New York Faces: Urban Explorer and Photographer Patrick Castillo 📷😘

Patrick Castillo is a creative artist born and raised in Parañaque, Philippines. He is most famous for his skyline defying photography, climbing upwards of 100 stories. At 15 he relocated to the United States with his family, eventually landing in San Francisco during his freshman year in college.

His apartment on Sutter and Powell was the first building he ever climbed, and he was immediately hooked.

We had the chance to sit down with Patrick, and he discussed how his love of climbing began his journey, bringing him to New York for the first time at 19.

Patrick Castillo

Patrick immediately fell in love with the city, declaring it one of the most majestic places he’d ever seen. Later that year, his best friend handed him a Nikon D90, introducing Patrick to his next big passion, photography.

He started posting jaw-dropping photos atop high rises across the country on Instagram, catching the attention of many. After viewing the city from above curiosity found Patrick exploring below; he found a new life underground. Exploring and capturing the city from every angle. Eventually expanding traveling to feed his roof-climbing photo capturing love.

Two years later, he began Two for the Road, a series produced in partnership with Rodney Hazard fellow creator, a musician and producer in his own right, and a close friend of Castillo’s. The audiovisual collaboration series is composed of Patrick’s footage and Hazard’s music.

Patrick is currently traveling throughout Asia with his fiancé, read about where we go in our spoiled NYC column publishing later this month, get behind the scenes look at his journey on his website chasedit.com. To check out more of his photography, you can find him on Instagram @chasingrooftops.

Check out his photo diary below: