No, we’re not quite ready for another whirlwind week of gallery openings, discussions and galas, but we are slowly evolving the many ideas behind Fotoweek into a continuing organization. Keep an eye on the site and this blog to hear about our endeavors (and the whispers I’m hearing say this stuff is going to be huge).

To kick things off, we’re jumping into the fray and excitement of the Inauguration of Barack Obama as President of the United States in the next few days by annoucning fotobama, a photography contest featuring your images from the campaign, election, and inauguration. Anyone can submit their work from now until March 15, and the winners get some sweet, sweet prizes. To start with, the top 100 finalists will have their work hung at the Newseum, our partner for the contest. The Newseum opened on Pennsylvania Avenue in April 2008, with seven floors and 250,000 square feet of galleries and studios featuring the history and future of journalism.

Here’s more info from our official press release, and remember, if you haven’t taken an image, you have until March 15 to capture the excitement and reactions during this time of change.

Dear Friend of FotoWeek DC,

In keeping with our mission to bring you the best of all things photographic, FotoWeek DC and The Newseum proudly announce fotobamaweek, an international photography contest celebrating the Presidential campaign and the Inauguration of Barack Obama.

Take that amazing image during Inauguration week, or find one you have already shot that captures the spirit of the Presidential Campaign, and the Election. Amateur and professional photographers anywhere in the world are invited to enter the fotobamaweek contest. You may not have a front row seat to the Swearing-In Ceremony, but what about that impromptu moment captured at a campaign rally, or election night at your own private party? Iconic impressions are yours for the taking, wherever you are, here in Washington or abroad. Enter photos taken with digital, film or even cell phone cameras, but please submit them electronically.

• Top 100 winning images, selected by The Newseum’s panel of judges, will be exhibited at The Newseum
• All 100 winning images will be published in a limited edition book sponsored by FotoWeek DC
• Grand prize winners will be announced at a reception at The Newseum.
• Cash prizes totaling $5,000
• All images submitted will be on display at FotoWeek DC’s on-line gallery, along with People’s Choice winners
• The fotobamaweek contest opens January 15, 2009 and closes March 15, 2009.

  REGISTER NOW at Fotoweek DC

  Proceeds from the fotobamaweek contest will help continue to fund FotoWeek DC’s nonprofit core activities, including community programs shared with visitors from around the world.

  Good luck with the contest!

  From all of us at FotoWeek DC

Photo by Brian Knight

Whew! It took us a few days to recover from everything and let it really sink in that the first Fotoweek DC festival is actually over. So many people spent nearly a year putting this massive event together, and it came off beautifully. We’ve heard so many kind words about the exhibits down at headquarters, the chance to meet impressive photography figures, and the different ways there were to learn even one new thing about photography or the industry. We’ve heard especially kind words about the lunchtime lecture series that the Discovery Channel put together so well, providing lunch for a sold-out crowd all five days.

Saturday night was the big gala and awards ceremony at National Geographic. Theo Adamstein started off by thanking, not just a few, but every person and organization that put their hands together to make Fotoweek happen, and you could just feel the love in the room after every name. Speaking for myself, I know how many hours I’ve willingly put in for this great cause doing the blog, and can only imagine the massive number of hours that all these other folks have contributed to create far, far bigger and better projects.

Then the awards kicked off, with each finalists’ photo being shown on the big screen, and the Silver and Gold winners announced and handed their prizes. Congrats to every one of the deserving winners, and if you’re not already doing great things, we have no doubt we’ll be seeing them from you soon enough. Oh, and Tipper Gore (one of the Fotoweek jurors) even came to applaude the winners.

Afterwards, we all headed out of the auditorium to the gala room where we drank (courtesy of many generous alcohol benefactors) and ate (mini chicken cordon bleus anyone?) and met new and interesting folks all night.

On behalf of everyone involved with Fotoweek, we want to thank YOU, the gallery-goer, the lecture-attender, the reception-drinker, so much for taking part in the festivities of the last week. Rumor is that attendance numbers festival-wide totaled around 20,000 — a phenomenal tally for a maiden voyage. We hope you learned something, met someone new, and felt inspired by the amazing people who live here. We hope to see you again next year, maybe in our contest (which is on track to go international next year), or maybe at a portfolio review with your new work, or maybe just strolling outside enjoying some giant projections downtown. All of you made this festival a success, so thank you.

A special thanks to Angela Kleis, my blog assistant (and talented photographer in her own right), who interviewed gallery owners all over town to produce most of the exhibition posts.

