BEST OF 35

February 18, 2023

Welcome to my annual “Best Of” blog post! My digital art show, the way I force myself to organize my hard drives, my birthday gift to me. 100 images to represent the year since my last birthday.

Real talk: 2022 broke me. Or rather, I broke myself.

BUT it was amazing.

I’ve toured a lot, for a several years now. In 2022, I became intimately aware of what “full-time touring” actually looked and felt like. I am so grateful that I’ve been able to call this my career. I would choose this path over and over. But it is fucking hard. For better and worse, it changes your whole life, your brain, and the ecosystem of your relationships. There’s a shift when the question, “when do you go on tour again?” is replaced with “when are you home next, and for how long?” Polite curiosity, but mostly assumption. It’s subtle. You osmote unceremoniously into the tour machine: production, output, repeat. But if you’re lucky, and if it’s where you’re meant to be, you find magic inside. (And a lot of fire, apparently.)

I spent my year with two new tour families: Greta Van Fleet & Simple Plan. Beautiful humans, all around. Plus a bonus Fitz and the Tantrums tour thrown in there – my loves! I am so thankful to each of these artists, for allowing me the honor of preserving their legacies, and look forward to much more work together. BTW, if you make it all the way to the end of the post, I’ve included some video work with Simple Plan, which might be some of my favorite to date. When I reflect on those memories, (tiny) hands down, the highlight of that time spent were the friends made – from every day on tour, to the brief interactions in the pit, crowd, and city streets. Thank you for stopping to say hi, truly. You have expanded my world, and are the reason any touring person survives this life with some sanity.

“Tour is my entire personality, A Memoir”. Ha. But truly, here’s to appreciating the experience of (more than) full-time tour, and moving forward in balance. That said, I am *beside myself* with excitement to be joining Coldplay as their tour photographer in 2023! (You heard it here first! Unless you’re my mom, or like, someone I’ve personally spoken to in the last few weeks.) In tandem, carving out unprecedented time in Los Angeles, to reunite myself with creative exploration and intentions. (And actually see my friends.)

This month also marks 10 years of self-employment. Damn. Thank you for supporting me, working with me, and following along! If you care to be nostalgic with me, the previous posts live here:
Best of 34 | Best of 33 | Best of 32 | Best of 31 | Best of 30 | Best of 29 | Best of 28 | Best of 27

For up-to-date numbers on the crazy metrics in my life, check out the counters on my Website Bio Page.

36 today. Here’s the best of 35. Enjoy!

xo
Anna Lee (Media)