Our band went from Phantom Scream to The Scarlet Paradigm by losing our singer, then finding a new one through Craigslist.

I’ve made lots of photography friends through Twitter, Flickr (specifically the Los Angeles group) and Photowalking.org (where it basically started at the end of last year).

I feel way more confident with my photography. Taking photos every day for the whole year helped immensely. Although it’s nothing to write home about, I’ve been able to monetize a little[1. Of course, that's the definition of an amateur.].

Wicked year, right?

*****

In a more detailed list format:

Photography

• In January, I upgraded from a point-and-shoot to a [used] Canon EOS Digital Rebel DSLR camera and committed to take one photo a day for 2008: A Year in Pictures. Five months later, I upgraded yet again to a Canon EOS 40D.
• My first paid event was a birthday party.
• I sold a few fine art prints.
• With the help of some photo passes, I also photographed a couple concerts (Finch and Rx Bandits) in front of the barricade.
• I hooked up Five Mile Town with a photo session because they love my photography. I also took some photos of them (from the stage) in concert.
• I went to Hawaii for my cousin’s graduation and vacation. While I was there, I took a little over 2,000 photos.
• I went to Las Vegas with Tobias specifically to take tons of photos.
• I had my first paid photo session with my coworker’s family. A few weeks later, I had another one with the help of Twitter.
• To wrap up the year, I was the second photographer in a wedding (thanks to Noel Besuzzi).

The band

• With the departure of Doc Bray and finding Chris Juede, Phantom Scream ceased and The Scarlet Paradigm took its place.
• After months of rehearsals, we had our first show for a New Year’s Eve party at AltPixel Studio. It was an awesome way to end the year.

Update 1/4/2009: Cody told me that I forgot to include going to Las Vegas just to take photos. My bad!