Need to Know Before You Go

A contact sheet (unedited frames of film) in "Contact/s: The Art of Photojournalism" at FotoWeek Central. (By Lori Grinker -- Contact Press Images)

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Friday, November 14, 2008

Now about that road map.

One of the best ways to start figuring out how to navigate FotoWeek, according to gallery owner George Hemphill, is by checking out the event's Web site, http://www.fotoweekdc.org. That's where you'll find dates, addresses, phone numbers, etc., for its myriad offerings. Or you can turn to Page 21 for a list of this week's offerings.

Or early in the week, head down to FotoWeek Central (3333 and 3338 M St. NW) in Georgetown. Pick up a brochure and poke around the two buildings that form the hub of the week's activities. It's here that you'll get the best sense of what's in it for you, not to mention an opportunity to sign up for free programs.

Relax at the Foto Cafe and Lounge. And be sure and take a look at "Contact/s: The Art of Photojournalism." That exhibition, which Hemphill calls FotoWeek's one true blockbuster, features large-scale contact sheets (made from unedited frames of film) taken since 1976 by photographers working for the Contact Press Images photo agency.

In this rapidly changing digital age, Hemphill says, "there are people who will not even know what a contact sheet is."