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Stephanie Castillo

@stephjcastillo

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go play outside ☻
☔︎ Portland, OR
♡ @bassetsandbuns
🇬🇹 latina photographer ↴
✰ @goplayoutsidephoto
⚡︎ @goplayoutsidesport
✈︎ @goplayoutsidetravel

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What does Go Play Outside really mean as a women photographer? ⚡️📸

🎙️ Thank you @laurenizrael from @itsclickclack telling my story & your support.

🎥 support your local women videographer @madimorphic, ABSOLUTELY CINEMA! ⚡️

📍big shout out to @sportoregon for letting me celebrate this huge milestone of my photo rebrand at your HQ's & letting me represent your mission through images.

#womeninsports #womenphotographers #latinaphotographer #goplayoutside #womenempowerment taken in Sport Oregon by @stephjcastillo

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4 months ago

🎈30 marks the official launch of my rebrand - a new chapter shaped by everything I’ve learned, built, & become over the last decade.⚡️

I was just a kid at Westview High School with a camera, circling the 20 senior portraits I shot in my yearbook.

In my early 20s, I spent every Sunday exploring the PNW with no plan except to go play outside with my camera. That simple phrase shaped my creative journey & made me fall in love with photography long before it ever paid my bills.

My mid‑20s brought weddings, events, and portraits.

My late 20s opened the door to corporate & sports world, and that’s where everything clicked. Seeing sports from behind the scenes showed me the emotion, community, and humanity that live beyond the game. It reminded me why I started.

🌹 Flowers to the people who shaped my story:

🏀 @bruceely: thank you for the chance, the skills, & for letting me be your 2nd @trailblazers intern.
👠 @laurenizrael & @jacki23: inspiring women who gave me confidence and trusted me to capture @itsclickclack.
⚽ @michael.fdx: thank you for welcoming me into the @thornsfc family.
🏀 @marlena.pov: THE first woman in sports to give me a chance in sports & captured the start of @portlandfirewnba.
🪓 @craigmdyer: grateful for every @timbersfc project & our networking lunches.
🏅 @dougiewfresh: thank you for giving me a place to celebrate my work & capture @sportoregon's mission.
🫀 @austenbergquist: your support has been a steady force in my growth.

This rebrand isn’t about becoming someone new.

It’s about honoring the multidimensional photographer I’ve grown into. Someone who captures nature, people, sports, community... storytelling all at once.

I’ve also realized how underrepresented women of color are in sports photography. That truth fuels me. I’m committed to empowering women in spaces where we’ve often felt unseen and to creating pathways for those coming next.

Cheers to Go Play Outside, 3-0, & to the next decade of VIDA. 🥂

✨ girlies dream team ✨
📸 @gaitan.photography & @mollyleiaphotos
🎥 @madimorphic
🎂 @treatsbymel.pdx
🎧 @katrinam_p
🤳 @mikaylasimonphotography

#goplayoutside #30thbirthday #latinaphotographer #womenempowerment #portlandoregon taken in Sport Oregon by @stephjcastillo

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4 months ago

I picked up a Pentax K1000 in 2013 & fell in love with the darkroom.

By 2014, the year I graduated, I circled 20 of my classmates’ senior portraits in the yearbook that I took.

Portraits, weddings, events, traveling, outdoors was all I did during these years. Learned how to connect with people + nature, how to make them feel seen, & how to tell stories using no words.

In 2020, I photographed @rabbitadvocates rescue bunnies to get adopted. It raised their adoption numbers. THAT was rewarding.

2023, I applied for the @trailblazers internship (was convinced & almost said no). I had no connections, zero sports experience / knowledge. Grateful that my work & my authenticity was enough.

For the past two years, I put my head down & hustled. I learned. I failed...many times.

Layering photography & sports: both male‑dominated. Noticed the room was smaller for women. I was intimidated most of the time & it made me question whether I belonged.

I realized just recently that I am the only photographer I know who is currently working directly with all major Portland sports organizations / teams. As a woman of color, that meant something. It also reminds me everyday how few women I see doing this work.

As you may have noticed, I haven't posted my sports work really anywhere. I wasn’t sure if I was going to stay here. Thankfully, most of my opportunities or bookings came through word‑of‑mouth, which I’ve always taken as the highest compliment. It meant people trusted me enough to recommend me without needing to see me promote myself.

This past year, I’ve been figuring out what my rebrand should look like. And I’ve realized I CAN be multidimensional.

I can shoot weddings, portraits, commercial work, nature, & sports. The ultimate goal is to continue growing, evolving, & use my work to inspire other women who don’t see themselves represented in these or similar spaces.

So here’s to a new chapter - a sneak peek to my even better journey, where I no longer apologize for taking up a corner or ✌️.

