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!

This entry was posted on Monday, November 17th, 2008 at 12:39 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.