Hetherington agreed to talk to me for a class project, and we met in a brunch place on the Upper West Side where he told me about his life. He was born in Liverpool, England, and had what he called “an unusual upbringing,” living in 12 different cities with his family before he was sent to Stoneyhurst, a Jesuit boarding school. “It was a strange place,” he said, “a real Jesuit prison camp. Hard weather, and they used to beat you in that private schoolboy tradition.” He studied English, Latin, and Greek at university, and worked for a while publishing and editing children’s books. After his grandmother died and left him a few thousand pounds, Hetherington took two years off and traveled alone to China, India, and Pakistan, staying mostly out of contact with family and friends. When he returned to England, he felt dissatisfied with writing as a medium. “I’d had a lot of experiences, and I was suffering from culture shock,” he said. “I had a lot of things inside me that I needed to express, and I was having difficulty expressing them with words. I said to myself there and then that I wanted to get involved in more visual culture.”
Between swooning over the picture of the sweet couple that Danie Smallwood submitted to last month’s “Caught in the Moment” contest and planning for our stuffed-to-the-brim Valentine’s Day Guide (be sure to check it out for restaurant specials and dozens of great date ideas), it seemed only fitting to focus on falling in love for our February photo contest. Are your friends and family sick of staring at all your mushy photos? Send them our way. Proposals, first dates, hand-holding, wedding pictures, Eskimo kisses—if the picture’s got anything to do with love, sweet love (in Washington, of course), we can’t wait to see it. PS—We’re also on the lookout for love stories for a special Valentnine’s Day feature. If you’re better at writing this stuff down than capturing it with a camera, be sure to share those as well!
In December, we ran a Snowmaggedon photo contest, and readers submitted hundreds of awesome pictures from last February's storm. Today, we're showing you thirteen of our favorite runners up (view the finalists here) because the current weather situation is just one big, grey-sky tease. Let's get to the white stuff already!
>> See a slideshow of the finalists
January's candid photography contest swamped the Washingtonian offices with some of the most vibrant photography we've seen in months. Playing off the "Caught in the Moment" theme, participants snapped their subjects in all sorts of surprising poses and positions. Hey Washington—thanks for the mid-winter pick-me-up!
The six shots you see here represent the cream of the crop. See the full pictures in our finalists' gallery, then vote for your favorite in the poll below (It's tough this month!). The photograph with the most votes as of noon on Tuesday, February 1 will be published in the March issue of The Washingtonian.
Please remember to play fair! The rules allow one vote per person, and we monitor the polls closely. If we catch voting irregularities for a particular photograph, it’ll be disqualified.
*To help keep this contest fair, we’ve elected to use an IP-address-based poll. This means that if you’re voting from an office or network setting, not everybody in that setting will be able to vote. We apologize for the inconvenience, but we hope you’ll encourage coworkers to vote from their home computers.
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Arlington resident Walter Grio convinced a friend to don a panda costume for this shot taken on an Orange Line Metro train. The giant bear hardly fazed commuters.
>> See more of our favorite pictures from FotoWeek DC 2010
Didn't make it to any of this year's Fotoweek events? Not a problem—we rounded up the festival's best shots of Washington in our December issue, and now, for our online readers, we've wrapped them up in a nice little slide show. Merry Christmas.
>> See a slideshow of the September finalists
Well shutterbugs, we are officially impressed. Just when we thought we’d be wading in predictable old cherry-blossom pics, you go and send us hundreds of color-drenched, completely modern interpretations of September’s “flora and fauna” photo contest. Our judges spent all afternoon whittling down the options to six finalists, and we’re finally ready to have you pick the winner. See our favorites up close in our finalists’ gallery, then vote for your pick below. The photograph with the most votes as of noon on Thursday, September 30, will appear in the November issue of The Washingtonian.
Before the cooler weather slowly draws you inside, we’re putting in one last bid for greenery and cuddly animals. We’ve dubbed September’s photo contest “Flora and Fauna” in hopes of bringing in pictures of super-cute zoo babies, the beauty of our local parks, gardens, conservatories, and of course, the awe and intrigue of the Washington wild. Or, you know, the backwoods of your Bethesda neighborhood. C’mon, Washington, we know you can do it! Especially considering the amount of National Zoo and cherry-blossom photos we receive regardless of the theme.
Here’s how the contest works: Submissions will be accepted until noon on Monday, September 20. Our judges will select the finalists, then we’ll open it up to you to select a favorite. The winner will be published in the November issue of The Washingtonian.
Photos—one per e-mail, please—should be sent to photocontest@washingtonian.com. Be sure to include the photographer’s name, phone number, e-mail address, and place of residence along with a sentence or two about the photo, where it was taken, and an explanation of why it fits the theme. You can submit as many photos as you’d like, but just make sure each is 300 dpi and at least four by six inches. And remember, the photographer and the subject must be from the Washington area, which includes the Maryland and Virginia suburbs.
>> See a slideshow of the August finalists
Babies, bikers, and Segway riders—with so many ways to be on the move in Washington, we were glad to see that many entries in our transportation-themed photo contest went beyond the standard Metro shots. Now that our judges have whittled down the selection to five finalists, it’s up to you to pick the winner. See our favorites up close in our finalist’s gallery, then vote for your pick in the poll below. The photograph with the most votes as of noon on Tuesday, August 31, will appear in the October issue of The Washingtonian.
Was it Yoda or Rafiki who said it’s not the destination but the journey? Origin aside, the old cliché is a direct inspiration for August’s transportation photo contest. Show us how DC gets from point A to point B, and please don’t limit yourself to images of luxury cars or ascending airplanes. Though both are welcome interpretations of the theme, we’re interested both in pictures that capture movement, from a baby’s first walk to a marathon, as well as in the vehicles that move us, be it plane, train, bike, Metro, or even your own feet.
We’ll accept submissions until noon on Monday, August 23. Our judges pick the finalists, but readers decide the winner. The photo that garners the highest percentage of votes in an online poll will be published in the October issue of The Washingtonian.
Photos—one per e-mail, please—should be sent to photocontest@washingtonian.com. Be sure to include the photographer’s name, phone number, e-mail address, and place of residence, along with a sentence or two about the photo. Where it was taken, an explanation of why it fits the theme, and a title for the photograph are all important details. You can submit as many pictures as you’d like, but make sure each is 300 dpi and at least four by six inches. And remember, the photographer and the subject must be from the Washington area, which includes the Maryland and Virginia suburbs.
Good luck, and may the Force be with you.
Neon lights and Latin dancing spiced up several entries in this month’s contest: photos of Washington when the sun goes down. After perusing bright colors and fun times, our judges decided on five pictures to send to the next round. Take a closer look in our finalists’ gallery, then cast your vote in the poll below. The photograph with the most votes as of noon on Friday, July 30, will be in the September issue of The Washingtonian.
