A lot of people have been taking to Facebook, complaining about how terrible and awful of a year 2016 was. I personally, am just not buying it. When it comes to my 2016, I probably had one of the best years of my life to date! I took some extremely notable photos, had some amazing covers published and traveled to Europe and the UK not once, but twice so far this year!
This is probably going to be a pretty lengthy post because I am not doing the typical, “top 16 photos of 2016”, more of a full year wrap on some of the highlights of this amazing year!
Also, if you want some amazing images to decorate your house with in the new year, check out my new print store below!
www.grizzleemartin.com/shop
I began the year with my good friend Chelsea Deen coming out to LA and taking a trip with me to Joshua Tree to see the gorgeous desert in all of its wonder. We snapped a few photos along the way!
A few weeks into January, I was contacted by some of the lovely people at Instagram to shoot an event for the amazing artist, Miguel. An entire motel was re-puropsed into an art installation to promote his new album “Wildheart”. It was pretty spectacular, each room was its own different art piece, representing each song from the album. One of the rooms was a “jam room”, where Miguel’s band had set up and anyone could come up and freestyle or sing on the mic. At one point in the night, Miguel walked in to perform some of his songs, and Rhianna walked in shortly behind him. I ended up getting to experience one of the most amazing moments of my life so far, where in a room of only around 25 people, Rhi Rhi did an impromptu performance of “My Girl” and let me tell you… It was simply breathtaking!
Later on that month, TJ, Morgan, and Babs of the famed “Emo Nite LA” hired me to take a trip down to San Diego to photograph the first Emo Nite happening there at The Kasbah. It just so happened that my buddy Jordan Pundik from New Found Glory was the guest DJ that night, so I had a wonderful time catching up and hanging with my South Florida Brethern!
In February, I started out the month with an amazing and fun shoot with YouTube super star, Tyler Oakley. I met Tyler during Playlist Live years ago, and he has always been a pleasure to work with! We took a trip together around Los Angeles and got some awesome photos for his Social Media Accounts!
A week later, I was contacted by Instagram (AGAIN!) but this time it was to go out to photograph Clive Davis’s Annual Pre-Grammy Gala. I knew that I was about to get some great photos of some really influential people in Hollywood, but I had no idea how wild it was going to be. This was honestly one of the craziest nights of my life, but at the same time it felt incredibly natural for me to be there. I suited up in a tux, got to work and didn’t look back! Here are some of the images from that evening!
At the beginning of February, I had finally renewed my Passport, and from Feb 17th – March 7th I hit the road with Sleeping with Sirens for my first trip to Europe and the UK! I have done a good amount of touring with the SWS boys so we have gotten extremely close, but this was the first time I went overseas with them, and man was it a blast! The shows were great, and getting to explore a bit definitely made me fall in love with Europe and the UK!
March was a pretty stacked month for me. I had a number off shoots including my first attempt at a blacklight shoot, work for Loma London, promotional photos for Viner Thomas Sanders, and a shoot for Kerrang Magazine in the UK of Maynard James Keenan and his band Puscifer. For those of you know are not aware, Maynard is the singer of the band Tool, and it was a thrilling and exhilarating experience working with him. He has written some extremely legendary music and it was such an exciting experience to work with him!
April kicked off with my first time EVER in a helicopter! My best friend and I decided on a whim to take a trip in a chopper over downtown Los Angeles to try to get some sweet arial photos, and I think it worked out! I am incredibly scared of heights, and the doors to the heli were off when we went up, so at first it was super scary but once I realized I was 100% safe I got into the groove and had a blast!
After that, being that April was in full swing, it was time for PLAYLIST LIVE! Playlist Live hosts a three-day event where online creators and their biggest supporters come together in one place. It is always an amazing time, and I am blessed that I have been able to run the Photo and Video team for the last 5 years of this amazing convention.
May ended up being a busy one as well for me! Kerrang Magazine flew me out to Jacksonville, FL to cover Issues at the Welcome to Rockville music festival. I joined up with Pierce the Veil to cover their “Misadventures” Album release show in Mexico City which was one heck of an amazing time! And I also photographed Benji and Joel of Good Charlotte in LA, and Tyler and Michael of Issues in Atlanta for the Alternative Press Magazine APMAS covers!
In June, I shot the cover of Discovered Magazine UK for Thrice (one of my favorite bands) in Orlando, FL. I also started shooting for the Riff (Jack from All Time Low’s bar in Los Angeles) and worked Vidcon 2016 for Fullscreen, a You Tube Multi Channel Network. During Vidcon, Fullscreen had a premier showing of the movie “Nerve” and Emma Roberts came out to promote the film. It was an all around amazing month!
Every July brings around the Alternative Press Music awards, and I was back again for my 3rd year shooting with my good buddy Graham Fielder! This year I mostly photographed studio shots after the artists walked the red carpet, and then again after they won their awards. It was a lot less stressful for me than past years (there is usually a whole ton of running around) but I had a great time and produced some awesome images for AP!
August is my birth month, and the lead up to my 33rd year on this earth was definitely a rocking one! There were some crazy fires during the summer in Los Angeles, some of which came within a few miles of my house in the valley. It was devastating and terrifying, but it made for some wild photos. I shot Jeffree Star for a new cover of Alternative Press Magazine, and took another trip out to Reading and Leeds festivals overseas with Sleeping With Sirens! My birthday was the last day of the tour in Reading, and I had an amazing day working for Sirens, getting to see Noel Gallagher, Fall Out Boy, Third Eye Blind, and Good Charlotte! Bring it on 33!!
September came up quick, and right after getting back from the UK I flew to DC to shoot the 2nd Playlist Live event of the year. Then I went back to Florida to shoot my other Best Friend Alex Tcheckmeian’s Sister’s Wedding. It was such a gorgeous wedding, (and my first same sex couple wedding!) taking place at Casa Feliz in Winter Park, FL. It was definitely an emotional day for me because the Tcheckmeians have been my family for the last 18 years. It was an honor and a privilege to capture such an amazing day for Rena and Rosie!
October was a slower month for me, doing some random shoots at the Riff, and some other random personal projects here and there. Once November hit though, I was back in the grind out on the road with Sleeping With Sirens again for a full US headliner! We had a great time sending off the “Madness” record cycle, and I had a great time being out with my brothers!
In December, the end the madness tour came to a close and I was back in LA for a bit! I shot some personal work and modeling photos, did another Alternative Press cover shoot with Black Veil Brides, and was hired by Atreyu to photograph their show down in Santa Ana, CA. After all of that, I hit the road to Aspen for Christmas with my best bud Cody! In a surprise turn of events, Cody proposed to his girlfriend Brittney a few days before X-mas and I was there to capture the magic of that moment! A big congrats goes out to Cody and Britt, and I wish them all the love and luck in this new chapter of their lives!
Well, Thats a wrap on my 2016! Thank you to all my amazing friends, family and clients who brought me on for some of these amazing projects! Also, thanks so much to everyone who stuck it through this ridiculously long blog post, and heres to an even more amazing 2017! Happy New Year!
Also, I now have a fine art print store up for the new year of some of my favorite landscape photos! Feel free to check it out below!
www.grizzleemartin.com/shop
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