This week we have a follow up story to the D.C. photojournalist knocked to the ground at the Smithsonian, D.C. family portraits at Bread for the City, The Virginia State Police declaring photography suspicious, and much more.

• Tomorrow is the anniversary of the massacre at Sandyhook Elementary School in Newtown, CT. Shannon Hicks shares the story behind her photo from that day with PDN.
• “The White House-based press corps was prohibited from photographing Mr. Obama on his first day at work in January 2009. Instead, a set of carefully vetted images was released. Since then the press has been allowed to photograph him alone in the Oval Office only twice: in 2009 and in 2010, both times when he was speaking on the phone. Pictures of him at work with his staff in the Oval Office — activities to which previous administrations routinely granted access — have never been allowed.” New York Times Op-Ed on President Obama’s Orwellian image control policies.
• We mentioned last week that photojournalist Kristoffer Tipplaar was brought to the ground by security guards at the Smithsonian. Petapixel got the full story, and it appears that the guards made more than one error.
• TIME chose Muhammed Muheisen as their Best Wire Photographer of the Year.
• Tips from Elliott Erwitt on how to make great photos.
• Oh ThinkGeek you are killing us! Why would anyone want an oversized camera lens pillow? Isn’t the camera lens mug bad enough? Add that to the list of things that won’t make our gift guide.
• Taking photographs can ruin your memory of an event. To avoid the “photo-taking impairment effect” we suggest hiring a professional to take your photos for you. Wedding photographers, use science as your reason to tell Uncle with the nice camera to get out of your way.
• Here we go. The Virginia State Police have a new “crime fighting” app that allows users to report suspicious activity directly to the police. What type of activity? “Suspicious photography, vehicles or people in places that just look ‘out of place’.”
• Lovely photos of Environmental Art on the My Modern Met blog. The eggs on the pavement are very cool.
• The folks at the Smithsonian American Art Museum spoke to Muriel Hasbun about some of her work in the current exhibitions A Democracy of Images: Photographs from the Smithsonian American Art Museum and Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art.
  
• We can be royals! Photographer Alison Jackson made images of the Royal Family at home for the Christmas Holiday. Her fantastical, made up photographs made Sandringham look like a very exciting place to spend the holiday.
• The New York Times article on homelessness this week gathered a lot of attention. If you haven’t seen the accompanying photographs, they are worth spending some time on.
• Bread for the City recently celebrated 5 years of helping D.C. families get a Holiday Portrait.
• And finally, Kristin Harper created stunning images of a Bengal tiger diving for food in a pool of water.