2018 - Photo Recap

I haven't done one of these in a long time. Mainly because you photograph so much in a year that it's hard to pick favorites. I think this year I have done more personal work rather than professional but here are some highlights of both along with a few anecdotes about the photos.

Walk The Moon - January 2018

I started this year by photographing one of my bucket list bands to shoot. Walk The Moon has always been one of those artists that I somehow never got around to photographing. They put out some killer bops and seeing them live was incredible. I almost gave up photographing music before this show. I said "If I don't get approved, I think I'm done." The whole process of getting to shoot this was..less than easy but the outcome was worth it. (Nick even shared one of my photos on his IG!)

But right before I photographed this show, I spent the day in Brooklyn with my friend Tony shooting photos. I rarely get to see him and shoot portraits because of schedules but this was right before he told me he was also moving to Singapore.

February 2018 - Lights & Microwave

This is probably one of few photos that have garnered such vast attention. After photographing Lights in February, I posted this at the show (shout out to camera wifi!). By the time I was on the LIRR going back home, Lights had reshared it on her social media and said a variation of "Love this vag beam!" across her posts. So now, we call this shot the vag beam shot.

One of the fun things about my work with High Brew is that I get to hook up touring bands with cold brew. When my friend Brad hit me up about it for his tour with Microwave, I had to try to make it happen. After hearing such wonderful things about them from friends, they were just as fun to hang with. Here's a few photos of them goofing around with cans of High Brew.

March 2018 - Don Broco

One of the biggest surprises of 2018 for me photo wise was Don Broco. I had photographed them once before I believe but my results were nowhere near what I achieved the 2nd time around. I couldn't believe the photos I got from this show. Here's one of Rob their singer. It almost looks like he's blasting off into space!

April 2018 - 5SOS & Chicago

Another bucket list band I had was 5 Seconds of Summer. I had the honor of photographing them at their NYC date and was beyond stoked.

One of the things I missed most about touring was visiting new places. I try to travel as much as possible but a lot of the time money and my schedule don't allowed for it. So while I was wrapping up my time at Viacom, I booked a trip to Chicago to see some friends.

After a while of having my friend Zech say "you need to come visit," I finally booked my plane tickets and went out there. I had such a nice time last time I was in Chicago (it was for like 7 or 8 hours on tour with Hungover) but I really enjoyed the city and wanted to see more.

I wanted to see as many friends as possible for the week I was there so I packed my schedule out with a ton of mini shoots and great food with friends.

Once I got to Chicago and dropped my things off at Twerk Mansion (thank you Jake, Zech, Aaron, & Erik for letting me crash btw), I headed to the gig. I got there with the help of Mary & Meranda since I wasn't quite accustomed to the transit system yet. I got there a bit late but managed to grab a few minutes to hang with my pals in Save Face. Also somehow caught Free Throw for the first time. There were bodies flying everywhere!!

The next couple of days were spent adventuring but one of my favorite places that I went was Skydeck Chicago with Hannah. I don't think I saw Hannah for about a year (I think the last time was So What Music Fest in Dallas the year before). It was really nice to have a familiar face from [closer] to home showing me around Chicago and also wanting to adventure to any spots that I was interested in seeing.

We also hung out a different day and went to the Garfield Park Observatory. It was a really nice change of temperature from the 35 degree weather outside but boy did my hair frizz up.

I could list out every adventure and food outing I went on in Chicago but the bottom line is that I felt welcome here by every single person I met and am friends with. It was such a fun time and it was probably one of my favorite moments of 2018. I took a lot of portraits and had fun with photograph for once.

May 2018 - HAIM

I bought a pair of tickets to HAIM in November of 2017 before even thinking about who I would go with. After months of asking around I thought I'd have to just sell one of my tickets but my friend Brian and I discussed it about a month before the show. He said "if plane tickets are less than $300 roundtrip I'm going to book it." And they were so my good pal flew back in a month later just to see HAIM with me. It was sucha fun time that we decided to splurge and buy 6th row tickets for the following night.

June 2018 - BLI Summer Jam & KTUPhoria

I shot back to back festivals while also working box office at Jones Beach. I photographed Sting & Shaggy for FORBES!!

I also shot some of my favorite pop icons!!

July 2018 - Rhode Island & Warped Tour

Brenden and I took our first trip together. We tried out a few donut places in Rhode Island.

We can't forget about Warped Tour. I made my way to two dates of it and dropped some coffee off to the homies. I also took a few portraits of some pals.

August 2018 - Nandini & Aaron

I photographed my first engagement party for an old classmate from high school. These photos of Nandini and Aaron were so cute *crying emoji*.

September 2018 - 29 Rooms

The big "to-do" thing in September is always 29 Rooms. I went last year and had the best time so this year I went not once but TWICE. Once with Brenden and once with my friend Maggie.

October 2018 - Fall & Noah Cyrus

There's two things that stick out to me about October. One is that it was prime autumn foliage venturing with Brenden and the second is that I photographed Noah Cyrus.

November 2018 - Billie Eilish & Max Cohen

Some photos that I never really got around to sharing happened in November. I had a very last minute confirmation to photograph Billie Eilish at Irving Plaza. What a heckin show it was. The production was really sick and Billie was a a showstopper.

I haven't really ventured around NYC since summer but it was a nice change of pace to do so during the winter. Brenden and I met up with Max the weekend after Thanksgiving. We found a ton of cool spots downtown.

December 2018 - Altanta & A Will Away

We're finally at the last month in the year in photos. The beginning of December was hell week basically. I went from Philly back to Long Island, flew to Atlanta, came back to NY, then traveled back to NJ for the weekend. It was something like 10 days straight.

My cousin and I went to Atlanta solely to attend the Infinity Rooms exhibit by Yayoi Kusama. It was incredible and also thought provoking. Who would have thought that a bunch of mirrors in a small cube room would create such fantastic art.

Closing out 2018 with A Will Away in Asbury Park was exactly what I needed. What was even better about this show was that I got to spend it with Brenden and have him meet a bunch of friends that I love dearly.

I've known A Will Away for a couple years because of Emmy (love you!!) and getting to hang with them is always such a blessing. They are 100% one of the first bands who made me feel welcome and have become some of my favorite people to see. Above all else, they are talented as hell and getting to see them constantly grow is a blessing.

And that's it for 2018. I'm sure I forgot a ton of things and happenings but these are the moments that stuck out the most to me. Thank you to all of you that have played a role in making this year great. And to all of you who made it to the end, which photos have been your favorite?