Our annual photography contest closes next Wednesday, January 11 — get your images of the D.C. area in soon to be part of the big event in March.

• ExposedDC founder Heather Goss was invited on local photographer Lynford Morton’s podcast, Shutterbug Life, to talk about how she organizes photography events in the city, and what she looks for in winning images for the annual contest. (Enter now!)
• Our In Frame curator, Caroline Space, went through all her 2016 selections and made a short gallery with her favorites from the year.
• Tonight at 6:30 p.m. attend a talk by local photographer Andrew Golda on his Keystone State documentary project about the landscapes and moods of Pennsylvania on the eve of the 2016 Presidential election.
• Marcel Heijnen takes photographs of cats in traditional Hong Kong shops.
• Photographer Tim Dodd bought an old Russian spacesuit and began the ongoing series The Everyday Astronaut. Hear all about his work on this episode of the podcast Are We There Yet?
• The Alexia Foundation is now accepting applications from photographers for its $20,000 Professional Grant program. The deadline is January 31, 5 p.m. EST.
• “This seems like the photo that will be in all of the next century’s history books. If there are still people here to study history.”
• “In a super shocking announcement” at CES 2017, Kodak is bringing back its Ektachrome 100 film in 35mm format, which they discontinued in 2012.
• “Great photo editors are great, exhibit #784.”
• The Guardian’s US picture editor, Sarah Gilbert, selects her favo(u)rite pictures from Obama’s presidency.
• Thai baby elephant Clear Sky enjoys a hydrotherapy session at a veterinary clinic. (Is the fourth image a meme yet?)

P.S. Save the date for our next happy hour, January 18 at Meridian Pint!

The end of 2016 is finally upon us. At ExposedDC, we want to sincerely thank all of you who follow along with us every day, contributing photos or enjoying the wonderfully creative work from our community. Whatever 2017 may bring us, we hope it includes meeting more of you at our monthly happy hours (sign up for our newsletter for alerts, plus get Friday Links right to your inbox by clicking Latest News), seeing the best of the best exhibited in our annual photography show (contest deadline is January 11!), and partnering with more great organizations to bring you exhibits and opportunities like our Crystal City Fotowalk and our Knowledge Commons DC classes. Do you want to work with ExposedDC, or have an idea you want to share? Drop us a line anytime.

• The Washington City Paper’s Louis Jacobson picks the best photographs displayed in D.C. in 2016.
• Photographer Mark Marchesi spent four years in Nova Scotia tracing images from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s epic poem, “Evangeline.”
• Enter Glen Echo Photoworks latest contest, seeking images that show the divisions in our nation’s capital right now, juried by Washington Post deputy director of photography Robert Miller. Deadline January 30.
• Exposed alum Andrew Golda hosts a talk about his Keystone State documentary photography project next Friday, January 6 at 6:30 p.m. Shot over two weeks in October, the project depicts the landscapes and moods of Pennsylvania on the eve of the 2016 presidential election.
• You can sign up now for this discussion on documenting D.C. since then 1960s at the Historical Society of Washington, D.C. (which has reopened since its mold problems a few months ago) on January 10.
• Science and photography! The Capital Weather Gang explains what’s really happening in this incredible photo of a “ghostly white fog bow.”
• Photographer Sam Hobson has “made it his mission to bestow some intrigue on birds and other animals by showing how they survive in and around cities and towns, even if we fail to notice.” (These close-up backyard birds at Colossal are pretty great too.)
• China shut down factories and banned cars from Beijing roads for two weeks ahead of a massive military parade so that it could go on under a clear blue sky. These photos from a week before the parade and the day after, once the bans were lifted, tell you everything you need to know about smog regulation. (Or just ask anyone who grew up in Southern California in the 90s.)
• The Guardian compiled their funniest and most unusual animal photos of 2016.
• A 440-pound Australian fur seal wandered down a Tasmanian street and settled on the hood of a car.

We hope you all enjoy some down time during the holidays, and use some of it to enter our 11th annual photography contest before the deadline on January 11. We’re already getting the big show together for March, and you don’t want to miss it.

