Every camera bag should have a lens cleaning cloth, an extra memory card and most important, an extra battery. Additionally, the accessories listed below might come in handy.

 A clear glass filter designed to protect your front lens element from scratches or other damage. Get one for each lens and leave it on, unless you're using a different filter. No stacking filters.

Sunglasses for your lenses. Use on a bright sunny day to help increase saturation and contrast. Also use to remove glare on water, windows and foliage.

When you need a slow shutter speed in daylight, this filter helps prevent overexposure.
Perfect for photographing waterfalls in daylight.

Shoot in the rain or snow and use a rain sleeve to protect your camera and lens.

If you struggle to see your LCD screen when you're shooing outdoors on a sunny day, try one of these loupes. 

Visit their website at
https://www.hoodmanusa.com/HoodLoupes-s/128.htm

Telephoto, wide angle, fish eye and macro are some of our favorites. They also have filters for smartphones.

Visit their website at
https://www.shopmoment.com/shop/categories/all?collection=photographer-collection

When your fingers are too big for editing on your phone, a stylus is a the way to go.

Visit their website at
https://tenonedesign.com/pogo.php

Ongoing VIRTUAL exhibit

"Sailors and Daughters" reveals the expansive maritime societies of Zanzibar, the east African coast, and beyond. From the 1840s, cameras traced the international migrations of traders, sailors, sons, and daughters through Indian Ocean ports, continuing trade that dates back over five millennia. East African cities flourished as hubs of both land and sea trade routes, which extended to the central African interior, Horn of Africa, Persian Gulf, Indian Ocean islands, western India and the Far East.

The region’s intercultural ethos generated a multitude of encounters between subjects, photographers, and the global audiences who viewed the resulting images. By gathering images from scarce and little-known collections of early photographs, lithographs, postcards, and private albums, this exhibition focuses attention on a diverse cross-section of the region’s people and their cosmopolitan cities by the sea. It serves as a starting point for a larger photographic and creative visual history of the prosperous and diverse communities of the Indian Ocean world.

Smithsonian National Museum of African Art

http://indian-ocean.africa.si.edu/

Ongoing from March 9, 2022

The Art Museum of the Americas is pleased to present Geandy Pavón: Quarantine: 40 Days and 40 Nights, a timely and imaginative photographic exploration of life under quarantine.

Art Museum of the Americas
201 18th Street NW
Washington, DC 20006
http://www.museum.oas.org/exhibitions/2020s/2022-pavon.html

Ongoing from March 17, 2021

In her untitled series of photographs, Weems uses images of Augustus Saint-Gaudens’s memorial to commemorate the Great Migration of African Americans streaming north from the Jim Crow South after the Civil War. Layering text and pictures, Weems centers African American experiences that speak of racial pride and resilience, sacrifice and determination.

National Gallery of Art
6th St and Constitution Ave NW
Washington, DC 20565
West Building, Main Floor - Gallery 66
https://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/special/conversations-carrie-mae-weems.html

Ongoing from March 23, 2002

NOT AN OSTRICH: & OTHER IMAGES FROM AMERICA’S LIBRARY, organized by the Annenberg Space for Photography in Los Angeles and drawn from the photography collections of the Library of Congress, presents a taste of this institution’s spectacular holdings of more than 14 million photographs. Selected images reproduced for this online exhibition were made between 1839 and today. They trace the evolution of photography, from daguerreotypes and other early processes to contemporary digital technology.

Library of Congress
10 First Street SE
Washington, DC 20540
Southwest Gallery, Thomas Jefferson Building
https://www.loc.gov/exhibitions/images-from-americas-library/about-this-exhibition/

May 29, 2022  – October 2, 2022

For 50 years, Robert Adams (b. 1937) has made compelling, provocative, and highly influential photographs that show us the wonder and fragility of the American landscape, its inherent beauty, and the inadequacy of our response to it. This exhibition explores the reverential way he looks at the world around him and the almost palpable silence of his work.

National Gallery of Art
4th St and Constitution Ave NW
Washington, DC 20565
West Building, Ground Floor, Galleries 23-29
https://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/2022/american-silence-photographs-of-robert-adams.html

July 1, 2022 - June 11, 2023

Within a decade of its introduction in 1839, the daguerreotype—the first commercially viable form of photography—emerged as a highly popular means of documenting family relationships. Affordable pricing fueled the popularity of the daguerreotype and technical innovations made it possible to produce successful images of multiple sitters. This paved the way for the boom in family portraiture.

National Portrait Gallery
8th and G Streets NW
Washington, DC 20001
https://npg.si.edu/exhibition/family-ties-daguerreotype-portraits

July 8, 2022 - January 29, 2023 - Part 1

This exhibition features more than 25 photographs by Brian Lanker, the Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer who, in 1989, published the extraordinarily popular book “I Dream a World: Portraits of Black Women Who Changed America.”

Part 2 will be on view February 10, 2023, through Sept. 10, 2023. 

National Portrait Gallery
8th and G Streets NW
Washington, DC 20001
https://npg.si.edu/exhibition/i-dream-world-selections-brian-lanker%E2%80%99s-portraits-remarkable-black-women

July 29, 2022 - February 26, 2023

The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery is proud to present the winners and finalists of the 2022 Teen Portrait Competition! 

Inspired by the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition, the National Portrait Gallery’s Teen Portrait Competition invited young people across the nation to submit their original photographs in January 2022. When the competition closed in March, there were almost three hundred entries submitted from twenty-two states and Washington, D.C.  

National Portrait Gallery
8th and G Streets NW
Washington, DC 20001
https://npg.si.edu/learn/teen/competition_winners

ONLINE EXHIBITION

An icon in modern photography, Mary Ellen Mark (1940 - 2015) documented people around the world who might otherwise be unknown or forgotten.  From street children in Seattle to circus performers in India, Mark captured the lives and stories of individuals with empathy, humor and candor.  The exhibition includes photographs from some of the artist's best-known series that depict girls and young women, reflecting Mark's wonderous and uncanny vision of girlhood.

National Museum of Women in the Arts
1250 New York Ave NW
Washington, DC 20005
https://nmwa.org/whats-on/exhibitions/online/mary-ellen-mark-girlhood/

August 26-29, 2022

Carolina Photo Expo, PPNC’s annual state convention featuring over 15 amazing speakers over three days of classroom and hands-on education.  

Marriott Research Triangle Park
4700 Guardian Dr, Durham, NC 27703
https://ppofnc.com/carolina-photo-expo/

Formerly PHOTOPLUS

September 29, 2022 - October 1, 2022

Create NYC is a new 3-day immersive experience Powered by PHOTOPLUS. We’re building a new community for visual storytellers who want to take their skills to the next level, connect with other creatives, and test new gear. 

Duggal Greenhouse
63 Flushing Avenue, Building 268
Brooklyn, NY 11205
https://photoplusexpo.com/

November 4-6, 2022

Virtual Expo
https://midatlanticphotovisions.org/

Jan 22 – 24, 2023

Imaging USA features classes, networking opportunities, and a huge trade show to help you feel inspired and ready to grow your photography business.

Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center
2800 Opryland Drive
Nashville, TN 37214
https://imagingusa.com/about