Exposed DC

for the love of DC photography

Celebrate our 2014 Contest Launch at Bluejacket December 4

By

Bluejacket Brewery by Tommy Wells
Bluejacket Brewery by Tommy Wells

Photographers of the D.C. metro area, are you ready? The Exposed DC contest for our 2014 exhibit officially opens on December 4. We’ll have more details about how to enter soon, but start looking for your best photos that show off our local culture — or go out and take some! Check out winners from the previous seven years for some inspiration.

As always, the exhibition will be hosted by Long View Gallery next March. The gorgeous, huge gallery is implausibly EVEN BIGGER this year. They’ve taken over the space next door, and we are prepared to make use of every square inch.

While we celebrate the D.C. area in pictures that night, we also want you to try out new local flavors, so we’re proud to announce our 2014 beer sponsor, Bluejacket Brewery. The brewery, which opened last month in Navy Yard inside a former ship boiler factory along with its bar and restaurant, The Arsenal, will feature a constantly rotating selection of twenty original beers and five cask ales.

BluejacketHiResBluejacket was built to be a brewery without boundaries, allowing Beer Director Greg Engert and Brewmaster Megan Parisi to create beers across the broadest range of styles and flavors possible. At Bluejacket, understanding of and respect for the traditions and techniques of classic brewing coexist with a spirit of constant experimentation, innovation, and collaboration, leading to delicious beers that showcase seasonality, culinary inspiration, and historic interpretation. Expect beers that range from intensely flavored to subtly nuanced; that offer something distinctive and satisfying for every palate and every plate; and that reflect equally the past, present, and future of genuine craft brewing. Soon, the brewery will begin shipping to carefully selected restaurants, bars, and retail outlets throughout the region.

Where better to toast to the kick-off of our annual contest than with a meetup at  Bluejacket/Arsenal? Join us on Wednesday, December 4 at 6 p.m. to meet the folks behind Exposed, former (and future) winners, and the patrons and photo lovers who keep us all behind the lens. Bring friends and enjoy some unique D.C. brews with us.

Are you interested in volunteering with Exposed DC? If you’re interested in doing anything from contributing posts, to pouring beer on opening night, to just coming up with great ideas for us to execute, talk to us in person at Bluejacket or drop us a line for more information. To make sure you’re the first to know all the contest and opening night information, sign up for our newsletter.

Bluejacket/Arsenal is at 300 Tingey St. SE, a few blocks from the Navy Yard metro.

Night Sky Photography for Beginners

By

Blue Hour Moonrise by Pablo Benavente
Blue Hour Moonrise by Pablo Benavente

When you think of astrophotography, you probably think of mind-blowing Hubble images, but you don’t need a billion dollar space telescope to image the night sky. In fact, most hobby photographers have all they need already in their bag, or can cheaply rent from a local camera shop. And right now you have a unique opportunity to get started. Comet ISON has been visible with the naked eye just before dawn for the last few days, and may get even brighter before it reaches perihelion, its closest point to the sun as it swings around, on November 28. If ISON manages to survive its close encounter, you might get a second chance to catch it in camera over Thanksgiving weekend.

Here’s some history about Comet ISON, discovered in September 2012, its current status, and where you can find it in the sky.

Or try your hand at night sky photography almost anytime with the moon, which was full on Sunday night and will start to reveal its shadowy craters as it wanes for the next couple weeks. To get you started on your first night sky shoot, we asked some practiced local photographers, Phil Yabut, Brett Davis, Brian Mosley, Pablo Benavente, and Exposed’s Sanjay Suchak for their advice.

Exposed: What do you like to photograph in the night sky? 

[Read more…]

Friday Links

By

11/6/13 crescent moon by Kevin Wolf
11/6/13 crescent moon by Kevin Wolf

This week we have newspapers standing up for photographers, an erupting volcano fly-by, and the Japanese rockabilly scene.

  • Re-imagining old photos is the new black. Here we’ve got your classic photographs remade with Legos, and over here we’ve got your famous pics turned into selfies, of course.
  • “I remember taking off that day and swinging over the coast. I could see all that red lava just flowing down. A beautiful sight.” A World War II squadron flies by while Mount Vesuvius erupts.
  • With so many papers dumping their staff photographers, French newspaper Libération took a stand for the art, printing their November 14 issue completely without images. The editors wrote that they wanted to “show the power and importance of photography at a time when the industry is facing unprecedented challenges.” À votre santé, Libération!
  • NPR covers a new exhibit in São Paulo that documents the last vestiges of legal slavery in the Americas.
  • These students are embracing the old school, shunning digital photography for “antique techniques.” Before you bristle at film being called “antique,” these kids are actually learning platinum developing, used before the first world war. Can we sign up?
  • Typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines last week, “thought to be the strongest storm to ever make landfall anywhere in the world in modern records.” Photojournalist Bullit Marquez was there to cover the devastation. Consider making a donation to one of these worthy non-profits (remember, send cash, not supplies).
  • Photographer Kyle Thompson used his social anxiety as fuel for a truly impressive self-portrait series.
  • When Denny Renshaw wanted to seek out a Japanese sub-culture, he turned to his Tennessee roots, and discovered the Tokyo Rockabilly Club.
  • And for your weekly tiger link (see #24), we have to parrot one of the commenters: “It’s all fun and games until you realize you’re about to Instagram your own mauling.”

How Was This Year’s FotoWeekDC Festival?

By

InstantDC at FotoNOMA by Joe Flood
InstantDC at FotoNOMA by Joe Flood

FotoWeekDC just closed its sixth annual international photography festival last weekend. Like any large event that tries to be inclusive of an entire community, it has both lovers and haters. One common complaint – that it didn’t focus enough on local photography – was addressed this year with FotoNOMA, which hosted work from a number of D.C. groups like InstantDC and the STRATA Collective. No one can get to all the exhibits, lectures, and workshops that FotoWeekDC offers each year, so we asked some of you what your favorite – and least favorite – parts were:

Jeff Norman:

I loved the whole FotoNOMA exhibition, but I think the women from WPOW had many strong images the invoked a lot emotion. And the Private Moon in America series from photographer Leonid Tishkov was brilliant! I also loved the images from the photographers from Strata Collective.

[Read more…]