There is so much more to Washington, D.C. than the federal government, but there are times when we can’t escape having history go down in our own backyard. When rioters broke into the Capitol building on Wednesday, photographers put their lives at risk to report out what was really happening on the ground. We know many of you were out this week and will continue to be through the Presidential Inauguration, and we want you to know how much we appreciate your documentation of these unprecedented times. Stay safe and keep pressing on, D.C.

• Our annual Exposed DC Photography Show contest deadline is coming up on Wednesday, January 27. Send in your images that highlight life in D.C. over the last, very strange year.
• Four years ago, Focus on the Story documented the Trump inauguration in a photo project that resulted in the book, “UnPresidented.” This week, they launched the follow-up project “Transition,” which will document the final days of the Trump presidency and the inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
• Join the Library of Congress on Wednesday at 11:00 a.m. for an online exploration of the work and accomplishments of John Wood, the first United States’ federal government photographer.
• The 15th Annual Washington Gardener Magazine Photo Contest is accepting entries through January 22 in four categories: garden views, garden vignettes, small wonders, and garden creatures. The fee to enter is $20, or $15 for magazine subscribers, and includes up to 10 images per entrant. 
• Join the Analog Photography Fireside Chat this Saturday at 1:00 p.m. EST for a free 1-hour webinar where participants can also ask questions of panelists. 
• Richard Silver captures space in unique and unexpected ways, as seen through the work in his upcoming “Vertical Churches” book which he talks about on My Modern Met’s Top Artist Podcast this week.
• Paul Cupido’s Japan photo series finds beauty in emptiness.
• Award-winning aerial photographer Brad Walls’ new series “Ballerine de l’air” was inspired by Olive Cotton’s 1935 photograph, “Tea cup ballet.”

Happy New Year! As we kick off 2021, we invite you to share your favorite images that showcase what it’s like to live, love, and work in the D.C. metro area by entering our 15th annual photography contest! The deadline for entries is January 27 so you still have time to look over the images you’ve already taken or get inspired to create new ones that capture the beginning of this new year. Either way, we can’t wait to see this place we call home through your eyes!

• The New York Times recaps the strangeness and surreality of 2020 through images.
• Photographer Polly Irungu wanted to find a way to spotlight and support Black women photographers, so she created a community and database to do just that.
• A photo of two widowed penguins appearing to comfort one another in Australia was selected as one of the winners in Oceanographic magazine’s Ocean Photography Awards.
• New Atlas gathered their favorite images from the top photography competitions of the last 12 months.
• In the December 1955 issue, Popular Mechanics hopped in the cockpit with photographers of a growing profession called “jetography.”
• Video games have incorporated virtual photography, and Cyberpunk 2077 is even holding a photo contest for players: Shutterpunk 2077. 
• Earlier this month, Jupiter and Saturn appeared closer together in the sky than they have in centuries; Jason De Freitas photographed the Great Conjunction event, capturing the International Space Station appearing to fly between the glowing planets.
• The Phillips Collection’s Community in Focus photography project is now available in an online exhibition format.

Join us tomorrow night at 6 p.m. for the inaugural “People, Pixels & Prints” episode on Instagram Live. Host and creator Shedrick Pelt will be chatting with three photographers featured in the “rise up” exhibition chronicling the Black Lives Matter movement and uprising: Kenny Holston, Shelby Swann, and Mukul Ranjan. Follow @exposed_dc on Instagram and tune in tomorrow for a chance to win one of the prints discussed on the show!

• Camera collector William Fagan obtained a mysterious roll of film when he bought a Leica Illa years ago and just recently had it developed and is now looking for anyone who recognizes the people in the photos.
• As part of “The World Through a Lens” series from The New York Times, Richard Frishman shares a collection of powerful images that show the ghosts of segregation throughout the United States.
• Entries are now open for the Focus on the Story Portrait Awards 2021. The call is open to all genres of portraiture, including environmental, studio, fine art, family, candid, and street.
• Photoworks is holding a virtual benefit tomorrow at 7 p.m. that will include a photo raffle and a sneak peek of filmmaker and special guest Ann Segal’s new documentary “Light on Iowa” a conversation with photographer Nancy Rexroth.
• For forty years, respected community photographer and local activist Nancy Shia has lived in an apartment on the corner of Ontario Street and Columbia Road and taken countless photographs of the Columbia Heights, Adams Morgan, and Mount Pleasant neighborhoods.
• National Geographic shares 10 unforgettable images from their Year in Pictures issue.
• Nikon and the National Gallery are partnering on a free, joint webinar exploring the similarities and differences between photography and painting, focusing on still life. The session is Tuesday, December 15 at noon EST.
• Photographer Bob Gruen talks to NPR about his experience capturing the lives and performances of rock stars over the decades and key moments in his career.
• Ron Hoffer captured his experiences working in Eastern Europe in the tumultuous 1990s in a new photo memoir that was published in Germany before the pandemic hit and is now available in the U.S. The publisher’s website provides a sneak peek, and copies are currently available at Politics and Prose, through other independent booksellers, or directly from the author.