Paul Holstein’s Top 100 Punk Rock Photos of 2024.
I started the year as an amateur photographer, taking photos with my phone from deep in the crowd. Somewhere along the way, Dick Slaughter talked me into getting a professional 35mm camera with a zoom lens and convinced In Spite Magazine to start sending me photo passes. As a result, this was without a doubt my best year for photos from nearly 40 years of punk rock shows. Here’s a few of my favorites from 2024 (in no particular order), all different bands plus every member of NOFX, leading into my top 10 countdown.
My top 10 photos of 2024.
#10 Chris Rest of Rich Kids on LSD, The Sand Dollar (Punk Rock Bowling Festival), Las Vegas NV. One of the best shows of the year, and Chris Rest is an original member of RKL that also plays in Lagwagon. A great show with “Beanie Boy” in the background (RKL mascot).
#9 Mike Vallely of Black Flag, The Tangent Gallery (club show), Detroit MI. This was the first really good picture that I took, using a new camera that I bought specifically for In-Spite Magazine stories. Prior to this shot, I was using only my phone.
#8 Mark Adkins of Guttermouth, Central Florida Fairgrounds (Punk In The Park festival), Orlando FL. One of the best punk rock bands of all time. This was my first festival where I had a photo pass, and it was a beautiful day for photos. It will be hard to top the photos from this shoot.
#7 John Brannon of Negative Approach, The Sanctuary (10th Anniversary Weekend), Hamtramck MI. As many times as I have seen Negative Approach, good photos have eluded me. That’s in part due to the crowd always being absolutely insane, but I broke the streak and came away with a few good ones this weekend.
#6 Blag Dahlia of The Dwarves, Central Florida Fairgrounds (Punk in the Park festival), Orlando, FL. The Dwarves are one of my all-time favorite bands (top 5), so getting to see them from the pit and having a photo pass was a memorable experience in my life. This photo says it all.
#5 Eric Melvin of NOFX, The Filmore (club show), Detroit, MI. This was billed as their last club show, on their final tour. I also have great pictures of Smelly, Hefe, Fat Mike, and The Codefendants sharing the stage with them. I didn’t want to bog down this list with a bunch of photos of NOFX (my all-time favorite band) so I picked this one to represent this shoot.
#4 Zeke at The Downtown Grand Hotel, Citrus Deck (Punk Rock Bowling Festival), Las Vegas, NV. This is the photo that kicked off my run as a photographer and writer for In-Spite Magazine and a new hobby. Dick Slaughter was soliciting for fans to write stories for In-Spite; I submitted this photo along with a write-up of the Zeke pool party, and the rest is history. Also, the Punk Rock Bowling pool parties are legendary.
#3 Off With Their Heads, Smalls Bar, Hamtramck MI. As a pro photographer, one thing I was not expecting was to have bands actually pose for me off stage. My first year, I got three great ones (Black Flag, Teenage Bottlerocket, and Off With Their Heads). This one was my favorite, being a great pose and nice-looking photo, but this was also a Halloween show, and they are dressed as The Minfits (a combination of The Misfits and Minions from the movie Dispicable Me) for a surprise Misfits set.
#2 Klaus Floride of The Dead Kennedys, Central Florida Fairgrounds (Punk In The Park festival), Orlando FL. My second favorite band of all time right after NOFX, and this was just a beautiful day. I had a photo pass, and this photo turned out great with the huge DK banner in the background. And it was also one of my favorite sets of the year.
#1 David Rodriguez of The Casualties, Central Florida Fairgrounds (Punk In The Park festival), Orlando FL. Great band, great show, great photo. Maybe the best photo I have ever taken. I’m getting this one professionally framed.
