This weekend I did some family portraits for a former coworker of mine and her daughter. Originally, we had planned on doing the shoot Saturday morning but, because of the rain, it was pushed back to Sunday. So, at 8:30am, yesterday morning, we met for a shoot down at the Tidal Basin / Jefferson Memorial. A few of my favorites are below:
Most of you know that Saturday was the first Worldwide Photowalk. Over 240 cities around the world participated. Chances are, there was one close to you!
Here in the DC area, we had two, both of which were led by Jeff Revell of PhotoWalkPro. Many thanks to Jeff for organizing such a great day of photography for all of us!
You can read more about the day at PhotoWalkPro, Photo Notes, or ScottKelby.com.
In the meantime, I thought I’d share a few of my images from Saturday:
As many of you know, I participated in two great photowalks this past weekend. I have finally finished processing the photos from Friday night’s photowalk along the National Mall. I’ve included a few of my favorites below:
Overall, more than 50 local photographers showed up. You might recall that this photowalk was organized by Trevor from Photowalking.org who happened to be in town with his wife on vacation.
Thanks for organizing this Trevor! I hope you had a great time in DC!
Tags: hdr, photowalk, sunset, vietnam-memorial, washington, washington-dcSo, I finally submitted a few photos for the Fotoweek/DC Photo Contest. I entered as an amateur and submitted a couple photos for multiple categories since there was no limit.
First, for portraits, I submitted all five portraits that I showcased in my last post.
The second category I submitted photos for was “Architecture”. The category description is as follows:
“Your finest interiors or exteriors of buildings and spaces.”
I submitted the following two photos for “Architecture”:
The Arc de Triomphe - Paris, France:
A foggy morning in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Finally, I submitted one photo for the category “Fine Art”. The photo below was taken from the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France:
So, why did I pick these photos? To be honest, I couldn’t really say. Obviously, they are among my favorites but, as I spent a couple hours this morning browsing through my collection picking potential candidates, these photos just “felt right”.
Tags: contest, dc, entry, fotoweek, washington, washington-dcSo, last night I finally sat down to pick a photo or two for the first annual Fotoweek/DC contest and I started looking through my Palestine photos and retouching a few of my favorites. I never did any major editing on them since there were so many and I wanted to get through all of them.
After I had narrowed it down to about five possibles, I discovered that there is no “photojournalism” category for amateur photographers who enter the contest. That category only exists for professionals and students! Damn. I emailed them to see what they suggest I do since some of my favorite photos fit more into “photojournalism” than any of the other amateur categories. It being a weekend, however, I’m not expecting a response until at least Monday, if at all.
Can I enter as pro just to enter them? I mean I likely wouldn’t have a chance against some of the phenomenal photographers who do this for a living here, but it can’t hurt right? Would I be disqualified because I’m not pro? It doesn’t sound like it. I just want to enter them… I don’t really care if I win anything, though that would be pretty cool. And, of course, even if I’m not disqualified because I’m technically not a pro, I likely couldn’t enter any of the other categories as an amateur.
Anyway, I figured I would share some of the retouched Palestine photos with you until I figure out what I’m going to do.
The photo above is of a Palestinian boy scout on the New Askar Refugee camp where I was doing volunteer work.
This photo is of a young boy from New Askar Refugee Camp holding a poster of another resident of the camp who died within the last year.
This is a photo of a young girl from the refugee camp presenting a wreath to a grandfather over a slain child’s grave.
This young man is holding up a poster of his older brother who had recently been martyred in the Old City of Nablus.
Finally, we have three young boys, two of them scouts, on New Askar Refugee Camp shortly after the parade commemorating young martyrs of the camp.
Faves? Thoughts on what might be entry-worthy?
Tags: contest, dc, entry, fotoweek, palestine, photojournalism, washington-dcA few months back I teased many of you with a “project” that I was working on. Well, with all the traveling I’ve been doing, the project kept getting delayed. No longer! I am announcing a “soft launch” of DCPhotoGuide.com!
From the About page:
“DCPhotoGuide is a blog specifically designed for DC Metro photographers. Here we’ll talk about being a photographer in DC, let you know about upcoming events you can photograph, opportunities to show your work in local art/photography shows, and tips and tricks for photographing this photogenic city of ours.”
Basically, it will be a photo resource for DC photographers, written by DC photographers. Anything photo-related in DC is fair game. This includes events that photographers might want to photograph (protests, concerts, events), events where DC photographers can sell or show their work, DC photowalks, or profiles of featured DC photographers, you name it!
