Darbe Images: My Favorite Photos of 2018

Two thousand and eighteen is over. 

I started the year off, shooting WebMD's annual Health Hero Awards. Comedian Jim Gaffigan and his wife were honored. I finally got my trip to northwest America in this year. Visited Vancouver/British Columbia, Seattle and Portland all in a little over a week. Seattle was the stand out city of the three, for me. Though Vancouver had the best nature walks and street art, I really liked Seattle's multi-cultural cuisine and overall vibe. I made a few more trips to my new second city Miami, in 2018. Yet I still have so much to see in that beautiful city. My trip to San Diego, Joshua Tree, and Los Angeles, California in September, was one of my best times in Cali ever. Hanging out with my buddy and fellow photographer, Sandy Huffaker in the Joshua Tree region, was the highlight. It's like another planet out there and I can't wait to get back. Seeing my Chargers play in LA's tiny Stub Hub stadium was waaay better than expected. Love our west coast! 

In case you missed my social media posts, here's a few of my favorite photos from these happenings in 2018.

Jeff Gaffigan and his wife receive their Health Hero Award in January at WebMD. 

Ja Rule and NYPD at the annual Bushwick Collective bloc party in Brooklyn, NY.

         Spray can art in Bushwick, Brooklyn.

Hanging with Kaja and HeathrowP in Vancouver, British Columbia. 

A street mural from Vancouver's annual Street Art Festival.

Seattle, Washington at sunrise from Kerry Park.

Working out with Iryna in downtown Miami, FL.

A look at Brickell from across the bay in Miami.

Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science in downtown Miami.

The moon rises over Joshua Tree National Park. 

Meeting Angelene, and Tom Armstrong of Demob Happy, in the desert. 

San Diego's Del Mar beach spot with Rip Curl girl Maddie. 

Stephanie Wise runs into a bud at the Venice Beach skate bowl. 

Model Volleyball makes its debut in Venice, CA with Hailee Lautenbach and friends. 

The pier in Venice, CA at sunset.

Britain's Demob Happy at Irving Plaza, NYC.

Darbe Images: My Favorite Photos of 2017

Two thousand and seventeen was a whopper of a year. Things are really Trumped up right now. We can't say goodbye soon enough it seems.

Though, I actually had a splendid go at it in 2017. I moved again, for the first time in about 7 years. Love the new place! I went over 1K followers on Instagram for the first time. A small but proud accomplishment. Meeting John Paul Pitts(Singer - Surfer Blood), Mayim Bialik(actress - Big Bang Theory) and Colin Kaepernick(NFL quarterback and activist) was pretty cool. I had the pleasure of meeting Colin twice this year actually. This was especially gratifying. I've been a fervent supporter of his protest of police brutality against blacks in the U.S., for a few years. I spent some quality time in Chicago, Denver, upstate New York, and Miami this year. Got to see family, some old friends and hung out with a few new ones, in my travels. 2017 was not only a lot of fun, but very productive for me as well. I'm expecting bigger things in 2018 and can't wait.

In case you missed my social media posts, here's a few of my favorite shots from 2017.

                                                                                                           New York Harbor

Women's March, NYC

The new bedroom

Lake shore in Chicago

Marina Towers in Chicago

Fans at The Miami Open

Atop SLS Brickell with Tanika in Miami

SLS Brickell

Fun in the FLX with cousin James and company

Cousin Dan and my London fam at MOMA

Oculus in lower Manhattan

Empire of the Sun at Terminal 5, NYC

Surfer Blood at Capehouse, Brooklyn

Tom Hanks speaks at TCT in Denver

Mayim Bialik visits WebMD

Meeting Colin Kaepernick for the first time

Reunion with Yvanna in Miami

Admiring Terry O'Neill's photography at The Bond

Vanessa in Wynwood, Miami

Sunset over Coconut Grove

Darbe Images: Best Photos of 2016

Two Thousand and seventeen can't get here soon enough. Just a few more hours and we can say goodbye to the uniquely bad, 2016. A lot of celebrity deaths this past year. So many of them were 80's stars or icons we grew up with. 😔 My 2015 nightmare prediction that big city liberals would help make Donald Trump the next American president? That came true. Ooof. Terrorism affected my travel plans for the first time this year. I canceled plans for South Africa, shortly after the Istanbul airport bombing. And that city is still having terrorism issues as of earlier tonight. 😞 The Obamas - our generation's greatest POTUS and FLOTUS, are saying farewell to the White House but, word is, they'll still be very active on the social front in the years to come. Can't wait! 

As for my photography? If you hadn't noticed already, my new website is live. Please check it out. I licensed a few of my photos for print projects this year. Most notably was my double page inclusion in the book, "Hip Hop Raised me", which was released worldwide by publishers Thames and Hudson. I shot the WebMD Health Hero Awards with Seth Rogan, Robyn Roberts, Maureen McCormick and a host of other notable celebs, musicians and world renowned medical experts. That was this past November. All in all, it was a good year for me, on the photography front. 

In case you missed them on Facebook or Instagram, here's a few of my favorite shots from 2016.  

 

 

Hip Hop Raised Me

"I'm so proud to have been asked to contribute my photography to this project. DJ Semtex along with legendary publishers Thames & Hudson, have put together an incredible book here. It's an honor to have my work presented along side some of the greatest Hip Hop photographers of all time." - Darby

Hip Hop Raised Me is the definitive volume on the essence, experience, and energy that is hip hop, and its massive and enduring impact over the last forty years. It’s packed with contact sheets, outtakes, and glory shots of artists, collectives, and fans from iconic photographers including Martha Cooper, Henry Chalfant, Eddie Otchere, Normski, Janette Beckman, Chi Modu, Nabil Elderkin, and Mark Humphrey, as well as photographs of hip-hop ephemera and vinyl courtesy of specialist collectors.

With the help of his definitive catalogue of interviews with hip-hop artists from the 1990s to today, conducted at key moments in their careers and including Jay-Z, Kanye West, Eminem, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Drake, Nicki Minaj, J Cole, Kendrick Lamar, Nas, and the Wu-Tang Clan, DJ Semtex examines the crucial role of hip hop in society. He reflects on the huge influence it has had on his own life and the lives of many others, providing inspiration to generation after generation of young people. Taking a thematic approach, Semtex traces the characteristics and influence of hip hop from its origins in the early 1970s with DJ Kool Herc’s block parties in the South Bronx, through its breakthrough to the mainstream and advent of gangsta rap in the late 1980s, with artists such as Run DMC, Public Enemy, and Ice T, to the impact of contemporary artists and the global industry that is hip hop today.