for the love of DC photography
The word “ominous” doesn’t quite do this shot from Kevin Wolf justice. We’ve had more than our fair share of storms this late spring/early summer, giving photogs plenty of reason to point their lenses skywards, though far too many snappers spoil what could otherwise be outstanding images with HDR. Kevin knows better than that, of course. The billowing wall of clouds has weight and texture, provoking a strong sense of anticipation of the impending storm. (EXIF.)
For our second In Frame, let’s move from the quirky culture of D.C. residents to the other side of the coin. Photographer Julian Ortiz of JEO Photography gave these tourists an ode to pointless souvenir buying (and who among us hasn’t stood dumbly in a shop trying to decide which tchotchke — the shot glass or the fridge magnet? — would memorialize the experience better). By framing the image tightly, he turned a street vendor’s kiosk into such a cacophony of patternless lines that I didn’t even see the lady in the plaid jacket at first. The gray scale blurs together the paraphernalia into near non-recognition in a foreshadowing of the way they’ll surely be forgotten once tossed in a closet at home.
Welcome to our inaugural In Frame feature, in which we select an image to highlight. In Frame will normally run on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Remember you can contribute to Exposed DC through our Flickr pool.
This image by Chris Chen is a classic street portrait, thanks in large part to the lighting, the subjects and their relationship, and the use of Kodak Portra 400VC film.