A ship in harbor is safe — but that is not what ships are built for.
- John A. Shedd

2011 was the year I decided that a camera in a bag was a dead camera. Our photographic tools (DSLRs, point-and-shoots, iPhones) are designed to be used. That’s where they’re built for.

I’m also fortunate/cursed to live in interesting times, as protests descend upon Washington. I know the city well and can get just about anywhere quickly by walking or biking.

So, I decided that I would use my Canon T2i and iPhone 4 to document political protests, art events, food and just interesting things I saw in the city.

Protests

One of my favorite photos of the year was from an OccupyDC protest:

While I took a lot of other pictures of this Key Bridge march, the Amaro filter in Instagram gave this picture a very warm 1970s-style. Ironically, it was freezing that day and the sun had just emerged for a couple minutes late in the day.

This “hippie protester” was part of the OccupyDC movement. Most groups come to Washington, march around, and leave. These people stayed. They turned McPherson Square into a squalid encampment and have disrupted the lives of the 99% (the people they claim to represent) by continually blocking traffic during rush hour.

The turning point for me came a month later, during their barn raising in McPherson Square. It was a small, silly event:

If you added up all the protesters, police, media and tourists, there couldn’t be more than a couple hundred people involved. But CNN covered it as if it was some sort of mass insurrection. A stand-off with police is always good TV.

Another way the media got things wrong was a laughable article on the McPherson Square camp as a model of new urbanism. The piece is filled with so many factual mistakes and academic-speak that I thought it was a parody. The thesis that the Occupy movement has “activated” the park can be demolished by actually visiting the camp, which is nothing but muddy tents and masked anarchists.

OccupyDC, can’t you come up with something more modern than marching in the streets like 1930s strikers? As an example of effective and innovative political action, check out DC Flag Day, where residents demonstrated their love of the city.

This woman is rocking the red heels as she advocates for DC statehood.

Art

Protesters could learn a lot from arts advocates in this city. I’m fortunate to be friends with the amazing Philippa Hughes, arts promoter extraordinaire. She’s reinvented the local arts scene with the Pink Line Project (who I write for occasionally). Philippa doesn’t do staid art gallery openings. She always has a different take on these events, designed to attract people who aren’t normally interested in the arts

She’s seen here at Audio Warhol, which is a perfect example of her work, making art fun and accessible to ordinary people. Watching strings perform an avant-garde piece in the National Gallery of Art was one of the most beautiful things I experienced all year.

Dancers and actors are an alien species to me, which is perhaps why I find them so fascinating. Getting up on stage and performing? That would be my nightmare.

But some can do it, even in the hundred-degree heat of Dance Day DC. In addition to capturing Redskins cheerleaders and the very loud Mary Murphy, I got this photo which I love:

Black and white works really well in dance. And how did the girl on the left get up so high?

Leo Bloom: Actors are not animals! They’re human beings!
Max Bialystock: They are? Have you ever eaten with one?

I love that quote from The Producers. My favorite part of the year is the DC Shorts Film Festival. And one of the coolest things about DC Shorts is the short screenplay competition, where the winner receives $2000 to turn their script into a short film.

Out of more than a hundred submissions, we chose five finalists who performed their scripts with actors in a a live screenplay reading. One of the writers couldn’t make it, so I filled in, casting and directing his script.

Here’s the annotated script of Desdemona, the script that we performed. I read the descriptions while actors played the different characters in the story.

While I admire actors, dancers and other creative types, I draw the line at performance artists. I always thought that they were crazy and my suspicions were confirmed by my encounter with Agnes Bolt. You can read the story of an art experiment gone wrong. Or just look at her eyes in this picture:

Weirdly, the bubble that Bolt lived in is now part of OccupyDC, which is appropriate because they’re both acts of meaningless theater.

Bikes

I must mention my obsession with bikes. One of the things that I love about DC is you don’t need a car. I bike everywhere so of course I took pictures of Bike to Work Day, as well as bikes in the snow, pretty girls on bikes, electric bikes and even a bike trail video. But it was this picture that generated the most controversy:

I thought it was funny – a park ranger in a big hat riding a bike. Turns out it’s Bill Line, spokesperson for the National Park Service and opponent of bike sharing on the National Mall. A minor kerfuffle resulted, as local cycling advocates noted the irony as well as Line’s unsafe biking practices. Lesson learned – even your most trivial photos may turn out to be important.

Food

Why is taking pictures of food so much fun? It’s because you’re capturing the memory of a good experience, like the Pink Blast cocktail:

It’s a custom drink for Philippa Hughes – how cool is that?

Peruvian chicken, an afternoon cupcake, a Shake Shack burger, amazing tacos and this delicious chicken curry all fell to my iPhone.

My only regret is not taking pictures of everything I ate in 2011.

Coffee was a recurring theme, however, which why I was glad to go to a coffee tasting at Yola, featuring Jon from DistrictBean.