📸✨ @goplayoutsidephoto
⚡️🏃🏽‍♀️ @goplayoutsidesport
🗺️🌱 @goplayoutsidetravel

#womenphotographer #latinaownedbusiness #portlandphotographer #goplayoutside #womenempowerment taken in Portland, Oregon by @stephjcastillo

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5 months ago

Fall Greetings from the Windy City 🍂💌

#chicago #windycity #chicagoviews #chicagobucketlist #goplayoutside taken in Chicago, Illinois by @stephjcastillo

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3 days ago

and after over 5 years as an event photographer, I finally got my weekends back this summer. Needed & refreshed. 🤭

#summer2026 #photographer #portlandoregon #wnba #pdx taken in Portland, Oregon by @stephjcastillo

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22 days ago

working on my emotional intelligence this year! Progression in 2026 so far, let's gooo! 🫶🏽

#portlandphotographer #pdx #portlandoregon #bassethound #newyork by @stephjcastillo

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2 months ago

EDIT: standing on business. 🏦🗣️

serving your next shoot with a side of rad energy + photo-tina magic. 🪄⚡️

📸: @madimorphic

✨Thank you @indigosprucestudio for your beautiful space!

#brandingphotography #latinaphotographer #womeninleadership #portlandoregon #pdxsmallbusiness taken in Portland, Oregon by @stephjcastillo

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3 months ago

seattle wkd - live, laugh, food ⚾️🥯🐕🌊

#seattle #mariners #seattleeats #seattlethingstodo #washington taken in Seattle, Washington by @stephjcastillo

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4 months ago

HOP ON MY LATEST UPDATE! 🐇⬇️

Since November, I’ve dedicated over 500 volunteer hours to restructuring and rebuilding the organization (and a lot of house cleaning), and I’m so pumped to finally share that I stepped into the President role at the beginning of this year. It’s been an incredible honor.

A quick RA history hop: started in 1996 inside a converted closet at OHS & by 2002, RA became its own organization. For the past 26 years, it's been powered entirely by volunteers, but in the past 5 years, truthfully, it's cause a lot of burnout for a small pool of internal volunteers.

This year, I wanted to change that.

My goals for 2026:
1. Build a real internal structure to reduce burnout
2. Rebuild our Rescue Team
3. Increase the number of rabbits in our care
4. Secure a permanent home for RA
5. Create clear, sustainable volunteer pathways

With our tiny but mighty internal team, we’ve been working hard to build the first true organizational structure in RA’s history - and it’s already transforming what we can do.

And the fun part:
We’re rolling out new internal volunteer roles to expand our Staff Team

If you want to help shape the future of RA, check out our current openings:

🔗 rabbitadvocates.org/volunteer

I am forever grateful to be on this journey, and I can't wait to see what it will look like a year from today.

Hoppy Spring! 🌷🐇
xo Stephanie, President of Rabbit Advocates taken in Portland, Oregon by @stephjcastillo

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6 months ago

funny how life works sometimes:

a year before i met austen - i was sleeping in his room while house sitting & walking his mom’s dogs on a weekly.

you don't hear that everyday...

so thank you @nextdoor.

austen - the love you have for life, the extended hand you give to others, & your genuine desire to understand people - i am impressed every single day. i adore watching all of your communities love you, the way i love you.

thank you for being the reason we have odie, and for guiding me through caring for my very first dog (ironic since my job revolves around others peoples dogs).

thank you for always making my family and I feel safe.

thank you for teaching me about sports. you are the reason why I love my football team even more.

thank you for learning MY sport... (photography) & for being my forever second shooter.

thank you for consistently pushing me to accomplish my dreams, for keeping me accountable when i need it, & for supporting all the crazy side quests i put myself on.

i don't think i've ever laughed this much, life is SO incredibly fun with you. one of my fav things is how excited we both get when we decide to get sushi.

cheers to you & your not-30-yet birthday mi amor. te amo mucho. 🥂🤎🍣 taken in Wahclella Falls by @stephjcastillo

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9 months ago

Chicago is the second city with the tallest skyscrapers & the third-most populous city in the United States. 🏙️

The most recent skyscraper that's been built (6th image), is the tallest building in the world designed by a woman - Jeanne Gang! This building called Vista Residences, was inspired by how crystal naturally form. By far my favorite building in Chicago! 💎

#chicago #chicagobuildings #chicagoarchitecture #chicagogram #architecture #travelphotography #travelblogger #cityphotography #unitedstates #chicagoblogger taken in Chicago, Illinois by @stephjcastillo

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4 years ago

a start of something new - hello 2026. 💫 by @stephjcastillo

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9 months ago