Check out Brian Knight’s Flickr stream for more gorgeous pictures from the gala, and photos from everyone who attended the week’s many events.

Until next year!

We’re a little sad to see the Fotoweek festival winding down.  Today is the final day of the first city-wide celebration of photography and with so much left to see, here is the rundown of today’s events, Saturday, November 22.

First of all, if you don’t yet have your tickets for tonight’s Gala, what are you waiting for?  Here’s your chance to congratulate the Fotoweek finalists and mix and mingle with industry big-wigs.  8:30-11:30 p.m. at National Geographic.

After you’ve bought your tickets to the Gala, head over to the Photoworks Gallery at Glen Echo Park at 2pm for Pixel Portfolios:  A Digital Portfolio Review.  Have your work reviewed by experienced photographers and learn how to take your photography to the next level.

Head over to Fotoweek Central to take in the exhibits and amazing photographs.  While you are there, don’t miss the display of books.  Flip through them and make mental notes of the ones you need for your own bookshelves.  If you have already visited this exhibit, no doubt you saw Josef Koudelka’s “Prague 68″ book, full of photos documenting the 1968 Soviet Invasion of Prague.  The reception for his show at the Katzen Art Center at American University is tonight from 6-9pm.

Don’t forget to tell us your experiences. We want to know what worked, what didn’t, and how we can make Fotoweek even better next time!

With one more day left, there’s a lot to see and experience.  Here are the highlights for today, Friday, November 21.

Schedule your lunch a little early today and head over to Discovery Communications for their last Fotoweek Lunchtime Lecture.  Discovery Photo Services presents a lineup of photo industry leaders who will discuss the latest trends.  Noon at the Discovery Communications Headquarters in Silver Spring, Md.

Your other noon-time option is the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art Brownbag Lunch Lecture. Laura Katzman, Associate Professor of Art History at James Madison University, will present “Picturing Puerto Rico Under the American Flag: The New Deal Photographs of Edwin and Louise Rosskam”.   

This evening is jam-packed with Fotoweek-related events, so try to escape work a little early to fit them all in.  At 5 p.m., head over to the Gallery at Flashpoint for the opening reception of Elena Volkova: Airscapes.  These light and airy photographs of the sky and clouds, taken mostly from airplane windows, will wash away the work-week stress and get you into top weekend form.

Next, head over to the Willard Hotel Office Buildings at 5:30 p.m. for Andrew Zimmermann’s large format silver gelatin prints.  

From 6 to 8 p.m., be sure to check out the opening reception for Parish Gallery’s “More Than You Know” Group Show.  This collection of photographs will challenge what you think you know about our city.

And, don’t miss the PixTour Reception at Warehouse Gallery from 6 to 10 p.m.  This group show of PixTour photographers provides a unique perspective of the local emerging artist crowd. 

For a full listing of today’s events, be sure to visit the Fotoweek Events Calendar.  Tomorrow is the last day of this city-wide celebration!!

Your blog editor has been hitting up as many events as possible, and will concede it’s a whirlwind and a challenge to get to everything I’d like to.

Last night I went with some friends to the Sixth and I Synogogue to see Josh Cogan’s work. The room was packed with people (and lots of yummy treats), all to see a rather fantastic show. Cogan has traveled the world and focuses his eye on people in their elements, finding displays of cultural differences in often spectacular displays of color. He calls the exhibit Soul Cages, really grasping his use of a camera to reach into people’s souls. Highly recommended, even if you missed the cupcakes.

I also went to the artist panel at Hillyer for Known Unknowns, curated by Amanda Maddox from the Corcoran, in conjunction with the WPA. I saw this exhibit a couple weeks ago when it opened, but was fascinated to hear the four photographers, who ranged in backgrounds and styles, speak about their work, and hear why Maddox chose to put them together. I certainly left with some things to think about.

Paul Fetters chimes in again with his experiences from last night:

Arguably the event of the week. ASMP and FotoWeekDC collaborated Wednesday night to bring the living photographic legends Eugene Richards and David Burnett.

Burnett wow’d the overflow crowd of 300 with images from his 40 years of covering the events of our lifetime. David started in Viet Nam and just recently came off the Obama campaign. Richards with 35 years of work to his credit had the crowd completely silenced while showing work from his 14 books that range in topics from his first wife’s struggle with breast cancer to Americans living in poverty.

What have you seen this week? Did it make you think about your own photography, or how to view photography any differently?

Since it’s impossible to get to everything going on during Fotoweek, we’ve been asking around to see how all the other events are going. A few folks were kind of enough to send us their impressions — please leave your own in the comments!

