Exposed DC

for the love of DC photography

2021 Best in Show Winner: Michael Ryan

By

We can’t wait to shake off our pandemic ho-hums and celebrate local photography with you at our 15th Annual Photography Show. This year we are partnering with Focus on the Story and Lost Origins Gallery to present an outdoor exhibit that will be installed on the exterior wall of Ellē restaurant at 3221 Mt Pleasant St NW. Join us on Sunday, June 6 at 3 p.m. to celebrate the 2021 Exposed DC photography show opening, part of the kickoff for the fourth annual Focus on the Story International Photo Festival. 

As the big day approaches, we are excited to announce the Best in Show winners for this year’s show. Every year we ask a panel of five distinguished, local judges to each select one image to receive a Best in Show award. The winning photographers each receive a $100 cash prize and are acknowledged in the show and exhibition program.

Today, we are announcing the Best in Show winner “Untitled” by Michael Ryan, selected by judge Steve Bosak. Bosak commented, “To me, this photo captures the tension and social unrest evident during 2020. It illustrates the risks that African Americans face in our country and how ​people expressed their pain under the threat of more violence. The lighting and composition is well balanced, with the menace of police with riot shields in the background and the defiant man with a raised arm ​illuminated by the fire. And, this photographer likely put himself at risk to take this photo. He made sure he was present to witness and capture the conflict ​between police and protesters.”

You can view more of Michael’s work on his website and Instagram.

***

Steve Bosak is an amateur photographer who has lived in D.C. for 20 years. He is a design thinking consultant and trainer who helps companies and agencies use a human-centered approach to innovation. He has a keen interest in photographing nature, buildings, and macro subjects.

Announcing the Best in Show Judges for the 2021 Exposed DC Photography Show

By

We’re excited… The 2021 Exposed DC Photography Contest is here and open for entries through January 27. Residents of the D.C. metropolitan area: we invite you to submit the best images you’ve taken that showcase your personal experience living and working in our nation’s capital.

Don’t wait. Enter here.

Winners will be announced in February, and we’ll host a virtual happy hour to celebrate and commemorate our 15th annual contest and show–can you believe it?

The 2021 Exposed DC Photography Show will feature the winners of this year’s contest. Additionally, we have invited five distinguished local photographers and creatives to serve as special judges. They will study all of the winning images, and each judge will choose one image to receive a Best in Show award, which comes with a $100 cash prize. 

We are happy and honored to announce the special judges of this year’s show.

Adriana Mendoza

Adriana is the Creative Director and Operations Manager at Femme Fatale DC, a dynamic community that supports and amplifies womxn in business and in life. Her background includes a Master in Landscape Architecture focused in the design of public space in underserved communities. She worked at Floura Teeter Landscape Architects, bringing communities together through designing attractive and functional places for public gathering.

Deveney Williams

Deveney is a D.C. based visual storyteller and designer. Her photography work focuses on portraiture and editorial work. She aims to dismantle beauty standards and inspire people through her subjects.

Jamie Davis Smith

Jamie is a documentary and family photographer living in Washington, D.C. She is a former photography ambassador for Manfrotto, and her work has been featured in HuffPost, The Washington Post, and various other publications. Jamie has written extensively about photography. 

Kirth Bobb

Kirth is a FujiFilm ambassador, and his photographs have been published in several major publications including The New York Times, Washington Times, and HuffPost, and featured in several galleries across Europe, the Caribbean, and the Americas.

Steve Bosak

Steve is an amateur photographer who’s lived in D.C. for 20 years. He is a design thinking consultant and trainer who helps companies and agencies use a human-centered approach to innovation. He has a keen interest in photographing nature, buildings, and macro subjects.

The contest and the annual photography exhibition are an integral part of how Exposed DC supports and celebrates local photographers and their work. We also love seeing the images you share with us on Instagram and in our Flickr group, curating Fotowalk exhibitions, creating opportunities for us to gather together to share our love for all things photography (more virtually than in person these days), and keeping you informed of photography news through our newsletter.

Enter the 15th Annual Exposed DC Photography Contest

By

Our 2021 photography contest is officially open, and we announced our special judges who will be selecting the Best in Show awards!

As we enter into Exposed DC’s 15th year of celebrating local photography, we find ourselves reflecting on a very eventful year. While we always enjoy seeing our nation’s capital through the lens of the talented photographers who live, love, and work here, 2020 seems determined to be distinctive and memorable in its own way. We have no doubt that your photos will capture these tumultuous and notable times in poignant and profound ways as well as provide us with reminders of the beauty all around us.

If you’ve submitted to the contest before, you may notice a few changes this year. First, we are trying a different pricing model to allow more flexibility. This decision was made based upon feedback from photographers who have entered the contest in the past and streamlining the submission process. The entry cost will be $10 per image, and you may submit as many images as you’d like. Second, the contest timeline is shifted a little later than usual and will be open through January 27, 2021, to allow additional time to capture events leading up to and including the U.S. Presidential Inauguration.

The exhibition will be held in Spring or Summer 2021 with details yet to be announced. Special consideration is being given in the planning process to ensure the safety of the community as we continue to battle COVID-19, but we look forward to tackling these unique challenges during a global pandemic in order to celebrate local photography with you all in a safe and innovative way. Images may be part of a virtual exhibition and/or a safe, in-person event based on an assessment of the situation as it continues to develop.

Rules and guidelines for entering the contest and participating in our exhibit are covered in the submission page. If you’re looking for some inspiration, you can check out the winning images from previous years. Have questions or comments? Check out these FAQs, comment on this post, or reach out to us on social media. Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter, if you don’t already, to get all our contest and exhibit updates. If you’d like to join our team as a volunteer, please drop us a line.

Please note that Picter strongly recommends using a recent version of either Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox to submit to the contest. If you’d like to change or edit your submission, you can contact Picter support to request a refund and then resubmit, up until the contest deadline. We recommend you save all your submissions as drafts until you’ve reviewed them all and are ready to submit. Refunds will not be granted after the contest deadline.