Advance tickets ($14) are still available for the big opening reception of our 9th annual Exposed DC Photography Show on March 12! You won’t want to miss it – two floors of amazing local photography, a first look at Capital Fringe‘s fantastic new home, and delicious, complimentary craft brews from Bluejacket. Get your tickets now before they’re all gone!

• There’s a new photo collective in town! Contrario Collective launched this week, and is comprised of local photographers Katie Fielding, Emma McAlary, Victoria Milko, Farrah Skeiky, and Noe Todorovich.
• The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities today launched their 2015 Art Bank Call.
• In the wake of the disqualification of a large number of images from this year’s World Press Photo contest due to excessive post-processing, the New York Times’ Lens Blog asked several participants from the competition, along with other photographers, to kick off a debate on the rules and ethics of digital photojournalism.
• A splendid addition to the “unusual animal friends pairing” files – Ingo the shepherd dog and Poldi the little owl, beautifully photographed by Tanja Brandt.
• It’s so freaking cold that Niagara Falls has frozen over for the second time in a month. But it does make for some rather excellent photographs.
• While it may feel like we’re living within 35 miles of the Arctic Circle right about now, all the people in these portraits by Cristian Barnett actually do.
• The first Instagram photograph ever was of a stray dog near a taco stand in Mexico. Just one fun fact learned from this Marketplace interview with Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom.
• The new book “The Family Acid” showcases work by photographer Roger Steffens. Best known for his iconic shots of rock and roll legends, his collection of personal snapshots of life in the 1970s has found new life thanks to social media.
• In the future, the traditional Mongolian nomadic lifestyle may only exist in museum. Photographer Daesung Lee brings light to the country’s challenge in his unique series of photographs of real-life dioramas, “Futuristic Archaeology.”
• Photographer Joshua Nowicki stumbled upon these beautifully bizarre sand formations on a beach in Saint Joseph, Michigan.
• Eric Fischer used geotag information to create a series of fascinating maps comparing the places in cities where tourists and locals take photos.
• “I hope the work brings up questions about our landscape, our place within it, and the collective roles and responsibilities in how and why we shape it the way we do.” Victoria Sambunaris on her recent, epic photo book Taxonomy of a Landscape.
• When tirades between Russians and Ukrainians overwhelmed photographer Oksana Yushko’s Facebook feed, she issued a plea for understanding. Soon, love followed.
• Extraordinary new video footage this week captured the first ever Amur (Siberian) tigers to be filmed in China.