Washington DC can be the most over-photographed and under-photographed
place on earth. Swarms of tourists pour into the cityʼs streets snapping an infinite number of photos of the cityʼs monuments, parks and government buildings. However life in the district is not solely confined to monuments and politics. The city presents for those who dig slightly deeper, a variety of scenes that are seemingly unrelated to the picturesque patriotism of the tourist areas. It has been suggested many times that Washington is merely a city of transplanted people, and does not have the cultural identity of most other metropolitan areas. However after living here for four years I have found that Washington has an identity. This identity is of a town that exists alongside tourism, government and transplanted people. It is a city whose local events are also national events. Where you can see a gridlocked street and an empty sidewalk and a homeless person sleeping across the street from the department of housing and urban development. This is the city that I hope to depict, through photographic stories that document the change from winter to spring, and the unique life of the city that exists within Washington DC.
My project will look at the Washington that isn't on the postcards. Not necessarily the negative aspects of life here, but the life of the city as I have experienced it. Each photographic story will highlight scenes that I have seen and would like to experience in greater depth. I plan to look at the vast differences between neighborhoods, creating aseries of urban landscapes. I plan to look at who lives here, and the variety of lifestyles within the city. I will explore the cityʼs events, and how a local event can also be a national event. I plan on showing these scenes as portraits, (urban) landscapes and documentary/photojournalistic style photographs.
This project is primarily an opportunity to develop new styles of photography that I have not had the opportunity to explore, such as documentary or urban landscapes. Most of my photography thus far has been landscape and portraiture, as these are subjects that I have found readily available. Looking at these subjects should present a new opportunity for me to photograph things that I normally wouldn't seek out. I have been looking at several prominent documentary photographersʼ work and processes so that I have some idea of what to do. By picking this subject I am forcing myself to look at the world around myself in a new way. For this project I will not always be looking for what is beautiful, but what tells a story.
