Wow, what a weekend! So much to do, so much to see…and so much to photograph. Take a minute to linger on the last moment of this past weekend and kick your week off right.
After coffee, of course…
By Ben H. Rome
Tag Archives: Featured Photo
By Ben H. Rome
By Ben H. Rome
Weekend Flashback: 7/10 – 7/12/09
‘what to pick…’ courtesy of ‘philliefan99’
Once again, a great cross-section of photos from over the weekend in the area.
If you’d like to see your photo pop up on our Flashback, here’s how it works. Once you upload it to Flickr, drop it into our photo pool. (The photo has to have been taken between that Friday and Sunday evening.) That’s really all there is to it; myself or one of our other authors will select those photos we think best gives a look at weekend happenings in the area. If you’d like to make it a little easier for us, put “weekend flashback” in the photo’s tag list.
Thanks to all our photo contributors for making every flashback a difficult one to do. So many great shots every time! Here’s a look at this past weekend; enjoy before you get back to that daily grind. Continue reading
By Ben H. Rome
Weekend Flashback: 7/3 – 7/5/09
‘Fireworks in DC – the aftermath’ courtesy of ‘spiggycat’
Aaaaand welcome back to the workweek! Hope you enjoyed your very special three-day holiday weekend. We know it’ll take a bit to get into the swing of things on a Monday, so we’ve slipped in some extra photos for you to ogle while the caffeine drip gets started.
And if you’re hankering for even more fireworks photos, check out our Flickr pool for some great area photographer contributions. (We couldn’t possibly fit them all in here.)
Meantimes, we’ll get our crew up and awake so we can stock your week full of great articles. We’re a year old now, you know. Time for us to be professional… eh, who are we kidding? We know you love us just the way we are!
By Ben H. Rome
Weekend Flashback: 6/26 – 6/28/09
‘Wild DC – Immature Bald Eagle – 6-27-09’ courtesy of ‘mosley.brian’
The weekend before the ‘mass exodus’ of the Fourth holiday…and it was a gorgeous one. Eastern Market now open, the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in full swing, boating and water sports on area rivers and even simple ‘backyard’ fun – our area photographers caught it all.
So before this short work week gets into full swing, sit back and reminisce a little. And get ready for the long weekend!
By jasmine
The Magic of the Single-Shot Photographer
‘Personal Vision’
courtesy of ‘1Sock’
I read an article in Express yesterday that I haven’t been able to get out of my head. It was about color photographer William Eggleston, whose work is displayed at the Corcoran right now. The part that was amazing to me is his technique: he doesn’t take multiple frames of his subject and pick the best one, like most photographers. He takes one shot. Just one. And they’re not just good, they’re defining-art-photography amazing. This, I have to see. The exhibition, William Eggleston: Democratic Camera, Photographs and Video, will be open through September 20.
By Ben H. Rome
Weekend Flashback: 6/5 – 6/7/2009
‘Patriotic photo for D-Day’ courtesy of ‘brianmka’
Wet, warm, sunny, chilly – you name it, we had it. Well, except for snow. Thank goodness. So as you get your morning caffeination on, enjoy some quick shots from our area photogs looking back at the weekend.
By Ben H. Rome
Weekend Flashback: 5/29 – 5/31/2009
This weekend’s take in the WLDC Flickr pool was dominated by photos of Artomatic, many by our frequent contributors.
If you’d like to see your photos in Flashback, there’s really only one guideline we use: it has to be a shot taken between the Friday and Sunday prior. When we have extended weekends or a holiday, we’ll stretch the ‘eligibility’ period through that holiday. So there you go – now you know!
If you’re a visitor or a local to our fair area, please feel free to drop your photos – no matter when you take them – into our Flickr pool. We’d love to have them! And if you have a moment, visit the photographer’s Flickr page (by clicking on the photo) and let them know you liked their shot!
By Ben H. Rome
Weekend Flashback: Memorial Day 2009
‘Memorial Day’ courtesy of ‘(¯`’·._.{-KrS«-»NrY-}._.·’`¯)’
We’re not late with the Flashback, honest.
It’s just taking us a little to get up to speed after such a glorious and busy weekend – Rolling Thunder, fireworks, parades, fairs, cookouts – all heralding the ‘unofficial’ start to summer in the District and the opening of the tourista floodgates.