Barbara Tyroler, who teaches photography for the University of Maryland’s studio art department, told us

The Photoworks auction was amazing. Wonderful food, great cheer, great networking.. as was the Portfolio Review.

I planned to attend the ASPP mentoring event with my students at National Press Club, but it was sold out!!

Many of my students were at Fotoweek Central all weekend and thought it was an incredible experience.

Am hoping to hop around tomorrow night to various events… so many!

We can sympathize with that (I also wanted to attend the ASPP event!). Paul Fetters chimed in a couple days ago:

Irene [Owsley] and I attended the photo auction at PhotoWorks in Glen Echo last night. It was wonderful. Frank van Riper was the auctioneer and made it fun for everyone involved. Great images raffled off with the proceeds going to the school. We have signed up to come back next year. What a generous and fun community.

We just got back from the ASPP Mentoring event. Full house of 130 people at the Press Club listening to Jay Sumner, the Photo Editor at National Geographic Kids, kick off the “mentoring” program with funny stories from her life as a photo-assistant and helpful tips about how to approach photo-editors at various publications. A very large and enthusiastic crowd. The grand prize winner, Mandy Jones, of the Youth Photo Contest got a special leave from her boarding school to attend and she was thrilled to be meeting photo editors.

The town is buzzing with and about photography. We couldn’t have dreamed this any better.

Another festival-goer had this to say:

Finalists have been filtering in to see their work hung in the Fotoweek Central building and are very excited. Even those whose images didn’t make the finalist list are coming in to see their image displayed on one of the “thumbnail” boards. People are spending hours looking to find their image
and are excited to be a part of this festival.

Last night’s Zone Zero opening of Chris Morris’ work was wonderful. First time I had met him and he’s so real, so focused, so talented and the work was great. Loved what he spoke about too — highlighting the differences between what you might find at a Republican convention versus a Democratic
convention . . .it was fascinating.

Also Mattias Klum (nat. geo. photographer) gave a talk on Borneo last night that was eye opening. with humor and his own body animation in telling stories from the field, he showed two sides of Borneo. the dream, which were beautiful images of the land and animals within it . .. and the reality, which showed what’s happening to the land (logging). But it was very well done.

It’s so exciting to see so many people being able to take advantage of so many events. We’ll have more for you soon, so please send yours in and let us know how it’s going!

Thursday, November 20

Another round-up of today’s Fotoweek DC events! 

Discovery Communications’ Lunchtime Lecture today is with photographer and environmentalist Colin Finley at noon. 

Take advantage of the Greenbelt Community Center’s Artwork Document service this afternoon.  From 1 to 9 p.m. today, professional photographer and Greenbelt Recreation Department instructor David Ashman will be available to photograph your artwork: 2D or 3D, up to 5′ in any dimension.  Advanced registration is required, so call this morning!

If you’re shopping around for a new printer, don’t miss the Epson Print Demo at the Penn Camera in Laurel, Maryland, today from 2 to 5 p.m.  Bring your camera with some images to test out different papers. 

It’s going to be a busy evening, so be sure to check the Fotoweek calendar!  Our picks include the LUMAS Gallery Grand Opening Celebration from 6 to 11 p.m.  The new gallery represents over 120 contemporary photographers and classic estates. 

Another opening to consider is the Women by Women: A Juried Exhibition of the Women Photojournalists of Washington (WPOW) at the Sewall-Belmont House and Museum.  There will be a silent print auction of signed copies of all the prints in the show at tonight’s opening. 

While you’re out, don’t forget about Night Gallery DC!  These monumental projections of photographs move to the Smithsonian’s Museum of American History tonight until Saturday.  5 to 10 p.m., Madison Avenue between 14th and 12th Streets, N.W., on the National Mall.

And, if you haven’t been to Fotoweek Central yet, tonight’s hours are extended to 9 p.m.

Sorry, folks!  Your blog writers have been so busy trying to get to as many Fotoweek exhibits and events possible, that we neglected to post the daily highlights as we’d intended.  Each morning, look for our post of the day’s must-see Fotoweek events to help you navigate the celebration and maximize your experience!

Wednesday, November 19

If you have time to escape for lunch today, there are two events worth considering.  At 11:20am, Frank Van Riper will be moderating a Panel Discussion, “Digital Photojournalism Today”, at Weschler Theatre on the American University campus.

