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| Introduction by David Von Drehle | Enter Gallery | |||
| Silvia Otte | ||||
| 'At night these museums and monuments looked like sleeping giants.' "The first time I came to Washington I was 14. It was 1980, and my father and I, equipped with cameras, spent three days exploring the city. It was my first time in America, and after that trip, I knew I wanted to live in this country. Twenty-two years later I was back in Washington, photographing the sites and people all over again. What struck me most about the city this time was the great amount and importance of green spaces, the recreational areas and the many different kinds of people who were enjoying them. At night I'd wander over to these government buildings, these museums and monuments, and in such darkness they looked like sleeping giants, waiting for the light so they could spring back to life." – Silvia Otte is a German-born photographer who has been living and working in New York City since 1989. | ||||
| Jerome de Perlinghi | ||||
| "For these portraits I wanted the viewer to look right into the subjects' eyes. That's why I use black-and-white – there are fewer distractions. I've spent time photographing other cities, such as Shanghai and Chicago, but I didn't know Washington very well. So I got a map and worked out a series of routes to cover. Each day I would walk 20 to 25 miles. Every time I set out I saw a different part of the city, but there were some spots I wanted to keep visiting. In some neighborhoods where there are row houses, people would tend to gather on their front porches, and the children would be playing in the streets. You had the corner grocery store. There was always something happening. It's really a matter of luck whom you meet, what you glimpse. Why did I turn east? What would I have seen if I turned west instead?" – Jerome De Perlinghi was born in Belgium. He is a regular contributor to the French daily Liberation, in Paris, and has published a book of photographs of Shanghai. | ||||
| Chris Earnshaw | ||||
| 'With these pictures, I wanted to transport myself back in time.' "I grew up in Silver Spring. I used to accompany my father when he went into downtown Washington to work, exploring the city on my own. My parents, who were also from Washington, liked to talk about the way things used to be. So I was pleased when I could find old, dusty storefront windows, the grimy alleys – what seemed to me to make up the heart of the city. By the early '70s, a lot of the old buildings were slotted for demolition, and they're long lost now. With these pictures, I wanted to transport myself back in time. I'm drawn to these buildings of D.C. because they're the embodiment of the people who once lived here." – Chris Earnshaw is a photographer, writer, painter and musician who has spent most of his life recording the ever-changing streets of the city. | ||||
| D.A. Peterson | ||||
| "I live four blocks from the Capitol. This is a city made up of neighborhoods, and that surprises people who don't really know Washington. So I wanted to photograph the communities that make up the mortar of the city. One day I was north of Anacostia, in a neighborhood known as far Northeast, where I went to this barbershop everyone kept telling me I had to go to. There must have been 20 people packed in there. There was music playing, friends and family were hanging out, hugging each other – and some hair cutting. That was the spirit of the place, the neighborhood. I just walked in with my camera, and they welcomed me right in. At first I was thinking, How am I going to light this place? How am I going to shoot it? And then I realized the only way to capture this scene was to let it come through just as I was experiencing it, in its own natural light." – D.A. Peterson, a native Washingtonian, began his photography career 12 years ago in New York. | ||||