Ottobar Over The Years
Category Archives: best-of
Best of 2015.
Every year I try and post a “Best Of” the year. It’s a good exercise, looking through all your work for the previous year and can only help you going forward. When I started, I would get them done in late december or early January. The last few years… it’s been more like the middle of the next year. 2015’s list is no exception! I started with a big list of photos I liked, then narrowed it down to a smaller list of photos. Maybe next year these won’t show up until 2018. Here are my final picks for 2015, in no particular order:
Matmos
Sam Herring of Future Islands
John Stabb of Government Issue
Pig Destroyer fan
Freddie Gray marches
BROS
Exodus fans
Ryan Harvey & Son of Nun
Dan Deacon
Pins
Tame Impala
Dope Body
Monarch Novelties, DC
Pharmakon
Marilyn Manson
Best Photos of 2014.
As per the tradition, here are my personal favorite photos from 2014, posted in no particular order. I even managed to get them up in January this time! Prints of many of these are available here, contact me if there’s one you would like that is absent.
BEST LIVE MUSIC
INFEST @ A389 Bash X / Soundstage
Pentagram @ Soundstage
Downtown Boys @ U+NFest 3 / Ottobar
FKA Twigs @ 9:30 Club
Gwar crowd @ Soundstage
Putrisect @ Metro Gallery
The Arcade Fire @ Verizon Center
The Soft Pink Truth @ Club Mnenomic / Paradox
Haim crowd @ 9:30 Club
Kevin Gates @ the Fillmore
Future Islands @ Floristree
Chain & the Gang @ Comet Ping Pong
Big Mouth @ Gold Bar
Betty Who @ Rock N Roll Hotel
BROS Concertus Maximus
Post Pink @ U+NFeast 3 / under a bridge
BEST EVERYTHING ELSE
Magrudergrind.
Chase Lisbon.
Satan’s Satyrs.
Old Lines & friends.
John Waters.
Blacksage.
Drew Daniel/Soft Pink Truth.
Last Gold Bar show.
North Dakota.
Ottobar Staff, Tom Malenski memorial.
Best of… 2013?!?
So, I have been doing yearly “best of” round-ups of my work since 2007. Right around now is when I start to think about what to put in the running for the year… the only problem is, I never posted one for 2013. So, here goes, in no particular order: my very late list of best photos of 2013.
Concert
Goblin
A band I waited a lifetime, almost, to be able to see.
Future Islands
A band on the cusp, playing their hometown. Well-deserved success stories like theirs are part of what makes this job fun.
GwarBQ pit
High Zero
Only was able to make it to one night of High Zero this year but it always provides something exciting.
The Gories
Robin Thicke
Thicke pretty much was peaking at this festival, but it was fun to be there for it.
Kim Deal/the Breeders
Just love how much fun she’s having. As I recall, this was days/weeks after she bid goodbye to the Pixies. She seems plenty happy.
Canibus Corpse
Chvrches
Had never heard of this band before this, but I love quiet moments at huge concerts.
Old Lines.
I love the guy on the left.
Phil Anselmo
He made fun of me from stage during this set.
Non-Concert
The Evens
This was an amazing shoot. They were really easy and fun to work with.
Dana.
Call Girl of Cthulhu
Got to shoot a lot of stills and behind the scenes for this film, as well as the DVD cover. Really fun experience.
Luray Caverns
Maryland Film Fest Hotel Party
This was, I think, taken in Bobcat Goldthwait’s hotel room but the memory is hazy.
Bronycon I
The Brony thing has gotten a little weird since this first con but I found them to be refreshing an earnest when I spent the weekend hanging out with them.
Ryan Schapell
Glitter Thighs
Wallhunters
Ottobar Haunted House
Blue Man
I’d heard about this guy for years. A retired Baltimore City civil servant who dedicated his retirement years to getting completely tattooed.
For the truly curious, here is the pool of photos I picked from.
Personal Best Photos of 2012 – Live Music
As is the tradition, here are my self-selected best photos of 2012. These are the Live Music/Concert shots, you can see the Editorial/Portraits/Food shots here… If you wanna see previous years, click here. Here we go: Continue reading
Personal Best Photos of 2012 – Editorial & Portraits
As is the tradition, here are my self-selected best photos of 2012. These are non-live music: Editorial, Portraits, Food, News… the live music shots will follow tomorrow, hopefully. If you wanna see previous years, click here. Continue reading
My Top 12 Photos of 2011 (non-concert).
In the grand tradition I’ve been following for the last few years (see 2010, 2009, 2008, and 2007), every year I try and make a photo set of my favorite shots from the year. It’s a good exercise, I recommend it for all creative types, it lets you see how your work changes and grows over time.
This year, I am doing it a little differently… two posts. I posted my top concert posts yesterday, this is the Top Non-concert ones. Here we go!
Continue reading
My Top 15 Concert Photos of 2011.
In the grand tradition I’ve been following for the last few years (see 2010, 2009, 2008, and 2007), every year I try and make a photo set of my favorite shots from the year. It’s a good exercise, I recommend it for all creative types, it lets you see how your work changes and grows over time.
This year, I am doing it a little differently… I am breaking it up into this post, which is my Top 15 Concert Photos of 2011, and another post of my Top 12 Photos (non-concert) of 2011 (check back tomorrow for that one). Cheating, maybe, but shooting more non-concert stuff is a goal of mine, so I decided to break them up. I’m also going to try and write a little about each… so here goes!
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(personal) Best of 2010
Every year I like to pick (with a little help from friends and readers) my best photos of the year. I’m posting it a little late this year, but it’s a fun tradition and a good exercise, looking through a whole year’s worth of output. I recommend it to any creative/craft type person. It’s also a good excuse to present my newly launched photoshelter page, where you can buy prints of mine (this set is the top gallery/slideshow there).
So, that out of the way, on with the post!
Lemz, promo photo
Janelle Monae, 9:30 Club
Fucked Up, RNR Hotel
DJ/Rupture, Big Ears Festival
Near Croakeye, North Dakota
Billy Idol, HFStival
Joanna Newsom, Big Ears Festival
Lords of Acid, Bourbon Street
Andrew WK, Big Ears Festival
Usher, Verizon Center
Dope Body, Whartscape
Arab On Radar, Whartscape
The Spark, CCAS
Paramore, Merriweather Post Pavilion
Bmore Original Crew, promo photo
Dancer, Deep Sugar
Double Dagger, Whartscape
Burning Car, Mount Vernon
Slayer, First Mariner Arena
Lake Isobel, Colorado
Benny Stixx, promo shot
as i mentioned above, you can buy prints of all of these at my new photoshelter site.
if you are really curious, here are all the photos i considered for inclusion here.
also, here are my best of lists from:
(personal) best of 2009
I have made it a bit of a habit to post a “best of” my photos each year. These types of things generally happen in late December or early January but… This year I have been a bit too busy. All this snow has created a little respite though, so I have managed to wade through and pick my favorites.
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personal best: 2008 in review.
Following in the footsteps of last years “Personal Best Photos of 2007“, I have compiled a list of the favorite photos I took this year. Click the link below to see what I came up with, and if you are really bored you can click here to see all the ones that were in the running. Feel free to pick your faves in the comments, and especially feel free to link to your own best of 2008 posts!
Okay click here to see the list:
my favorite photos (that i took) of 2007.
Click the link to see my favorites out of all the photos I took in 2007. It may take a minute to load… there are ALOT on here. This was hastily assembled, is in basically reverse chronological order, and could be easily pruned down but… OH WELL! Enjoy (I hope).