Back in October, at Fall Ball at the Avalon, I met a guy named Ronn Heaton between The Secret Handshake and Set Your Goals’ sets and he struck up a conversation. Turns out, Ronn’s the lead singer of a band based out of Whittier, CA called Forgiving Yesterday. We kept in touch and this winter he and the boys in the band recorded their new album and when they finished it, I got a call from Ronn to meet up with the guys for a photo shoot. Well, that shoot was this past Friday up here in SB and we made an adventure out of it, going from my house to Knapp’s Castle and swinging by Jensen’s to check the metal show at the mainstage and down to Chino’s and the mall, all in search of the best shooting spot. We had a few hours of adventure complete with a mountain-top Paramore sing-a-long driving down the mountain just after sunset with Ronn and Mark. I had a great time out with Tom, Matt, Mark, Ryan and Ronn and I can’t wait to hear and see more of these guys. Go check them out on myspace and keep your ears out for their new tunes, they sound great!!

Click here for more Forgiving Yesterday pics!

Blake and Sierra from VersaEmerge perform an acoustic set on Santa Monica Beach.

Had the wonderful opportunity to catch Blake and Sierra from VersaEmerge’s acoustic set just north of Santa Monica Pier on the beach beside a lifeguard stand and spent about two hours listening to old songs, new songs and some amazing cover songs (some funny ones too!) I had a blast and took some great pictures. Here are some from the set to be followed by some quick portraits that I shot of them after the set.

More VersaEmerge Here

I had so much fun shooting My Favorite Highway but it was extra special getting to see Ryan from The Bigger Lights (who you should all check out) on a break from recording to fill in for drums with the MFH boys. I got to steal a few minutes of Ryan’s time after the show to shoot some pictures of him in the venue and here they are! Thanks again for the time, Ryan! Looking forward to seeing you and the rest of the guys this fall!

This month I took the highways and byways down to Los Angeles to shoot Cobra Starship’s Hot Mess Across the US tour at the Troubadour in WeHo (that’s West Hollywood for those of you out of the know) and had a blast. Some technical difficulties kept me from shooting DJ Skeet Skeet’s set as well as The Friday Night Boys’ set, but I did catch the Audition and DJ Skeet Skeet’s timekiller interlude before Cobra took the stage. I always LOVE shooting Cobra, they always put on an amazing show and Gabe’s a total ham for the camera. It was a great show and special thanks go out to the Troubadour’s security team for keeping it real and getting me the best shots! Peace, love and fangs up!

Click for more The Audition!

Click for more DJ Skeet Skeet!

Click for more Cobra Starship!

Hmmm those user pictures for JK and Chris sure look familiar! Big shout out to The Bigger Lights who are using some of my pictures on their new studio blog over on Glamour Kills! The boys are in the studio recording their follow up to their six-song EP Fiction Fever. I’ll post my favorite TBL song in a little while just to give you guys a taste, but in the mean time, check out their blog at Glamour Kills and scope some familiar pictures on there while you’re at it!

The Bigger Lights’ Studio Blog

Pittsburgh was a real treat and an interesting new experience for me. The two hour drive was nothing new—that’s every drive to Anaheim or Orange County in general. But as far as new experiences, I got to check out the This Providence pre-show hang and take some sweet pics of Dan, I waited in the line through the rain and later the intense heat to get into the pit and shoot—my first time taking my equipment into the actual pit to shoot when there was moshing going on. It was crazy but worth every second because this is the best show that I’ve shot on this tour—not to mention it was the BEST show on the tour that I went to—one of the best I’ve ever been to. Enjoy the pictures, Pittsburgh was a mess and the best kind!

Click for more from the This Providence Hang!

Click for more The Bigger Lights!

Click for more Stereo Skyline!

Click for more Friday Night Boys!

Click for more This Providence!

Click for more Hey Monday!

The next day it was back on the concert trail first to Lakewood, CA to the Best Buy In-store featuring Hey Monday, The Friday Night Boys, Stereo Skyline and Golden State. After that it was traffic, traffic, more traffic and finally Chain Reaction. Before I got in to shoot the show, I had a little photo shoot with Elliot. Sadly because of my shoot I missed most of The Bigger Lights’s set and all of Stereo Skyline’s set. I did get some sweet shots of TBL and of The Friday Night Boys as well as This Providence and Hey Monday! Enjoy!

Click for more from the Best Buy In-Store!

Click for more of The Bigger Lights & The Friday Night Boys!

Click for more This Providence!

Click for more Hey Monday!

On Sunday I had the great opportunity to do a photo shoot with one of my favorite bands—and my wonderful friends— Hey Monday. They’re such great and talented people and I had SO much fun with them. Cassadee, Elliot, Alex, Mike and Jersey, thank you so much for a really great, fun shoot while I was home in Cleveland. I hope I get the opportunity to work with you guys again soon! Also, thanks to Rohan for hooking me up. You are the best!

On to making a mess with Hey Monday—On a BOAT! (Well, a playground… ;D)

Hey Monday in Cleveland

More Hey Monday coming with concert pics from the Let’s Make a Mess Tour soon! Past Hey Monday pics are here!

Every year I’ve had the wonderful opportunity of attending, supporting and working at Art 4 Life down in Los Angeles. Every year, I’ve also shot the performances and this year was no exception as Art 4 Life 3 brought down the house at Cinescape Hollywood. The Emcees were comedian Ryan Hill and Amber Riley, Dianna Agron and Chris Colfer from the cast of Fox’s new hit comedy Glee. There were many returning performers including dance troupe Fanny Pak, Melissa Fahn, Warsaw Wow (Laura Dysarczyk and Michael Okarma) and Eden Espinosa. Some of the new faces this year were Other Duck fashions, Bonnie McKee, Aleks Pevic and troupes from Step It Up and Dance and So You Think You Can Dance, Marisa Guterman, Skyline, and many, many more.

Click here for more Art 4 Life 3

Every year this is such a wonderful opportunity to not only shoot some amazing talent but also to help a good cause. If you haven’t before, please check out www.art4lifeca.com and give whatever time and money you can to helping amazing shows like this happen every year in the memory of Gina Starbuck’s father and everyone whose lives have been touched by cancer.

So tell me, what did you think?

(via iamelliotjames)

Thanks to the combined awesome of V, Elliot and Ash, I was given the super awesome chance of getting to shoot the Believers Never Die part Deux tour a second time! So here are some more super awesome pictures of five awesome bands, Hey Monday, Metro Station, All Time Low, Cobra Starship and of course Fall Out Boy!

Click for more Hey Monday!

Click for more Metro Station!

Click for more All Time Low!

Click for more Cobra Starship!

Click for more Fall Out Boy!

In addition to Kids and Travel, I also love shooting bands (and, heck, promoting good ones) and I’ve been itching for a while to shoot Hey Monday, a really great pop/punk/rock/awesome band from West Palm Beach, Florida. I’ve been digging them since August and they’re catching on pretty fast thanks to their talent, their great album, and getting onto some really great Tour rosters (I caught them with The Cab in September and with The Academy Is… and We The Kings in October. They’re currently doing an acoustic tour with We The Kings for Hot Topic and they’ve done some free shows for Myspace and Imeem with Metro Station here in Cali. I got to see them last night at The Knitting Factory for the Imeem/Mozes show, so here’s my gallery of Hey Monday from their gig at The Knitting Factory! (And yes, that redhead is Travis from We The Kings!) So meet Cassadee, Mike, Jersey, Elliot and Alex who are HEY MONDAY!

Click for More Hey Monday!