Thomas Youngblood and Tommy Karevik of Kamelot

5/4/2018, City National Civic Auditorium, San Jose

One of those nights when warmups had easier light to shoot than the main act. Sometimes building dramatic light for the audience doesn't mean dramatic light for photographers.

Jus Oborn, Electric Wizard

4/30/2018, The Warfield, San Francisco

Must be my red period. 2ns show in a row with only red light. This suits Electric Wizards very well tho and supports the sludge/doom vibe the band has.

Jonathan Davis

4/18/2017, The Fillmore, San Francisco

Jonathan was on his solo tour and stopped at The Fillmore in San Francisco. The show was lit with only red light, so it was really challenging to take impressive photos. In these kind of situations I often make black and white options for wire.

Whores.

4/16/2018, Thee Parkside, San Francisco

Nightwish

Tuomas Holopainen of Nightwish performs at San Jose Natioal CIvic Auditorium on April 13th, 2018.

Nightwish is one of the biggest (metal) bands ever to come from Finland. They have been around since 1996 and are currently on "Deacades" tour around the world. There's always somethig unique to bands that can stay around this long. Nightwish is very visual band, their sets are awesoem with a lot of vide content. They also perform for the audience to see, with the exception of mastermind Tuomas, how likes to have the work speak for himself and mostly plays the keys in relative darkness while the rest of the band stands in spotlights.

Michael Schenker

3/24/2018 San Jose Civic Auditorium

Awolnation

3/13/2018, Fox Theater, Oakland

Myrkur

3/9/2018 Regency Ballroom, San Francisco

Robert Plant

2/28/2018, Fox Theater, Oakland

What a privilege to be photographing a true rock icon. I always say it's the photo, not the people in them, but this time it's the other way around for me. I got to take photos of Robert Plant.

X Ambassadors

2/26/2018, The Fillmore, San Francisco

Exodus

2/25/2018, Regency Ballroom, San Francisco

Tyler Connolly of Theory Of A Deadman

Theory Of A Deadman performs at The FIllmore in San Francisco on 2/16/2018

Mårten Hagström of Meshuggah

Meshuggah performs at The FIllmore in San Francisco on 1/28/2018

The Wombats

The Wombats perform at The Fillmore in San Francisco on 1/27/2018

K-Flay

K-Flay performs at The Fillmore in San Francisco on 1/17/2018

Death Angel

12/15/2017 Slim's, San Francisco

What a way to close up the year. One of my all time favorites, Death Angel played two nights at Slim's.and did not disappoint. I would have been there with or without cameera but I'm super happy to have shot them one more time. I still missed Marks jump so I have another reason to go shoot them more

Thom Yorke

12/14/2018 Fox Theater, Oakland

First time shooting from the balcony in Fox. Not an ideal location to shoot from. I didn't get any flatterin photos of Thom.

The Grannies

12/9/2017 Thee Parkside, San Francisco

I have wanted to shoot Grannies for a long time and never got the chance. When they were at Thee Parkside and I didn't have anything else assigned to me, I took the opportunity and came prepared with my camera. The night was cool and I really like the shots in the small venue.

Periphery

11/25/2017 Regency Ballroom, San Francisco

Lighting wise this was one of the more challenging shows for the whole year. I walked out with only a handful of somewhat usable shots. Not very pleased with myself on the night

Alexi Laiho, Children of Bodom

11/5/2017, UC Theater, Berkeley

Troy Sanders, Mastodon

10/21/2017, Aftershock Festival, Sacramento

Another year of metal in Sacramento. Aftershock is always my last festival for the year and it keeps getting better every year. This time around the bain acts were Nine Inch Nails and Ozzy Osbourne. Unfortunately as I shoot for wire service, I could't shoot the main acts, but there were plenty of awesomeness to go around. My personal favorites this year were Mastodon, Gojira, Halestorm and Black Map

Rudolf Schenker, Scorpions

Few days after shooting in the cave that is Slim's it's refreshing to get to shoot on a big stage. This is my first time shooting Scorpions and the duddes really put on a great show. Rudolf must be one of the few rhythm guitarists who outstage the rest of the band.