And now it’s time for some eggnog, latkes, and Friday Links:

• This week we were immersed in the powerful images by AP photographer Burhan Ozbilici, who was on the scene when the Russian ambassador was shot in Turkey on Monday, getting this incredible image of the gunman as it went down. Vulture has a surprisingly interesting discussion comparing the series of photos to classical paintings of violence.
• A new documentary explores famed Scottish photographer Harry Benson’s life’s work (limited release outside the D.C. area; also for purchase on iTunes and elsewhere), which The Atlantic is previewing with a slideshow of his greatest hits.
• A photo op for those staying in town this weekend: Santa waterskiing on the Potomac.
• Karim Bouchetata captured gorgeous images of the first Sahara desert snow in 40 years.
• NASA released this 10-frame composite image of the International Space Station crossing the sun.
• “This image has magnificent little details.”
• The New York Times’ Year in Pictures is rough but necessary. The Washington Post picks their 87 best photos of the year. This might be a good time to think about subscribing to your favorite newspaper of record to support photojournalism: Washington Post; New York Times.
• Adding to the end of year links, here are National Geographic’s Best Photos of 2016.
• We missed this spectacular vampire cat back in November.
• Photographer Platon talks about taking images of 44 immigrants for the latest New York magazine cover story.
• Smithsonian has a list of 10 exhibits you should see over the holidays, with plenty of photography.
• Buzzfeed collected a set of photos that illustrate how climate change is affecting terrain around the world.
• “I have captured moments of grief and suffering, but mostly I found dignity and often joy.” Twenty-two-year-old photojournalist Alice Aedy shares the stories behind her encounters with refugee children.
• Parklife DC picks its 10 favorite local concert photos of 2016, including several by Exposed alum Paivi Solonen.
• Burger Days has their picks for Best Burgers of the Year but we vote them best mouthwatering burger photography of the year.

Did you enter our 11th annual photo contest yet? You’ve got until January 11, but don’t dilly dally! Submit your photos that show the D.C. metro area through the eyes of people who live, work, and love here. Winning images will go on display in our spring exhibit–always a terrific community celebration.

Now, get your link on:

• Fantastic job alert: The National Museum of African American History and Culture is hiring a conservator for its photo department.
• Who knew we’d have a reason to link to that incredible New York Times report on Russian hacking and its influence on the presidential election in Friday Links? Turns out there was a little misunderstanding between what qualifies as news photography versus portraiture with poetic license when Justin T. Gellerson photographed the infamous file cabinet at the center of the Watergate scandal.
• As hacking becomes more prevalent, photojournalists demand encrypted cameras.
• National Geographic announced the winners of its 2016 contest. The Atlantic has plucked its favorites for a must-see gallery.
• Check out these super pics of @tinyfellas, “an ongoing micro-installation series based in DC.”
• PDN interviews photographer Josué Rivas, who’s been documenting Standing Rock since the summer.
• Stunning noir photos of actors and actresses by Jack Davison in the New York Times Magazine.
• Nick Ulivieri’s gorgeous photos of sea smoke rising over Lake Michigan.
• Local food photographer Rey Lopez created a true Americana slideshow as he followed Eater DC’s Tim Ebner on a sober jumbo slice crawl.
• Switching to British Christmas food, the world’s largest mince pie factory in Barnsley, Yorkshire, produces 720 pies a minute.
• WIRED followed around the “obsessive mushroom hunters” of New York City.
• Photographer Paul Bannick documents “the hardships and resilience of the 19 regular North American owl species” in his new book.
• Lion cubs, sprinting giraffes, and curious jackals: Click over immediately to this slideshow from wildlife photographer Anup Shah’s visit to a Kenyan National Reserve.
• 45 photos of Corgis in an ugly Christmas sweater parade in Seattle. Arf arf.

Enter our 11th annual photo contest! We want to see images that show us the D.C. metro area through the eyes of people who live, work, and love here. Get your photos in by January 11 for a chance to be in our spring exhibit–always a fantastic celebration of our community.

Now on to Friday Links:

• Astronaut, aviator, Senator, and American legend John Glenn died Thursday at 95. See photo tributes at Air & Space Magazine, New York Times, and Buzzfeed.
• The New Republic published an incredible photo essay on the impending future of native Alaskan villages called “The End of Ice,” with images by Katie Orlinsky and text by environmentalist Bill McKibbon.
• “Why is narrative such a difficult concept for young photographers to master?”
• This is a strangely fascinating look inside the world of Instagram “influencers.”
• NASA’s Cassini mission is nearing its end, but before it plunges into Saturn next year, the spacecraft changed orbits to dive in and out of the ring system, getting some of the closest looks at the planet yet.
• It hasn’t been the best year to reflect on, but hopefully you took lots of cat pictures. Plug in your Instagram name to see your “best nine” photos from 2016.
• Earlier this week at the Miami Street Photography Festival, photography greats Martin Parr, Richard Kavlar, and Tomasz Lezar got together to live-critique some images.
• Flickr announced the top photos, cameras, and tags in the Flickr community for 2016. Perhaps most interesting is the top ten camera types used – the top seven is comprised of various iPhone models, with the first DSLR coming in at number eight.
• New settings on Instagram allow you to ‘like’ comments, and turn them off completely.
• Adobe Lightroom’s latest update to its iPhone app includes some great new features, like one-handed editing.
• Thanks, science! Researchers at Stanford made tiny adorable safety goggles for this bird so they could study it in flight with lasers.