There are two noon-time lectures to choose from:   The Smithsonian Archives of American Art is hosting a Brown Bag Lunch Lecture, “From Paper to Digital: The Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art Evolves.”  And, Discovery Communications in Silver Spring, Md, has DC photographer Michael Cunningham for their Lunchtime Lecture series today.

There are a lot of events going on tonight, so be sure to check out the calendar before heading out.  Our pick is the evening lecture and booksigning by Frank Van Riper and Judith Goodman for the new book “Serenissima: Venice in Winter” at 6:30pm at the Embassy of Italy, and the Critical Exposure Auction, which benefits their efforts to introduce inner-city students to photography. The auction will consist of work by professional photographers, including Joyce Tenneson, Steve McCurry, Michael Weintrob, and others from National Geographic and Magnum Photos. Starts at 6:30 p.m. at the L2 Lounge; $75.

Photo by Jason Colston

Fotoweek DC has only been geared up for two days and we’re already hearing fantastic things about everything going on around town. We hope you were one of the thousands of people who took advantage of the weekend to check out Fotoweek HQ, to register for the festival and RSVP for Saturday’s big gala, but truly to see two huge venues filled floor to ceiling (on multiple floors) with amazing, thought provoking photography.

I put on some comfy shoes and headed down today and was overwhelmed to see everything we’ve planned over the last year come to fruition. The tech pavilion is spectacular — a gear-heads paradise. There are Canon, Nikon, Sony, Olympus and Tamron lenses and camera bodies just sitting out everywhere for you to play with; tons of knowledgeable and friendly guys to answer you’re questions, whether your a beginner or pro. I picked up a 10% coupon off my next rental at Penn Camera (which is a great way to try out new gear). There are camera and laptop bags on display, and a bunch of drawings for free cameras.

Upstairs is the contest finalist show, all beautifully printed compliments of Chrome Imaging. While I was there the lecture room was filled with some interesting discussion on the uses of geotagging. I’d just eaten, but the tea sandwiches and treats for sale at the Foto Cafe looked delicious.

Across the street, you have to decide if you want to do the huge publisher’s photobook exhibit first or last. I opted for last because I knew otherwise I’d get sucked into it forever. There are books on architecture, pop culture, photojournalism, and fine art. Books on dogs, superhero fashions, and burlesque dancers. Books from Magnum, about the Top 50 Photographers You Should Know, and books from a few guys I’d never heard of, but do now.

In the Contact/s exhibit, huge contact sheets (printed by Adamson Editions) hang from the ceiling around the expanse of the room, highlighted with choice prints from each sheet. Downstairs three projectors are going with famous faces in iconic images, next to prints from Black Star, next to the international Embassies exhibit.

And if you keep your eyes peeled for a special group of folks carrying looks that seem to be a cross between bubbling excitement and proud contentment, you’ll have run across one of the Fotoweek board members — stop them and say thanks!

While there are many unbelievable exhibits to see over this upcoming week, it’s hard to sort through them all.  Yesterday we gave you our Top Ten events you cannot miss; today we’ve compiled our own Top Ten list of exhibits that we, your blog writers, can’t wait to see for ourselves.  Use our list, or make your own using the Gallery & Museum and Embassy & Publisher listings on the Fotoweek website.  Information about each exhibit including dates and location conveniently organized by venue.  Our top ten (in no particular order):

1) Faux/Real
Heineman Meyers Contemporary Art
4728 Hampden Lane
Bethesda, MD 20814

2)   A Group Exhibition of Work by 6 Notable Photographers
Fraser Gallery
 7700 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite E
Bethesda, MD 20814

3)  Elena Volkova: Airscapes
Gallery at Flashpoint
916 G Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001

4) They Came from Beyond the Beltway: Tourists at the National Mall Photographs by Lucian Perkins
Carroll Square
975 F Street, NW
Washington, DC 20004

5)  Invasion 68 Prague
American University Museum at the Katzen Art Center
4400 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20016

6)  Odysseys & Photographs:  Masters from National Geographic
National Geographic Museum
1145 17th Street, NW
Washington, DC  20036
202.857.7588

7)  Temporary Constructions: New Photographs by Stirling Elmendorf and Mark Parascandola
Nevin Kelly Gallery
1517 U Street, NW
Washington, DC  20009

8 ) Contact/s: The Art of Photojournalism
Fotoweek Central
3333 M Street, NW
Washington, DC  20007

9)  PixTour
33 Locations Throughout the City featuring photography by local artists

10) Exhibit of Fotoweek Contest Finalists. (And while we’re at it, *everything* at Fotoweek Central)