Images Rule the City at FotoWeek DC
Scarcely a day goes by that I don’t take a photograph, but I rarely do it with any technique, or to trap beauty. The premise is usually much lighter, the purpose more attainable – taking scouting shots for the magazine, or sending a quick note to a friend. Images, by and large, are how we document and communicate these days – they are so much easier than typing it all out.
Photograph by Maxwell MacKenzie
At my level, it’s easy to forget how sublime photographs can be when they are considered, meaningful, when the photographer has a gift for the work. Starting tonight, FotoWeek DC, a one-year-old international photography festival on a meteoric rise, storms the city with thousands of powerful images.
Photograph by Denise Grunstein
There’s no central event – the festival is a collage of all things photography. You’ll find events for children, amateurs, art photographers, architectural photographers, and photojournalists. Panel discussions, juried shows, and a competition with a hefty cash prize play into the mix, too. (For a list of notable FotoWeek events, go here; iPhone users can even download the FotoWeek app here.)
Photograph of visitors to last year’s festival by Maxwell MacKenzie
Exhibits break photography down to its chemicals and mechanisms. Photograms on glass at Irvine Contemporary and photographs on ceramics at Cross MacKenzie Ceramic Arts are especially intriguing. Discussions of political images led by Pulitzer Prize winner Lucian Perkins, a former Washington Post photographer, and “for the trade” talks about making a living with pictures sound particularly promising.
Photographs from Iraq and South Africa by Lucian Perkins
The whole festival is inventive, modern, and inclusive. Images will be projected on museums and monuments throughout the city, and tonight’s “NightVisions” event pushes participants to investigate the city during the wee hours with their cameras, high on coffee and adrenaline, to print their images at the FotoWeek lab in the morning.
Projected images from last year’s festival, photographs by Paul Fetters
The all-over-the-map, come-one-come-all nature of FotoWeek is a little like the practice of photography itself – the way it’s now done by everyone, everywhere. “It’s a very accessible medium,” said Theo Adamstein, the event’s founder. “But we’re very concerned that the quality of what we present is very high. The shows have to be powerful.”
Photograph by Romeo J. Keeler
Many local galleries and the big museums set their own exhibits and programs, but they’re all being promoted under the FotoWeek umbrella, and the surge of traffic from FotoWeek crowds helps give the work broader exposure.
Photographs by Linda Plaisted
For Architect Adamstein of Adamstein & Demetriou Architects, who was also the founder of Chrome Imaging, the professional photo lab in Washington, DC, and an avid photographer himself, the city is a natural fit for the festival because of our world-class museums, the healthy gallery scene, and the sheer number of media professionals and organizations focused on the practice of taking pictures. Participants come from across the U.S. and the rest of the world. “It’s work that would never have come here otherwise. There’s a spontaneity to the way these things happen,” he says.
Photograph by Lotte Floe Christensen
Through Nov. 14, most events are free.
Please visit my blog, where I mentioned you in a post on burlap…Chamara
Where can I see more of the work of Linda Plaisted, seen above? Stunning!
Yeah, I like her work too - a little moody, but also friendly.
Here’s Linda’s Web site: http://lindaplaisted.com/home.html
Happy browsing! EL
Thank you Emily. Wow! Moody and dreamy and full of interesting stories. I’m think I’m going to give prints of her work as gifts for the holidays. They’re actually quite affordable. Where is she showing for Fototweek? I’d like to see her work in person.
Ah, good idea! I believe she was a finalist in the competition, but I’ve asked the FotoWeek people. Will keep you posted!
Thank you so much, Emily for featuring photographs from my “Luna Park” series on Washington Spaces.
I entered a series of six pieces of carnival imagery in the Fine Art Series category for Fotoweek DC. While I was considered as a finalist, my work was not exhibited in any of the 60 venues throughout the city this week, except as a thumbnail on the cover of the Fotoweek program. While I show my work in galleries and museums around the country, I am a local DC artist and would certainly love the opportunity to show my work in person here in my own city.
Images from the “Luna Park” series and my entire portfolio can be viewed at my web site.
Thank you again for your interest and for bringing my imagery to the attention of your readers.
Linda Plaisted
Many Muses Studio http://lindaplaisted.com
Sure! Thanks for the info. Keep snapping, & let us know when we can see your work in town.
EL