Fantastic photos by all our pool contributors and others! So to get over your ‘hump day,’ take a moment to scroll through the shots and scenes from this past holiday weekend and let that coffee soak on in…
By Ben H. Rome
Weekend Flashback: 5/8 – 5/10/2009
”
courtesy of ‘Spodie Odie’
Rain or shine, we know how to enjoy weekends around here. So take a moment from your Monday blahs and let’s see what y’all were up to this weekend past…
By Don
Monumental: Enjoying inside
‘Solitude’
courtesy of ‘sashapo’
Our weather seems to be doing its best to find painful and interesting ways to whipsaw between different combinations of wind, cold, rain, gloom and shine. It can be discouraging to try to plan an outdoor trip more than five minutes in advance and downright unpleasant to be out there sometimes. So in recognition of this fact Monumental’s going to spend the day indoors for a change and let someone else do the outdoor work.
In this case, photographer Lee Friedlander, who beat us to the monument-stalking by about 35 years. The Smithsonian possesses a large collection of photos he originally published in the 1976 book American Monuments, a collection of photos he took of monuments all over the country. The book is long out of print, but fifty-six of the photos are currently on display. Continue reading
By Ben H. Rome
Weekend Flashback: 2/20 – 2/22/09
Eisenhower Executive Building, courtesy of hpux735
Despite the chill in the air, the sky was (mostly) agreeable and due to the number of events going on this weekend, you guys were busy! DC Exposed to the Oscars to Kennedy Center concerts to bands to sports professional and not, you guys managed to capture quite the slice of life in our area. Bravo! So here’s a super-sized Flashback for your work-diverting pleasure, after the jump. Continue reading
By Max
DCist Exposed Opens Friday
DCist Exposed 2009!, courtesy of HeatherMG
It’s that time of year again, photography lovers. The third annual DCist Exposed Photography Show opens this Friday at the Gallery at Flashpoint. The juried show “showcases new talent as the artists reveal the city through the eyes of the people who live and work in the DC area.” If you haven’t been to it in past years, it’s a great chance to view some amazing photographs taken by our superb group of local photographers, many of whom submit their incredible work to our very own WLDC pool. Continue reading
By Ben H. Rome
Weekend Flashback: 2/13 – 2/15/09
My Valentine, courtesy of imageining
And a Happy Belated Valentine’s Day to you all. Hope your weekend was full of everything you wanted it to be.
So what did you all do this past “weekend o’ love”? Well, after the jump, find out what some of your fellow residents and visitors were snapping photos of around the area. And please, if you see something that you like, click over to their Flickr stream and let them know. Our resident photogs are awesome and we should show our appreciation for sharing their work with us. Continue reading
By Ben H. Rome
Weekend Flashback: 2/6 – 2/8/09
Fast and Furious, courtesy of blipars {busy}
Can’t believe it’s Monday already? Hey, we hear you. After what may well be the beginning of spring (or just a prelude), DC experienced a gorgeous weekend that erased our memories of the chilly weather last week.
Our photos of the weekend ranged from ice skating in Arlington to the DC Car Show to a visit by Jack Bauer to our region – which is a good thing, considering that Jack can’t seem to keep his facts straight about our beloved hometown. You swung by the Botanical Gardens and lingered at night to grab some great evening shots. So let’s enjoy, shall we?
By Ben H. Rome
Weekend Flashback: 1/9 – 1/11/09
At the Place, courtesy of zachstern
Hello DC. Are you ready for January 20th yet? Most of the photos on Flickr over the last few days were great shots of the rehearsal parade; check out Travlr‘s and NewsHour‘s photo streams for more.
Birth and death, monuments and art, museums and animals – all part of the patina of life here in the nation’s capitol. Continue reading
By Tom Bridge
Camera Adventures in DC
Light-up Reindeer
I’ve been in the market for a new camera for about 3 months. I’m a Canon guy (sorry Ben Rome, I know your love of Nikon is holy and chaste), and I’d been vacillating between an XSi and a 40D or a 50D. That is, until I came to hold a 5D Mark II. See, this isn’t just a camera, it’s an extension of God’s own eyes. Anyhow, enough hyperbole.
The problem with new cameras is that, chances are, for everyone who’s come to a decision about one, there are a dozen more who are rabidly awaiting the new body like some people wait for Christmas, or concert tickets or the second coming of Christ. When I’d made up my mind, I was behind each and every one of them. When I called Penn Camera to ask about availability, the guy did his very best not to laugh at me. He also failed. He told me it would be February or March before they’d have one for me. While chortling, just a little.
