Top 10 Music Photos for June 2022 /  by Chris Suspect

CumGirl8 At The Runaway, Washington, DC

I love seeing live music of all kinds and I usually see a handful of bands every month in the DC area. When I travel I also seek out live music. However, I usually only share these photographs with the bands and will only occasionally post some on Instagram.

June was a particularly rocking month for the DC area and it inspired me to start a monthly post - the top 10 music photographs of [insert month here].

Go Mod Go at The Runaway in Washington, DC

Tragedy at Hill Country BBQ in Washington, DC

Shawnis and the Shimmers at The Runaway, Washington, DC

CumGirl8 at The Runaway, Washington, DC

Tragedy at Hill Country BBQ in Washington, DC

Go Mod Go at The Runaway, Washington, DC

Unknown band at Slash Run in Washington, DC

CumGirl8 at The Runaway, Washington, DC

Go Mod Go at The Runaway, Washington, DC

First Place Winner in Focus on the Story presents Photoworks at Glen Echo's Annual Photo Slam /  by Chris Suspect

First place winning image. Espadin © 2022 Chris Suspect.

This past Sunday at MetroBarDC in Washington, DC, I took first place in the annual Focus on Story’s presents Photoworks at Glen Echo’s Annual Photo Slam Competition. This is an open call event in which participants are asked to submit 5 photos and 1 best photo for a total of 6 photos. The first 5 photos for each submitter are then presented in 4 rounds, with the judges selecting the top 3 in each round. If you make it through that, then the best photos from the top 12 go on to the final round with the judges presenting the top 3 winners.

This year the judges were Noe Todorovich, Executive Director for Exposed DC, Farrah Skeiky, Focus on the Story Board Member, Lou Jacobson, Photography Critic for the Washington City Paper, and Sharon Farmer, former White House Photographer.

When asked what my winning strategy was I told them that I approached the first 5 images as a cohesive series and that my best shot was a single that could stand on its own. At the top of this post is my best shot. It’s a conceptual work about climate change anxiety from a much bigger project that I am working on. The other five photos (below) come from my Mexican silhouette series that I have been working on for a number of years.

All 3 winners and an audience favorite will get to be exhibited at PhotoWorks in 2023.

Street Photography Workshop in Oaxaca 2022 /  by Chris Suspect

I was just going through some street photography images from my trip to Oaxaca this past April when it dawned on me I should let people know there are only 2 spots left for my annual Day of the Dead street photography workshop in Oaxaca this year, Oct. 28 through Nov. 4.

Early bird pricing of $2,995 is only available to those who pay in full up to July 15. After July 15, price is $3,495.

Deadline is September 1. Click here to learn more.

The images in this post come from a combination of a Charrería in Etla, Holy Week in Teotitlán del Valle, and the streets of Oaxaca de Juárez.

Zeitgeist Award Winner for Abbey Road Studios Music Photography Awards 2022 /  by Chris Suspect

Darkest Hour at 20th Anniversary Show at DC Brau in Washington, DC | © 2022 Chris Suspect

I am pleased to report that I just returned from London where I won the Zeitgeist Award from the famous Abbey Road Studios this past Saturday for the best photograph that represents music in 2021!

A big thanks goes to Abbey Road Studios for hosting what has been a long overlooked genre of photography. I have been to many photography festivals around the world, but Abbey Road Studios is the first to my knowledge to dedicate an entire event around music photography. It was so cool to meet all the other music photographers there.

The image above is the winning photo and it features the DC metal band Darkest Hour playing their 20th anniversary show at DC Brau.

It was an amazing whirlwind of a trip and I never imagined I would ever get to party like a rock star at Abbey Road Studios!