Poor Horse by Diriki Rice

This week’s exciting fare includes developments in Calumet’s bankruptcy case, lunar eclipse photo ops, the death of the White House selfie, and the announcement of an enormous photo exhibition space.

• In huge museum news, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) announced Wednesday “the creation of the John and Lisa Pritzker Center for Photography, which will be the largest exhibition space for photography and among the most advanced photographic arts centers of any art museum in the United States.“
• 100 photographs taken by Irving Penn have been donated to the Smithsonian American Art Museum by his foundation. They’ll go on display in a retrospective opening in 2015.
• Local photographer Susana Raab is documenting life East of the River: “Hidden behind the public face of its great monuments and political imbroglios, lies another Washington which situates the District of Columbia as the United States’ poorest state, second only to Mississippi.” This work can be seen on her website, as well as in a photo gallery on POLITICO.
• Is there hope for a return of Calumet Photographic? Possibly. CalPhotoUS is buying up some of their assets, but there is no word yet on whether any stores will reopen.
• Stars and Stripes has excellent photographs in their Military Photographer of the Year awards. You know you are in for some lovely images when the first of the series resembles the Pieta.
• It is not too late to use this, but you should act fast. A Photographer’s Guide to the Cherry Blossoms, including locations that are not on the National Mall by Kat Forder.
• Photographer Robert Dawson has been photographing public libraries across America for 18 years, and has released a book of the images. The photographs say so much about our culture.
• Tickets are now available to the opening reception of Critical Exposure’s 9th annual exhibit of youth photography. The event is May 21, from 6:00-8:30pm.
• Smithsonian Magazine announced the winners of their 11th annual photo contest.
• On April 15 the tax man and the moon man will collide in a lunar eclipse. If you’re going to photograph it, check out our Night Sky Photography for Beginners guide.
• “If you’re modeling light settings and defining the meter readings about a balanced image against white skin, the contours and shape of a white face, you’ve immediately erased 70% of the world’s population.” Interesting analysis of the racial bias built into camera and film technology.
• Photographers – the industry may be shrinking, but know that you can always find work as a meerkat lookout post.
• Photos of some the dogs Michel Vick owned and tortured. These are among a handful of the dogs who have been rehabilitated, and are in loving homes.
• Oh Big Papi. You may be one of the greatest hitters of all time, but you may go down as the man who killed the White House selfie.
• Ectoplasm and spirit photography? We don’t know either, but the results are pretty cool.
• He may be Mr. Spock to most of us, but Leonard Nimoy is also a photographer.
• The InFocus Project, based in Montgomery County, brought their autistic adult students to the Tidal Basin this week to photograph the cherry blossoms. You can see their work on their website.
• The Library of Congress celebrated Eadweard Muybridge’s birthday yesterday, and showed off the work of the early photographer.
• Public “surprised” at the sight of a tiger being walked on a rope leash in Xuzhou, China. We might have chosen a different word.