Fortunately, though, I found Dominion Camera in Falls Church. They had one last 5D that was unclaimed, as the person who’d asked for it hadn’t ever showed, and hadn’t left a deposit. After a quick drive over, their staff was amazing. They were actually busy, with several people in the shop asking all kinds of camera questions, from inexpensive point-and-shoot to expensive-DSLR, they were very knowledgeable. So, thanks Dominion, both for not laughing, and also for selling me my sweet new camera. Click on that photo above, then click Original resolution and you can see just how sweet this is going to be.
By brownpau
Anti-Photography Bullies at the National Christmas Tree Don’t Want You Getting Pictures of Santa’s Workshop
Over by the National Christmas Tree there is a Santa’s Workshop where children can line up to visit Santa Claus and have a picture taken. I don’t have kids but when I visited Saturday night, the view through the window was a cozy, picturesque scene of a jolly old man smiling as he held wide-eyed children on his lap, and I had to get a photo — which, of course, came out blurry in the dark.
As I was fiddling with my ISO settings an elf-suited girl told me, “You can’t take photos through the window, the flash will just reflect off the glass and distract Mr. Claus.”
“Thanks,” I replied amiably, “I have flash off.”
“Well, you still can’t take photos!” said a man by the exit, bodily moving to block the window. I believe he may have been trying to sound intimidating, but it came out as more obnoxious than anything else. Not wanting to make a scene, I said nothing more, put away my camera, and walked off in a huff.
Continue reading
By Max
Featured Photo
Environmental Light Installation with Boy by Edward Hoover
When someone takes a photo of another person’s art, can the photo then be considered art itself? My personal opinion is that in most cases it can, but this is a debate that will never be settled, much like the never ending film vs digital debate. In the end, I don’t think it’s possible to come up with a definition for art which is probably why I love it so much. It’s art when the artist says so, as long as they can explain why.
The above photo was taken at one of my favorite museums in DC, the beloved Hirshhorn. According to the photographer’s notes, the boy above is mesmerized by Dough Wheeler’s Eindhoven, Environmental Light Installation (1969). The amazing color sucks me in like an alien’s tractor beam – I just can’t stop staring at it. The repetitious rectangles rely on each other to draw the viewer in because without one, the other would have no meaning. Finally the punctuation, the exclamation point, in this case the silhouetted boy, is added to the end of the sentence and the photo becomes whole. It almost looks like the boy is about to dive into a vast sea of blue.
Great shot, Mr. Hooper. Be sure to keep adding all of your awesome photos to our Flickr group and don’t forget about our Holiday Photo Contest!
By Max
Featured Photo
Fixation Opening Party by vincent gallegos
It would be an extreme understatement if I said that it was ‘a night to remember’. Friday night’s opening party for Fixation at Fight Club was one hell of a way to get FotoWeek DC started. This show tied together art, people, and the city like no other.
It’s impossible to explain how comfortable and chill the party was, all the while electric and full of energy. You couldn’t escape the eclecticism. The crowd ranged from wealthy, “in the know”, socialite art collectors to artists and die hard skaters. The music switched from electronica to rock and roll, then drifted back to club music to keep the party rolling. Our beverages began as champagne and later morphed into beer, while our food went from gourmet pizza to food off of a snack cart. If you commissioned a painting to represent the night, it would contain elegant brush strokes smeared with spray paint, colors from across the spectrum.
By Max
Friday Night’s Fixation @ Fight Club
This is it, folks. FotoWeek DC is kicking off in style! With so many events to choose from over the course of the week, I highly recommend you start things off by paying a visit to the underbelly of DC, aka “Fight Club”. Brought to you by Ten Miles Square and The Pink Line Project, Fixation is sure to be a photography show (and night) to remember.
If you’ve never heard of Fight Club before, you’re definitely not alone. If you have heard of Fight Club, you’re incredibly hip to the underground scene and are probably annoyed that a bunch of fancy artists are invading your space. This exclusive skate park is home to DC’s local skater scene and is sure to be a place you’ll tell your grandkids about.
But enough about the venue, this show is about photography! Nine amazing local DC photographers will be featuring their work (all of it for sale) Friday night, some familiar names you are sure to recognize.
“These nine photographers each create a narrative with a short series of images, building the viewer a bridge between the image of our Nation’s Capital and the people actually living inside it. Their photographs inspect our city’s subculture and the people who thrive in it, whether it is the pure ecstasy of a public baptism or the discovery of an elusive quiet moment as 18th Street rages nearby. Some create their own scenes, driven by the absurdity or crucial absences in our cityscapes. Others sneak in the backdoor of highly defined alternative lifestyles, finding characters dolled up for primetime, squeezed in the underbelly of the D.C. club scene. What they all have in common is a fixation on the individual in the hands of a much bigger picture.”