Best 16 Photos of 2016
- by Cassie Florido
- Dec 28, 2016
- 7 min read
2016 was a huge year of growth for my photography. It was truly a year of trial and error. I finally began to start taking photography seriously. I shot more shows and really pushed myself to be more creative and unique. After photography classes and internships, I have learned so many new things and found out what works and what doesn't work for me.
Live music photography has become something that has allowed me to be creative in new ways. Photography has become a way for me to challenge myself every time I pick up my camera. I had many new opportunities this year. I was able to work with and photograph some of my favorite bands this year.
Here are some of my favorite images with a little background of the final image:
#16) Joe Taylor of Knuckle Puck
To start this blog off, I'm gonna throw it back to my first show of 2016. The Alternative Press World Tour with State Champs, Neck Deep, Knuckle Puck and Like Pacific was by far one of my favorite tours of the year. However, I actually hate a lot of the pictures I took at this show. After playing around with this picture for months, I finally got it to look the way I wanted it to look. It's crazy to look back on my photos from this show and see how much I have improved my photography in 11 months.
#15) Jayden Seeley of With Confidence
One of my favorite things as a photographer is to catch those quick, intimate moments of an artist onstage. This one of Jayden is exactly what I try to capture every set. Performing is more than just the "rock-and-roll" moments. So I always try to capture the artist's true personality because it says so much about an artist.
#14) Lynn Gunn of PVRIS
During this show, I was participating in a photography challenge that had a new theme every day. Silhouettes was the theme the day I attended the PVRIS show. PVRIS had such unique lighting, so I tried to get creative during their set. This simple photo of Lynn Gunn kneeling down near the end of a song was such a cool moment. Lynn puts so much energy into every song and she took a split second to catch her breath between songs. The simple, lightly lit moment was exactly the type of silhouette I wanted to capture.
#13) Ryan Rumchaks of Homesafe
This picture is special to me because at this show I finally decided to shoot video along with my stills during the sets. There was a small crowd so I'm sure I looked like a crazy woman running around to get different angles. This image is my favorite from that set because it really sums up Homesafe. The passion they put into their performance is incredible to watch. I'm glad that between switching camera settings and moving around I was able to get this image.
#12) Alex Costello of ROAM
This picture is one of my favorite Warped Tour pictures for many reasons. I had the opportunity to attend 15 dates of warped tour this year. During those dates, I had the pleasure of helping out the guys in ROAM. Before the summer, I had never even talked to ROAM. But by my second date I was selling CDs for them and yelling down the line for everyone to come to their set. I got to know each of the guys a little bit and it was cool to see the work they had to put in behind the scenes at warped tour. I will forever support ROAM because they are such down-to-earth dudes and are in this business for the right reasons.
#11) Tony Perry of Pierce The Veil
Pierce The Veil has always been one of my favorite bands to see live. Their production for the Made To Destroy Tour was unreal. The lighting was perfect and this was easily my favorite set I have ever shot. It was such a dream to shoot one of my favorite bands. It took so much will power not to stand in the photo pit in awe when they came on stage. But I pulled myself together, even if I was singing behind my camera the entire time I was shooting their set.
#10) Cameron Adler of Tonight Alive
I had a few images that were similar to this shot of Cam. I played around with the coloring, but ultimately liked the way the black and white made it more dramatic. I always try and see how I can manipulate the color of an image before I resort to changing it to black and white. But sometimes, a black and white image can be much more powerful.
#9) Neck Deep
The Neck Deep guys gave me one of my biggest opportunities of the year. Due to a connection through friends, I ended up working with Neck Deep for one date of the Made To Destroy Tour. This meant a lot to me because Neck Deep previously only knew me as someone who attended a lot of their shows. They literally only saw my portfolio once and trusted me enough to give me an all-access pass for the show. They treated me so kindly and constantly thanked me, even though they were the ones doing me the favor. This image was one of the first I was able to take while on the side of the stage. This was such a breathtaking and surreal moment for me.
#8) Kellin Quinn of Sleeping With Sirens
Sleeping With Sirens is another band that absolutely blows me away every time I see them live. This photo was kind of funny for me. The stage at this show was pretty low so I felt really close to the band the entire time I was in the photo pit. I remember after taking this photo I put my camera down for a second to make sure I wasn't right up in Kellin's face. That would have been awkward. I'm glad I was just close enough to get this framing of Kellin.
#7) Jenna McDougall of Tonight Alive
Tonight Alive is a band that means a lot to me. This year especially, I have been able to see my relationship with this band become something very special. Their energy, on and off the stage, has a way of making people feel empowered and loved. Jenna's presence onstage is truly remarkable and this image pretty much sums that up. I also really just love all the different colors I was able to get out of this image.
#6) Vic Fuentes of Pierce The Veil
Vic Fuentes is probably one of the nicest people on this planet. He is one of those people that can make everyone in the room happier. I am amazed by his presence every time I watch him perform. This little moment on stage sums up his personality perfectly. There were some other shots I loved that I took of Vic that night, but I come back to this one and it always puts a smile on my face.
#5) Derek DiScanio of State Champs
Ah, State Champs. After seeing them 28 times this year, I was able to shoot them the last time I saw them in 2016 (big ups to my boy, Tyler). State Champs always know how to put on a great show. Their energy on stage really resonates with the crowd. I don't think I've seen a State Champs set where the crowd didn't have a great response to them. This is an image that I have actually never posted anywhere, so it's kind of ironic that it would end up on this list. I just love this little moment where Derek is looking out into the crowd and feeding off of their energy.
#4) Pierce The Veil
I usually hate all of the crowd shots I end up taking from the back of the venue. The Midland in Kansas City has several raised levels that gave me the opportunity to capture a crowd shot I was finally happy with. This photo was taken during the last song of the set. So, obviously, knowing Pierce The Veil and their love for confetti, I made sure to time this perfectly. The confetti, the lighting and the crowd all came together at the right time for this crowd shot.
#3) Ben Barlow of Neck Deep
While in the photo pit, I always try and get a few tight portraits. I have always loved tight portraits. When taking portraits, I try and eliminate things in the background so they don't draw attention away from the artists. This portrait is one of the cleanest portraits I have ever taken. The emotion of the artist in portraits will always be something I try to capture.
#2) Vic Fuentes of Pierce The Veil
This is another photo that I have never posted anywhere. For the longest time I didn't know how I felt about it. I always find myself editing my images very dark. Especially with black and white, I love making the white pop on a very dark image. The back-lighting of this photo made it possible to create a very dark silhouette. I have found that sometimes my most successful photos are the ones I spend more time being creative with and trying out new editing styles.
#1) Parker Cannon of The Story So Far
I chose this photo as my best photo of 2016 because it was kind of an accident. I was standing off to the side of the crowd for this entire set and brought my camera into the venue because I knew I would want to enjoy the set and only take a few images. If you saw the unedited image, you would think a five-year-old took the picture. There was originally a hand from the crowd covering half of the mic stand as well as a really distracting background. With a lot of cloning and healing, I surprised myself and got a clean image. I think this was a turning point in my editing this year. I learned a lot from this one simple photo. Even though it's not mechanically the best photo I took this year, I love that I was able to turn it into an image I was incredible happy with.
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