2016 is Finally over, There were a lot of ups and downs this year but we made it through. During 2016 I have been given a lot of incredible opportunities through the year including tours with: Scott Stapp, Chase Rice, and LoCash. As well as photographing hundreds of musicians, a bunch of Festivals, and even some large political events that lead up to the election of 2016. I couldn't be more thankful for the opportunities I have been given and I am even more excited for what is to come in the future for me. Although I have taken a ton of photos in 2016, I have compiled about 40 of my favorite photos from the year which are listed below with a small caption that describes the meaning/story behind the photo cause all the photos I have picked have one.    

 

Scott Stapp is an incredible Grammy award winning artist and the frontman of Creed who I had the opportunity to tour with from January till February of 2016, during his 1 year celebration of living a sober life and on his 1st leg of the Proof Of Life tour. This tour allowed me to further my knowledge and grow as a person as the Stapp's taught me a lot of things on the tour (I worked multiple jobs on the tour including: Photo/Video, Merch, VIP Management, & Assistant TM) as well as after the tour. The first photo I would like to put in this gallery of my favorite/best photos of 2016 is a Sold Out crowd in Ohio and one of the biggest shows of the entire tour. Also, while on the tour with Scott Stapp we had a stop in Flint, MI where I got to document Scott Stapp's generous donation of several thousand bottles of clean bottled water to the city where water has been contaminated. He played a Sold Out show that evening in the legendary Machine Shop, which is a venue I always seen merchandise from on artists and that I have always wanted to go to. The second photo is a photo of Scott Stapp performing to a sold out crowd and third photo is a posed photo at the Machine Shop in Flint, MI. Another photo that I wanted to include in my favorite/best photos of 2016 is this photo from Scott Stapp's Proof Of Life Tour that was taken on his press day in New York City. It was a great opportunity to be able to attend interviews with him and document his journey on the road promoting his solo record, Proof Of Life. As well as his solo sober comeback with this tour. The forth photo is a photo from his interview with Scott at Access Hollywood in New York which ran in early February on national TV and included some of my footage from his live shows in the TV show. 

This next photo is of Will Smith's daughter, Willow Smith performing at The Roots Picnic in Philadelphia who I was photographing for Pop Culture Madness. This photo was included in my best photos of 2016 as the photo is a great capture, and was actually featured on Instagram's @Music account which to me was very satisfying to see that such a large company likes my work.

This photo of Halestorm is one of my favorites and was a huge night for the band as they performed their first ever arena show in their home-state of Pennsylvania and it was a sold out show as well. I captured this photo in Reading, PA at the Santander Arena. It was a huge and very extraordinary part of Halestorm's career and I was glad to be able to capture it. While on the topic of Halestorm I want to include a second legendary moment I was able to capture which was their headlining set at The Rock Carnival as well as being able to capture Lzzy Hale's surprise guest vocals with Mr. Tom Keifer on his hit song "Nobody's Fool" which was so awesome to see live. 

This next photo is of Sleeping With Sirens on their End The Madness tour which was captured with a fisheye lens, the moment I captured between Kellin Quinn and the fans with an incredible light show was definitley one of my favorite captures this year! 

I had the incredible opportunity to photograph Chase Rice at The Philadelphia Phillies game after show performance which included a downpour of rain which ended the show early and also included Chase coming out on an ATV with the Phillie Phanatic which to me was a moment in Philadelphia history which I captured and is shown below. On the topic of Chase Rice I would also like to thank him and his awesome crew for being so accommodating and bringing out on the road with them for a short run of shows, The second photo is a Chase Rice and his band in the pouring rain at the Phillies game show, the third photo is his sold out crowd in Jordan, NY singing along with Chase Rice as he hosts a huge smile on his face and last but not least the 4th photo is of Chase Rice performing at a fair in North Pennsylvania. 

Another awesome opportunity I was given was to capture The Rock Carnival this year in NY for Revolver Magazine and Alternative Press Magazine where I was able to capture the full set of Twisted Sister's final east coast performance ever. It was more then a solid moment that will be remembered forever but legendary as it was in the pouring rain which allowed for some exceptionally awesome unique, one of a kind photos like the one below. 

As I am on the topic of The Rock Carnival and how awesome that experience was and in the pouring rain both the days I was able to attend, I also got to catch and photograph Daughtry's emotion filled set in the rain as well. He is an incredible performer and in the rain made it even better and I got some sick photos of him in the rain this way. He actually reached out for some photos of this show as he loved them. 

On another subject for this part of the best/favorite photos of 2016 is slightly different from normal shoots for me, this time it was a political campaign rally for Hillary Clinton who I photographed 3-4 times at her Philadelphia rally's/campaigns including her Love Trumps Hate concert series which featured Katy Perry and her final rally the night before voting day which included Bill Clinton, Chelsea Clinton, Michelle and President Barack Obama. The photos of these events are below. 

