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Libations by candlelight! This bar is one of Eater's top 38 in the country. Really great drinks! (at Broken Shaker - Indian Creek Hotel)

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Beautiful pink sunset in Philly this evening

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The Year in Photos: Philadelphia 2012

2012 was a great year for Philadelphia on a couple of fronts, the city gained numerous accolades on the tourism end, and our food scene made national headlines. Although not everything is peachy keen (the income disparity and unemployment being major issues), there was a lot of positive momentum that those who live and work in the city can be proud of. 

Photography is powerful; with the rise of instagram local amateurs stepped up and started appreciating the city via their photographs and projects like Philly Love Notes added to the afore mentioned positive momentum.

Some of my favorite photos were taken in the first half of the year, the summer was especially fun; wandering around and discovering many interesting nooks around Northern Liberties and taking in some of the great architecture around West Philadelphia were highlights. After the jump 35 of my favorite snap shots of Philadelphia. 

City Hall, January

Foggy Comcast Center

Dusty Society Hill

North Philly

Queen Village

Rainy night in Chinatown

Dusk in Graduate Hospital

Emerging cherry blossoms in Graduate Hospital

Full on Spring blossoms

Afternoon in Chinatown

Shooting Philly's fashion landscape. See more from this photo shoot.

Discovering murals in Northern Liberties.

One of the most underrate public art projects in the city

Surveying the architecture around Girard Ave.

Emerging landscape in Northern Liberties

City Hall

FDR Skate Park. See more from this photo shoot.

The Piazza

Northern Liberties

Sunset on Northern Liberties

Sunset on South Philly

On the waterfront

Surveying the fashion landscape of the waterfront. See more from this photo shoot.

New Hope makes for a great getaway

Summer joys, the fountain at Love Park

Historic architecture in West Philly

There are few things better than getting fresh peaches in the summertime at Headhouse farmers' market.

Stumbling upon quaint little alleys

Looking down at Center City

The Barnes Foundation, one of the most beautiful additions to Philadelphia

The Barnes Foundation, housing one of the best art collections in the world

The Race St. Pier still hasn't caught on, hopefully in 2013 they bring more food trucks and other activities to get people to go there.

The Rodin Museum, I recommend shooting it in the Spring when the cherry blossoms are in full bloom.

The Parkway, a strange mix of high art and reoccurring homeless population. It's always jarring to walk around here, there's no other city that I've visited in the U.S where such a disparity is so prevalent in a highly tourist area.

This year felt a bit exhausting, towards the end I felt like I'd explored almost every emerging neighborhood and frankly had grown a bit bored of photographing the city landscape. As a challenge to myself I started the URBSVOX.com project, which showcases the creative people working in Philadelphia, it was fantastic to tell their stories and I look forward to doing more of that. Philadelphia has got a lot of hustlers and entrepreneurs, it's one aspect of the city that I find continuously inspiring and challenging, it keeps you going and wanting to do better. 

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Christmas tree at Love Park!

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Beautiful Fall foliage

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Fette Sau Philly edition. Really enjoyed this spot, great whiskey list and BBQ.

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Ultimo Coffee shop's new location in Philly. 22nd & Catherine. Beautiful space.

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Sunday coffee

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Philadelphia Feastival 2012

Feastival returned this year more decadent than ever! The chefs from some of the most acclaimed restaurants in the city pulled out all the stops with luxurious menu ingredients (foie gras being a star ingredient); and crowds were entertained by high flying acrobatics while sipping on drinks mixed by some of the best bars in town. A very memorable evening that was a feast for the senses.

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Sweet views #Philly

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One of my fav buildings in Philly

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Love finding old school fire escapes in #Philly

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The Rittenhouse area has so many awesome little alleys #Philly

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These Philly streets

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Rainy day #philly

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Back to school Brews

Elixr is moving to a bigger space this week and are celebrating their grand opening with a wonderful FREE event featuring music, food and a silent auction, with all proceeds going towards supporting the construction of a new art classroom at a SW Philly charter school.

If you need your morning fix of coffee everyday like me, and work in Center City then consider purchasing one of their Coffee Cards for $15, and it gets you one free coffee a day Sept 1-10. The proceeds go towards the art classroom construction, so you get to support a great cause and feed your coffee habit!

Elixr Grand Opening August 29th 7 p.m. 1512 Walnut St. (entrance on Sydenham b/t Walnut & Locust)

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A little taste of Plenty

"Matahambre" steak sandwich

East Passyunk Ave is blowing up lately, it's quickly becoming a dining destination in Philly with a slew of talented chefs opening and operating restaurants there. Plenty artisanal sandwiches is another great spot worth checking out on this cool South Philly strip. Before you could only grab these awesome sandwiches at coffee shops like Bodhi or Shot Tower but now with their own space you can dine in and have a nice relaxing brunch like the one I did this past Saturday.

The name of this sandwich translates to hunger killer, which was really appropriate since I was starving when I got there. The 'Matahambre' is made up of medium-rare steak, spinach, carrots, chimichurri and garlic, so good!