Dark Tranquility

I keep telling myself not to go shoot at Slim's but they keep booking great bands. This mush have been the brightest Dart Tranquility show I have ever attended and could hardly get any shots from it. Great to see the guys tho and they seem to be coming to bay area few times a year.

Insomnium

9/14/2017, UC Theater, Berkeley

I met up with my friends from Insomnium at Berkeley, got to hang out with the guys for a while and shoot the show. They are on US & Canada tour with Epica, Laguna Coil and Elantris and stopped at UC Theater in Berkeley. The light wasn't very good, but the black and white treatment of the photos actually suits their latest album, Winters Gate, visually.

Laura Jane Grace, Against Me!

9/13/2017 Regency Ballroom, San Francisco

Tim Armstrong, Rancid

8/20/2017, Greek Theater, Berkeley

Les Claypool, Primus

8/18/2017, Greek Theater, Berkeley

Extremely difficult (non-existent) light tonight. There was nearly no stage lights, only faint glow from below the performers when Primus took the stage. Lucly the band doesn't move around much so I managed to pull off few shots with slow shutter speed without blurring the subjects.

Brandon Boyd, Incubus

8/16/2017, Shoreline, Mt View

Empire of the Sun

8/12/2017, Outside Lands Festival, San Francisco

I was lucky enough to be called again to shoot Outside Lands Festival in Golden Gate park in San Francisco. Being a house photographer allows us some more access to the performances than we usually get. You get to stay longer in the photo pit and with some performances, you get to shoot from the stage also. This allows you to get more angles to the show and you get to capture moments that other photographers don't necessarily get to shoot.

Working on a festival is physically demanding. During the 3 day festival, I walked more than 30 miles over more than 25 hours. The good part of this festival is that I get to go home every night and since I was shooting for the festival, we had editors on site and I didn't have to stay up all night to edit and submit my photos.

Joe Duplantier, Gojira

7/30/2017, UC Theater, Berkeley

John Mayer

7/29/2017, Shoreline Amphitheater, Mt VIew

Rob Thomas, Matchbox Twenty

7/25/2017, Shoreline Amphitheater, Mt VIew

Robby Takac, Goo Goo Dolls

7/14/2017, Shoreline Amphitheater, Mt VIew

Buzz Osborne, Melvins

7/10/2017, Great American Music Hall, San Francisco

David Zablidowsky, Adrenaline Mob

7/3/2017, Slim's, San Francisco



Life is fragile. Less than two weeks after this photo, the bassist of Adrenaline Mob and Trans-Siberian Orchestra, David Zablidowsky dies in freak car accident. It still feels unreal as I just saw him.

Ghost

7/2/2017, The Warfield, San Francisco

TV on the Radio

6/25/2017, ID10T Festival, Mt VIew

Weezer

6/24/2017, ID10T Festival, Mt VIew

Poison

6/13/2017, Oracle Arena, Oakland

Seether

6/5/2017, The Fillmore, San Francisco



You know it's difficult lighting when the best shot of the night is black and white conversion of a shot on drummer. The light got progressively more challenging as the night went on and by the time Seether took the stage, only thing left was strobes from behind the band and deep red. Not my favorite shooting conditions, but then again, the bands dont light the shows for the photographers, but we take what is given to us.

Madaila

6/4/2017, Colossal Clusterfest, San Francisco

Modest Mouse

5/27/2017, Masonic, San Francisco

Amorphis

4/6/2017, Slim's, San Francisco

Sometimes shooting at Slim's does pay off. For me this photo works just because the light is challenging. Most of the evening the whole stage was flooded with random color light. This was one of the few shots where I managed to time the shot as the background didn't have any light and the only source was dim light in front of the stage. I had to process the shot pretty heavyhandedly, but I'm pretty happy with the outcome.

Katatonia

4/1/2017, Slim's, San Francisco

The Shrine

3/30/2017, The Slim's, San Francisco

Sami Yli-Sirnio, Kreator

3/26/2017, The FIllmore, San Francisco

Panic! At the Disco

3/25/2017, Oracle Arena, Oakland

Dua Lipa

3/17/2017, Great American Music Hall, San Francisco