a mobile tiny home before he left on his very own Great American Axeventure. I recall having a rather in depth conversation with him one night while he was building out his shuttle; it’s something he’s been wanting to do for quite some time and he’s finally on his way. He’s already put out some videos documenting his journey. He’s making his way across the US/ parts of Canada visiting as many national parks and axe throwing venues he can along the way. He’s living the dream, as far as I’m concerned, accompanied with his precious pup, Haze.

Again, I had a hard time figuring out how to write this and a huge part of that is me realizing I haven’t posted or written about my work in quite some time. It’s opening myself up to criticism, mostly from myself, to be fair. I wish I had some more time to stage more photos of the shuttle Jeff had worked so hard on. These images aren’t perfect and that’s just fine. Perfectionism is over-rated when it comes to my work, because it’s never been about that for me.

There’s a lot of things I love about photography, I’m sure that’s quite apparent… but a rather big part of why I enjoy it so much is just how much it can teach you, for lack of a better, less cliched phrase, important things about life. I spent entirely too long (I’m talking years here) striving for perfection in my work. I catch myself striving for it in my day to day sometimes. The thing is though, my photos don’t have to be perfect. They just have to have feeling behind them.

Bernadette Castillo July 3, 2019

“You don't make a photograph just with a camera. You bring to the act of photography all the pictures you have seen, the books you have read, the music you have heard, the people you have loved.”

Ansel Adams

I’m a bit rusty and it’s taken me some time to think about how I wanted to start this so here goes!

It’s been over six months before I properly photographed a show and wrote about it, and I’m really missing the photo pit these days. That’s not to say I haven’t been photographing: I’m freelancing and working a couple part time jobs! Needless to say, things have changed a lot around here since the last time you probably heard from me.

That being said, it’s been a while since I’ve attempted any sort of photography project and I’ve been feeling like it’s something I need to do. It would be nice to have a place where I can showcase what I’ve been working on that is a bit more personal and not have the unneeded pressure of it not “fitting in” somewhere. Not everything I create goes onto my website, and while photography has always been for me, it’s nice to have a place to share images that aren’t for clients, or for a publication, or that is only my music photography.

I haven’t utilized my love of photography (or writing for that matter) as a creative outlet in far too long.

So here it is, here it will be, and it will be me.

Shout out to the reddit and Discord crew .https://www.reddit.com/r/benhoward/ https://twitter.com/benhowardmusic https://twitter.com/helluprecords https://twitter.com/islandrecordsuk Fuck the BBC