We’re left with only a few short hours until the second annual DCist Exposed Photography Show opens to the public. Yesterday a few of us went to Civilian Art Projects to hang the 47 winning entries, and were blown away seeing them all professionally framed and on a gallery wall. We’re so used to seeing the talents of our photography contributors on our monitors while surfing the Flickr pool, it’s almost hard to believe how great these photos look in person.

This project got its heels many years ago, when DCist thought, “Hey, there are so many neat photos on Flickr, why don’t we start illustrating our posts with them?” You started filling our Flickr pool with thousands of images — right now there are over 1100 members and nearly 20,000 photos contributed. Some were so amazing we started featuring a Photo of the Day. Eventually, we realized we’d only hit the tip of that iceberg.

We were thrilled to receive over 500 people at the 2007 DCist Exposed at the Warehouse Art Gallery, and visitors were excited not only to see an exhibit that features the parts of D.C. that so many of us love, but that there was so much untapped talent just waiting to be, well, Exposed. A handful of our 2007 winners have held solo or participated in successful group shows since, and we know that that’s only the beginning. The 2008 contest became nearly impossible to judge, with so much talent that’s come our way, both from new and long-time contributors, who we’ve been able to watch grow and develop their skills right before our eyes.

Please join us tonight for the opening reception, from 7 to 9 p.m., where we’ll celebrate the 2008 winners, as well as all our contributing photographers, without whom this site just wouldn’t be the same. We want to give a special thanks to Flickr user Dots, Lines & Polygons, who was a huge help while installing the show yesterday — you can see his photo, Evening Time With the Evens tonight. Remember, all the images are for sale and can be purchased with cash or a check at the reception, or with a credit card through PayPal for a small surcharge. Contact heather [at] dcist.com or find me at the reception for more information.

Civilian Art Projects is located on the 3rd floor at 406 7th Street, NW, between the Gallery Place/Chinatown and Archives Metro stations. The reception is free, no RSVP required. If you can’t make it to opening night, remember that the show will be up through March 15. Civilian Art Projects’ regular hours are Wed.-Sat. from 2 to 6 p.m., and by appointment.

We’ll be holding a special panel discussion, Emerge Exposed, next Wednesday to discuss how to begin collecting art. The Pink Line Project and Civilian Art Projects have put together a team of amazingly knowledgeable folks to speak with us that night. Please RSVP to info [at] pinkline.org quickly, because seats are nearly filled. The panel event will be at the gallery from 7 to 9 p.m. and is $10 at the door.