2012 will mark my 9th year as a professional concert photographer. Over those past years I have seen a lot in this industry change for better, or some for worse. Sadly I would have to say that it has fell more on the worse side more than the better.

Just this year I had my own ups and downs. While I did have the chance to work with many amazing artists, some that I could never dream of getting the chance to photograph. I also had my only working camera at the time suffer from a shutter blow out, and being a concert photographer I had little to no money to repair it. I had to do all I could to get a working camera so that I would be able to continue shooting. So I do have to give a big thanks to all of my supporters for all of the generous donations and my credit card for letting me max it out so that I could continue to work and document all of these great shows.

To add insult to injury, I recently received the bad news that the company I have freelanced for the past 4 years has now came to a end and that I was being replaced by a auto generated content site. So I am now currently out of a photography job and I have not received any offers as of now.

But this is the sad reality of being a gig photographer, most of the outlets in need of concert photos rather use free content than to pay a professional a small amount to obtain quality work.

So ending this year on a sad note, any editors out there that see my favorite 30 photos of the year and are looking for quality work and reasonable rates, you know who to contact. Hope everyone enjoys this post and have a happy new year.

Favorite 30 in no particular order:

Andrew McMahon of Jack’s Mannequin