Next I wanna Thank and show you a photo from my tour with LoCash, who I may be working with more in 2017. However, below is a favorite of my photos from the brief run with them. I am forever thankful to artists who put their faith, and time into giving me the chance to document their time on the road even if it is just for a weekend or a month, any time you give me is worth it and will be very beneficial for us both. Thank you so much to LoCash for bringing me out on their Ones To Watch Tour for a weekend run. 

The next photo I chose for this was of Snoop Dogg a legendary rapper who made his way into Camden, NJ this year on his co-headlining tour with Wiz Khalifa. It was an incredible opportunity to photograph such a legendary rapper, however the night didn't end to well at that show as there was an accident that I am sure you have heard about as it trended online for about a week or more where the railing fell injuring many of fans. 

Another stand out photo shoot from 2016 was definitley photographing Good Charlotte's return to the stage and perform at the Sold Out TLA in Philadelphia, which was one of four shows announced for their return which I captured some incredible photos that they liked so much their management team and Joel Madden from the band reached out to me to ask me to come out and photograph their NYC show at Webster Hall for an exclusive gallery on Alternative Press's website. Pictures of both are below.

On the topic of photographing multiple shows of an artist, I definitley have several photos to include of Blink-182 and A Day To Remember as I photographed their tour together several times this year and was able to capture some awesome shots of them which are below. 

Photographing Machine Gun Kelly is always a good time, but in 2016 it was a great time as MGK grows as a person and as an artist he is only getting better. His live performances are absolutely insane and memorable and I would definitley recommend you checking him out!

Not much to say about the next photo but it was one of the only photos I left with at the BlessTheFall show as they never use frontlighting but I really did enjoy how this silhouette shot came out. 

Another moment that was a favorite of mine from this year was definitley being able to photograph ColdPlay at the Budweiser Made In America Festival which was literally such a last minute approval due to their restrictions but once cleared had me jumping for joy and then to catch this sick jump shot of Chris Martin definitley made this a shoot to remember. 

Yes, Motley Crue did unfortunately break up however 2016 was a great year for Nikki Sixx as his band Sixx:A.M. toured almost the entire year supporting their new albums and I had the pleasure of photographing them several times on that tour promo, Here is my favorite photo of James & Nikki from 2016.

2016 was a great year for Dangerkids as they went on their first headlining tour which was a huge success for them and I was stoked to photograph their show in Philadelphia, where I captured this sweet photo of Tyler (one of the frontman for dangerkids). Keep an eye out for Dangerkids in 2017 as they are releasing their new album Blacklist_ and it will be a banger! 

In July of 2016, I had the best opportunity to capture the APMAS and the APMAS Rehearsals for Alternative Press Magazine in which I was able to capture the entire event from start to finish and capture some great moments like the one below where Kellin Quinn of Sleeping With Sirens joined Good Charlotte on stage for a killer performance. 

ATTILA Released a killer album this year titled, Chaos. You should pick it up and listen to it, check out the photo below from their Chaos tour.

Some other very notable photos I wanted to include in this best/favorite photos of 2016 was Usher at The Roots Picnic, as he shared that photo on his instagram in 2016 which was pretty cool. Luke Bryan who was a bucketlist country artist to photograph and I finally achieve photographing him in 2016. Pierce The Veil on the Misadventures tour as they performed their #1 new album Misadventures in full on the entire tour and at this particular show was sold out in Philadelphia. Red Sun Rising as they rise to the top of the rock charts and put on a very energy filled performance. Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam flipped me off in 2016 as I photographed them with some friends. Waterparks opening up for Good Charlotte which only launched their career rapidly as I think they will be at the top selling out headlining shows in 2017! Tori Kelly performing to a sold out crowd in Philadelphia with a legendary sing along at the show. Photographing Three Days Grace who I grew up listening to and to capture them and have them share a photo was awesome. Photographing Asking Alexandria with a new frontman, Denis Stoff who happens to no longer be apart of the band was a good time and he was a great singer and I wish him nothing but the best in his career path! Last but certainly not least photographing The Used 15 Years as a band Anniversary tour but also the celebration of their self-titled album reaching 10 years old!

To conclude this super long blog post, I wanted to just say thank you to everyone for supporting me and continuously allowing me to live my dreams and make my career path come true. 2016 was only a small part of my career which I hope will take me to places I couldn't even imagine in 2017 and beyond. Thanks to everyone who follows me, supports me, and especially to artists, bands, publication, management and public relation teams who give me access to shows to capture and document them for a publication or for the artist themselves, THANK YOU! I look forward for what is to come in 2017!!!! \m/ :)