He can answer anything you’ve ever wanted to know about the black brew.

iPhoneography

My photographic year was also influenced tremendously by the iwishyouwerehere show by Keith Lane at the Hillyer Gallery. Seeing iPhone photos hanging on the wall of an art gallery got me thinking about the photographic possibilities of this ubiquitous electronic device. His show and the earlier InstantDC show demonstrated that you could be an artist with an iPhone – that’s a very liberating thought.

This led to me taking a lot more photos with my iPhone and, just a few months later, winning first place in the Fotoweek Mobile Phone Image Contest.

That’s what’s great about art – it expands your vision in new and creative directions.

Moving Forward

Finally, I present this picture:

It had been rainy, cold and dark for three straight days. It was the worst time of year, when the days are short and night arrives at 5 PM.

I couldn’t take it anymore. I went out for drinks and then wandered the streets. The rain became a light drizzle and I captured this scene.

This represents a lot of what I’m interested in photographically – black and white, an iPhone pic, a city scene, a little lonely and mysterious.

It also demonstrates what a comfort art can be. On a dark, miserable night I was able to create an image that I really enjoyed. I forgot all about the three days of rain as I got this picture. That’s why it means so much to me.

In 2012, where will my camera take me? More food shots, certainly. I’d also like to do some portraits, as well as continuing the document the arts scene that I find so fascinating. I’m also interested in biking culture in DC.

At the start of 2011, I didn’t know I’d be taking so many pictures of protests. It’s hard to predict what the new year will bring. But my camera will be out of the bag and ready to go.

I recently won first place in the Fotoweek Mobile Phone Image Contest. Here’s how I came up with the winning photo.

The theme of the competition was “Fotoweek Through the Mobile Lens”:

Mobile devices allow you to get up close to capture intimate moments, abstract macros, candid street photos, night projects, and what FotoWeek DC Festival means to you this year as you walk around DC and experience all of our events.

I went to several Fotoweek shows but was so busy seeing amazing photos that I hardly took any pictures at all.

So, I decided to visit Fotoweek HQ before the contest ended to see if I could get a good iPhone pic for the competition. Fotoweek HQ (the old Borders on L Street) was filled with exhibits by photojournalists. My original idea was to get a photo of people enjoying the show, like this:

patrons at Fotoweek HQ

In addition to having photographs along the walls, they also had exhibits on panels in the middle of the old Borders space. The bottom part of the panel was open.

displays at Fotoweek

I noticed a little girl with her mom on the other side of the display. I could just see her feet, which struck me as funny and absurd. The blankness of the white panel was really interesting. Here’s the photo I took:

original little girl at Fotoweek photo

I took about ten photos inside Fotoweek HQ of people and art. Once home, however, it was obvious that the best photo was of the little girl’s feet – it was simple and strange.

Instagram is really popular among iPhoneographers. I like this iPhone app and its multiplicity of filters and effects but didn’t use it on this photo. I wanted to keep the image as simple as possible.

Instead, I used Adobe Lightroom to crop out the distracting column, as well as making minor adjustments to the temperature, color and contrast to make it “pop”. Here’s the final result:

little girl at Fotoweek HQ - final

I have a thing for symmetry – the three sections and the horizontal lines appealed to me, as well how the photo is focused on one thing.

In the image you also couldn’t really tell how big she was or where the picture was taken. The white space above her feet doesn’t have much definition and is a little mysterious. This is something that appealed to the judges – there was a pleasant surprise as they realized that the picture was from Fotoweek HQ. It was a good representation of the Fotoweek theme of experiencing the festival.

Just before the deadline, I sent in my photo. I didn’t hear anything back but went to the closing party the next night – I love looking at photographs and drinking beer. I stood at the bar and there my photo was – with First Place next to it!

Lessons Learned

• You can’t win if you don’t play. Take photos and submit them.
• Read the directions. Having been a judge myself (for screenplay contests), I knew that contest directions are important. They wanted photos of Fotoweek, not just interesting mobile photos.
• The best camera you have is the one you have with you. For many of us, that’s the iPhone.

Only three years old, FotoWeek DC has blossomed into a city-wide event encompassing gallery shows, competitions, lectures, workshops, portfolio reviews and parties.

There’s a lot of great free stuff to attend. In addition to gallery shows, there are some interesting lectures and workshops going on this week.

One of them was “To Publish or to Self-Publish” held at the Corcoran over the lunch-hour today. While it was billed as a comparison of traditional photo book publishing against the new on-demand model, the discussion was much broader than this.

Darius Himes and Mary Virginia Swanson, both veterans of the industry, and authors of the upcoming Publish Your Photography Book shared their extensive knowledge of how to publish a photo book. They started at the beginning, from the germination of an idea. Here are my notes of their talk.

