Washington Photo Safari

05/30/2026

Have you ever wondered how to make flowing water look like cotton?

What about blurring the background in your image?

Then you need to take the WPS F-Stops & Shutter Speeds safari! WPS Director E. David Luria will teach you these techniques and more, and will encourage you to use all the settings on your camera and never go back to using Auto!

The next safari is June 21 at the Smithsonian Castle and Enid Haupt Garden. Spend a fall afternoon learning how to control the look of your images in a garden setting!

Book your space now!

https://washingtonphotosafari.com/home/photo-tours/f-stops-and-shutter-speeds-make-this-relationship-work-for-you-national-portrait-gallery/

05/30/2026

Few figures in modern history have transcended celebrity quite like Marilyn Monroe.

More than six decades after her death, she remains instantly recognizable across generations and cultures — a symbol of glamour, vulnerability, beauty, fame, and the complexities hidden behind public image.

In 2026, marking the centenary of her birth, the National Portrait Gallery in London will honor the legendary actress with a major new exhibition, Marilyn Monroe: A Portrait, on view from June 4 through September 6, 2026.

All About Photo.com | Photography article: 'Marilyn Monroe at 100: Landmark Exhibition Opens at National Portrait Gallery'.

05/29/2026

Washington, DC has a number of buildings and landmarks that rival their counterparts in Paris, and WPS will take you to photograph them all on this whirlwind trip through DC!

You'll learn architectural photography techniques including tips on exposure, composition, lighting, and white balance, and you'll visit some of the most photogenic locations in DC in the process!

Sign up now for the Paris on the Potomac Safari on June 14!

https://washingtonphotosafari.com/home/photo-tours/monuments-memorials/paris-on-the-potomac/

05/29/2026

The most iconic Batman serial of all time, The Killing Joke, is getting an oversized prestige edition themed like a film camera (with removable lens and leather case) for an eye-watering €15,000 – approximately $17,500 / £13,000 / AU$24,400.

While other caped crusader comics are arguably better (check out The Dark Knight Returns and Year One), what makes The Killing Joke the most iconic Batman graphic novel ever is its cover – featuring a rictus-grinning Joker pointing a camera at the viewer.

Classic Batman graphic novel 'The Killing Joke' is getting a photographer-baiting "Avant Garde Edition"

05/28/2026

Even though you are surrounded by iPhone users, your Samsung Smartphone does so many cool things without downloading any apps!

There are a wide variety of special modes and settings just waiting to be used! Learn about these cool features and more on the Samsung Smartphone Photography Safari on Zoom.

The June 30 Zoomfari is hosted by WPS Director E. David Luria, who is a Samsung owner himself! Book your space now to learn about using the camera on your Galaxy Smartphone!

https://washingtonphotosafari.com/home/photo-tours/samsung-galaxy-owners-of-the-world-unite-a-virtual-photo-safari-on-zoom-for-you/

05/28/2026

An exhibition commemorates the 70th anniversary of the landmark publication of Gordon Parks’ color images of the segregated South in Life magazine

Gordon Parks: The South in Color is is on view until June 13 at Jackson Fine Art in Atlanta in partnership with The Gordon Parks Foundation.

It brings more than 30 photos from Parks’ 'Segregation Story' series.

05/27/2026

Join WPS for a special event on Tuesday, June 9 at the Library of Congress to photograph the Main Reading Room!

This beautiful space is mainly open to researchers, but twice a day the Library of Congress opens it to the public for about an hour, including photographers!

E. David Luria will provide tips and techniques for interior architectural photography, with emphasis placed on composition and lighting. In addition to photographing the Main Reading Room, you will also get to photograph the Great Hall, which is as magnificent as any structure you will find in Europe!

Book your space now!

https://washingtonphotosafari.com/library-of-congress-open-house-at-the-main-reading-room/

05/27/2026

Returning to the same location dozens of times sounds like the opposite of creative growth, but it might be exactly what separates good work from great work.

The conditions you encounter on any given day, the light, the weather, the season, shape the image more than the location itself ever could.

Adrian Vila revisits a familiar countryside stretch nearly daily, chasing light and conditions that eluded him for seven years. Watch how sustained location work reveals compositional opportunities a single visit never would.

05/26/2026

Seeing the moon rise over the Jefferson Memorial - and photographing it, with a moonbeam reflected in the Tidal Basin is an awesome way to spend an early summer evening in DC!

This safari includes photography of the FDR Memorial during the Golden Hour and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial and the Jefferson Memorial during the Blue Hour, while you wait for the moon to rise over the Jefferson Memorial.

If your camera has a multiple exposure function, WPS Director & Founder E. David Luria will show you how to move the moon in your image and place it wherever you want it!

Book your space now!

https://washingtonphotosafari.com/home/photo-tours/monuments-memorials/full-moonrise-over-the-jefferson-memorial/

05/26/2026

Have you ever thought closely about how much or little your photos change with just one stop of shutter speed? Here’s what happens to the same scene shot from 1/3200 to 60 seconds. There’s a lot to think about when holding your camera to your eye. Besides the overall layout of the frame and how bright you want the photo to be, there’s the depth of field: how much of the subject do you want in focus? Then there’s the shutter speed. If anything is moving, how close it is to the camera, and what shutter speed do you need to stop or blur the movement?

How does shutter speed actually affect the look of your photos?