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 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

April 9, 2021–August 14, 2023

This exhibition presents a cross-section of Karchmer’s professional photographs, coupled with personal photos and artifacts that shed light on his work. While the exhibition features numerous large-format images of remarkable beauty, it also includes didactic displays examining the technical and creative processes underlying such images. It thus illuminates why certain images are so successful in expressing both the physical and emotional aspects of architecture.

National Building Museum
401 F Street NW
Washington, DC 20001
https://www.nbm.org/exhibition/alan-karchmer/

Ongoing from March 23, 2022

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/

June 30 – December 31, 2022

Shrouded in smoky grays and velvety blacks, marked by deep shadows, or shifting reflections illumined by the glow of moonlight, the night has been a continual source of artistic inspiration. These prints and photographs, exhibited with George Ault’s painting, were created by American artists between 1897 and 1955 and are evocative of night’s many moods: playful, menacing, tranquil, foreboding, mysterious, or contemplative. Together they explore urban, suburban, and natural environments and suggest the many ways in which the night was changing.

National Gallery of Art
6th St and Constitution Ave NW
Washington, DC 20565East Building, Ground Level, Gallery 106A
https://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/2022/american-modernism-night-moods.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

August 6, 2022–January 8, 2023

Living in Two Times features the work of Bahman Jalali (1944–2010) and his wife and closest collaborator Rana Javadi (b. 1953). Noted for their sharp documentary images and haunting photomontage works, the artists are among the most influential figures in the development of late twentieth-century photography in Iran. Driven by the medium’s powerful—and fragile—relationship to memory, Jalali and Javadi created an unparalleled visual record of a tumultuous period in their homeland.

National Museum of Asian Art
1050 Independence Ave. SW
Washington, DC 20560
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
Galleries 23 and 24
https://asia.si.edu/exhibition/living-in-two-times-photography-by-bahman-jalali-and-rana-javadi/

October 3 – December 30, 2022

A vibrant visual culture emerged in Spain as commercial photographers such as Juan Laurent established studios that catered to the influx of visitors. As this imagery was collected and dispersed, it entered the popular imagination and defined the region in ways that still influence us today. These materials—the period postcards, fine photographs, and albums—allow us to see Spain as Sargent did, from its landscapes, architecture, and art to its music, dance, and costumes.

Photography and Travel in Sargent’s Spain draws upon photographs and printed matter in the Department of Image Collections of the National Gallery of Art Library. This exhibition is held in conjunction with Sargent and Spain.

National Gallery of Art
6th St and Constitution Ave NW
Washington, DC 20565
East Building, Ground Level - Library
https://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/2022/library-photography-travel-sargent-spain.html

November 4, 2022 - January 7, 2024

A Window Suddenly Opens: Contemporary Photography in China will be the Hirshhorn’s first survey of photography by leading multigenerational Chinese artists made between the 1990s and 2000s. The exhibition will showcase 186 artworks made between 1993 and 2022.

Hirshhorn Museum
Independence Ave and 7th St
Washington, DC 20560
https://hirshhorn.si.edu/exhibitions/a-window-suddenly-opens-contemporary-photography-in-china/

December 10, 2022–June 11, 2023

Unstill Waters: Contemporary Photography from India  foregrounds landscapes of India, real and reimagined, as powerful means of examining environmental and social issues concerning us all. Through still and moving image, seriality, and portraiture, five leading contemporary artists explore rapidly changing natural and built environments in India, from riverbanks, ancient forests, and city streets to surreal symbolic settings.

National Museum of Asian Art
1050 Independence Ave. SW
Washington, DC 20560
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
Galleries 23 and 24
https://asia.si.edu/exhibition/unstill-waters-contemporary-photography-from-india/

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/

January 29 – June 11, 2023

This Is Britain brings together the work of a generation of photographers who were commenting on the deep unrest of these pivotal decades. Vanley Burke, Pogus Caesar, Anna Fox, Paul Graham, Sunil Gupta, Chris Killip, Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, Martin Parr, and others pictured communities, traditions, and landscapes affected by Britain’s shifting social and economic realities. Together, they photographed a nation redefining what it meant to be British and, ultimately, modern.

National Gallery of Art
6th St and Constitution Ave NW
Washington, DC 20565
West Building, Ground Floor, Galleries G27–⁠⁠G29
https://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/2023/this-is-britain-photos.html

January 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

February 26 - 26, 2023

Registration closes February 23, 2023 at midnight.

Meredith Images
https://meredithimages.com/creative-photography-conference/

Conference: March 5 - 9, 2023

Show: March 7 - 9, 2023

Mirage
3400 S Las Vegas Blvd.
Las Vegas, NV 89109
https://wppiexpo.com/

April 4 - 6, 2023

What can you learn at ShutterFest? Just about anything! Master new lighting and posing techniques. Get started or learn more about boudoir, branding photography, headshots, wedding photography, senior portraits, and even photograph some dogs while you’re at it! The historic Union Station Hotel provides the perfect backdrop for hands-on classes.

Need to brush up on editing in Photoshop or Lightroom? We got you. Want to revamp your business, marketing, or pricing? Yeah, we got that too. The possibilities are endless.

St Louis Union Station
1820 Market Street
St. Louis, MO 63103
https://shutterfest.com/