What do you want to accomplish? This is the first question you should ask yourself when contemplating publishing a book of your photographs. Do you want to record a special event? Share your artistic vision with the world? Tell a story? Advance your career? They’re all excellent reasons to publish a book.

Before you begin, consider:

1. Your Concept. What’s this book about? As an example, they used Bird by Andrew Zuckerman. Just a glance at the cover reveals what this book is about: birds. It’s not about the photographer. It’s not telling a story. Instead, it’s about finely detailed shots of birds against a white background.

2. Who is Your Audience? With Bird, the intended audience is obviously people who love birds. Consider who might be the audience for your book.

3. Size of the Project. Thinking about your concept and the audience, what’s the size of the project? There are a multitude of printing options these days, from pamphlets to limited edition books costing thousands of dollars. What will your book be like? How do you imagine it?

Once you have these questions answered, you can begin the search for the right publisher.

Which publisher is right for you? Look through photography books (like the many at FotoWeek Satellite Central) and see what their style is. For example, Trolley Books favors a journalistic style, with realistic subjects and serious presentation. Another good resource for photography books: photo-eye.

How do projects get published? Not through blind submissions. These slush pile offerings have almost no chance, according to Himes and Swanson. Instead, publishers find new photographers through industry events, such as portfolio reviews and going to shows. Also from referrals from other photographers. One big difference between the literary world and photography – there are almost no photo book agents, because there’s no money in it.

Should you self-publish or not? You should self-publish if you’re familiar with your audience and know how to reach them. Self-publishing is also a good bet if you’re comfortable working with technology. It’s also helpful to know a designer, to ensure that your book looks like a work of art, rather than something stamped off a printing press.

There have been self-publishing success stories, such as:

• Loli Kantor – she published a beautiful signed, limited-edition book on Jewish life in Eastern Europe today.
• Allison V. Smith – she creates funky photo zines, including one for the Fort Worth Opera with the great headline, “It’s opera, y’all.”
• My Brother’s War – photographer Jessica Hines partnered with book designer Elizabeth Avedon to create this book using Blurb, the print on demand service.
• A Year of Mornings – this is a case of a blog becoming a book, as two friends share photos of their lives.

My thoughts:

Why not self-publish? Though they didn’t say it, the traditional photography book publishing model seems just as doomed as the regular book publishing model. There’s not much money involved and, given the printing costs and low-print runs, if any photography book breaks even, I’m sure that’s considered a success.

Hire a designer. In the lecture, Swanson talked about how closely Jessica Hines worked with her book designer to create a distinctive work of art. The designer created unique layouts, font choices and other design elements to match the subject matter. I’ve worked a bit in Blurb and, while it’s easy to create a book, you need some design skills to create something that looks art.

What would you buy? I confess that most of my photography book purchases have been from the remainder pile at Borders. However, the zine model Allison V. Smith uses is really attractive to me – I would buy such works from my favorite DC photogs.

And, after all, I published a novel so of course I think more photographers should make photo books. All you have to invest is your time.

Last night, I braved the cold to attend a seminar entitled The Nature of Transition by photographer Steve Uzzell. It was part of FotoWeek, the seven day celebration of photography in Washington.

The theme of the seminar was on transition in our lives, how it is something to be embraced rather than feared. After all, as humans we’re constantly in a state of change as we live and evolve. Uzzell, who primarily shoots commercial work, got the idea for the presentation after hearing from clients that their organizations were in transition. As someone who received their last regular paycheck in 1975, he thought he had something to say on the subject – and he had the photos to communicate his message. 

For lack of a better term, I’d call his presentation a “magical slide show.” After an introduction to set the stage, he turned down the lights and talked in a conversational tone about the universal nature of transition while he showed iconic pictures from his work over the years. We’re drawn to transition, for its promise of growth, movement and clarity. It’s the most dynamic place to be. But how do we get in transition and best take advantage of it?

1. Curiosity. All transitions begin with wanting to know what’s down the road, behind that door or over that bridge (one of his favorite photographic subjects). As a species, we’re naturally curious. This curiosity leads to growth and away from stasis.

2. Passion. Uzzell illustrated this point with a lovely photo of a little boy pretending to conduct a band. That’s what passion is – we need to get out of our seats and take part in the action, drawn in by our curiosity about the experience. Passion provides the energy necessary to drive through the transition. 

3. Commitment. This is the courage to sail into the storm, to take the hard way when everyone else takes the easy one. Uzzell had a great photo of a couple ignoring an easy trail to the summit of a mountain in favor of a more difficult route. Fueled by passion, you’re committed because you feel mentally and physically engaged by what you’re doing. And by completing what you thought to be impossible, the limits impose by your own mind are removed.

4. Accountability. You must be willing to accept the consequences of your actions – and inactions. You must stick things through.

Transitions have a beginning, middle and an end, which is the start of a new transition. Seen this way, being in transition is not something temporary but our permanent state. Why avoid it?