Not really. But that’s the great part! Over time, I will be inviting DC photobloggers to blog at DCPhotoGuide. I can’t pay anyone, but you will get an author credit, a link to your site, and, potentially your own ads in your articles! Not a bad deal. In addition, if you want to post your article on your own site as well, that’s fine! I don’t want to ask you to spend time blogging if you can’t use the content yourself, right?
It seemed like the natural thing to do, really. Many friends of this blog in DC have submitted all kinds of cool tips on photo exhibits, shows, and events that it only seemed natural to put these somewhere where all DC photogs can contribute. DC is an incredibly photogenic and exciting city with some incredible photographers, so why not have a place all to ourselves?
So if you’re a DC photographer, head over to the site, subscribe to the feed, and join our Flickr group! Some great DC stuff coming soon!
Tags: blog, dc, dcphotoguide, washington-dcThe FotoWeek DC is now accepting entries for its FotoWeek DC Photo Contest. The early entry deadline is August 18th and the general deadline is September 22nd. FotoWeek DC is a photography festival in the Washington, DC area that will take place from November 15th through the 22nd. According to the festival website:
“The week of November 15-22, 2008 will mark the launch of FotoWeek DC, the first annual gathering of a diverse and wide-ranging photography community in the nation’s capital, including photographers, museums, universities and all those involved in the profession across the metro D.C. area, including Virginia and Maryland. Unique among American cities, Washington, D.C. is a nexus of artistic, business, political and public sector energy, in which photography plays an integral role. FotoWeek DC seeks to bring together all photographers and imaging professionals from every discipline to join with the public in celebration of the medium.”
Sounds pretty cool to me!
The photo contest promises $37,000 in cash and prizes and accepts work from professionals, amateurs, and students.
The important part of the rules after the jump…
Tags: contest, festival, fotoweek, washington-dcRemember that DC photowalk I mentioned last week? Well, hold on tight! Scott Kelby is organizing the first ever Worldwide Photowalk on August 23rd, the day after our DC photowalk! Jeff Revell of PhotoWalkPro will be organizing the DC event in Old Town, Alexandria, VA.
If you don’t live in the DC area, go see if there is a walk in a city near you!
Stay tuned either here, or over at PhotoWalkPro for more details.
You can see the official Worldwide Photowalk page here.
Trevor Carpenter of Photowalking.org is coming to DC in August and is setting up a DC photowalk while he’s here! The photowalk is scheduled for August 22nd at 6pm at the Lincoln Memorial. Given the time of the photowalk, it might be a good idea to bring your tripod for some low-light/night shots. Get more info over at Trevor’s site.
If you use Upcoming, you can RSVP to the event here.
Below is a map of the route via Photowalking.org:
I look forward to seeing you all there!
Tags: events, photowalk, washington-dcA slightly off-topic post for my fellow DC photographers… The Deputy Director of the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of Amnesty International USA contacted me last night about photographing an event for them on June 25th. Obviously, I’m not going to be able to do it so she asked if I knew anyone else that might be willing.
From the email:
“I am writing because, as you may have heard, we are bringing a replica of a Guantanamo prison cell to DC from June 25-29. We will be having a couple of events on June 25th that we’d like to document. First, we’ll have a visual protest at noon where activists will be in orange jumpsuits and we’ll being staging them around the cell replica. We may also have some celebrity or world leader types there (still awaiting confirmations). Then at 6pm we’ll have a concert. All of this is happening on the National Mall just across the street from the Washington Monument.”
This is a very low-pressure thing. They’re just looking for someone with a decent camera and decent photography skills to document their protest. I usually do these things free of charge because it’s a cause I believe in and it helps to build my portfolio. Having said that, they won’t be able to pay you for your time but you’ll have all the access you need to take photos. This might be a good photojouralistic opportunity. Likely uses of your photos will be in fundraising and/or on their website. You will get full credit for the photos you take.
The reason they contacted me is because I am a member and I attended the 2007 Annual General Meeting in Milwaukee. While I was there, I photographed as much of the event as I could.
Anyway, I thought some of you might be looking for something to photograph this month… If this is a cause you can get behind and you like photography, it might be worth your time to help them out.
If you’re interested, please contact Cecili Williams (cwilliams@aiusa.org). She is the Deputy Director for AIUSA’s Mid-Atlantic Region.
Tags: amnesty-international, dc, opportunity, photojournalism, protest, volunteer, washington, washington-dc
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