To say that it was an honor and a dream come true to unofficially photograph Miss May I, as well as the other artists who shared the stage, for their 2021 Relentless Eve concert would be an understatement.

Quick flashback to 2008 — I was probably 16 at the time sitting in my graphic design class chatting about my plans for the weekend which was to catch some local bands at The Attic (an old Dayton Concert/Hangout Venue that is no longer in business). After I had finished, my graphic design teacher encouraged me to sign out one of our school cameras and photograph the show. So I did. Little did I know that I would discover what would be one of my all-time favorite bands that weekend and fall in love with photography.

When I showed up to the show, I thought I was so cool lugging this chonky ass camera around my neck and I would finally be able to go behind the bar that separated the crowd from the band. To me, it opened up a whole new world. While I was photographing the show, I remember thinking “how cool it would be to tour across the country photographing bands for a living” and just as quickly as the thought entered my mind I crushed my own dream by thinking “I had a hard time convincing mom and dad that I could make a living as a graphic design artist — they would never go for that.”

I still have the photographs I took that night and scrolled through them recently. Some of the angles were weird, there was a TON of motion blur, red eyes, and overpowering flash, but there were still some gems for someone who had no idea how to operate her camera to its full capabilities. It’s unreal to me that after all of these years, I’m able to compare the very first time I discovered & photographed Miss May I to them now as my top played artist on Spotify this year and that I’m living a different version of the dream I squashed in my head as a teenager.

I guess what I’m trying to say my friend is no matter how old you are, follow your dreams and do the things that make you happy — you never know where it might lead you and the opportunities it can create.

Please give these artists a listen on your favorite streaming platform and support them in any way you can.