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Nice guy Theo Adamstein decided to create a photo competition for adults and children — with cash prizes. The newly christened FotoWeek DC seemed straightforward enough, and with some $27,000 in prize money, photographers from around the world were submitting their work. Soon the event exploded into much more than a competition, with scores of museums, galleries and various art spaces offering lectures and other photo exhibitions. And now, 12 months later, the second FotoWeek DC is even larger, its 150 events taking place everywhere from behemoth museums to the most modest classrooms.

Not surprisingly, this hoopla extended into the suburbs, with Rockville's VisArts, Photoworks in Glen Echo and Pyramid Atlantic in Silver Spring offering up lectures and multiple shows.

And yes, there is pathology to this photo frenzy. "Photography is addictive," asserts Kathleen Ewing, an expert on the affliction having owned and operated her namesake gallery for 35 years. While she has given up her storefront space and recreated a "salon" in her Cleveland Park home, the photo junkie jumped at the chance to curate a FotoWeek DC art show at VisArts.

On Ewing's first visit to the second-floor art space, the "impressive facility" struck her. "It is huge." As a result of its size, she knew the space was perfect for exhibiting landscapes, but not anything like those "red sunsets against blue water" photos she detests.

Instead, Ewing created "Exploring The Land: Personal Observations by Ten Contemporary Photographers," an overview for all that is possible from the classic "black and white images to more traditional color landscapes, to aerial abstractions, to complex time sequence panorama," she says. Fascinated with how artists view the same location, she included two artists' versions of a scene in Wales.

While Ewing talks of addiction, Ben Anderson gets esoteric.

"It's all about immortality," explains the Washington School of Photography teacher. "It's the ability to capture a slice of time in say one 5,000th of a second, and we can't do it in any other way."

He has a point; paintings can't capture a moment in real time and for both professionals and the millions of amateurs, clicking that perfect moment is photography's version of the Holy Grail.

To that end, the school has asked members of the Mid-Atlantic region's more than 20 camera clubs to submit their best work for "I See DC." Some 30 images capture the essence of the nation's capital, "honoring the place where many club members make their livelihood," Anderson says.

But photography isn't all about quick clicks of the cameras. Glen Echo Park's Photoworks is taking on decidedly cerebral bookmakers. "On Top of the World: Book Artists From Australia" is a unique opportunity to view work by artists "so isolated they are limited in their materials," explains curator Tara O'Brien. "They can't get the sumptuous cloth available in other countries, so the community turns to nature using found objects."

The 18 books intermingle photography with printmaking and a variety of textural experiences, making them both visual and "adventures of the hands. The books are sumptuous pieces of art, yet you can hold them in your lap," O'Brien says.

The idea of creating handmade books may seem antiquated in this age of high-tech equipment, O'Brien asserts that "with the Internet, books don't have to be the main vehicle for information. They don't have the responsibility they once had. The Internet has contributed to an increased interest in books as an art form."

While the art of bookmaking may be becoming more popular, the technology gods have advanced photography to unexpected places. And for many photographers, it's the amazing equipment that feeds their addiction. A photographer who prefers to remain anonymous jokes that for guys, "lens size matters."

"Kodak predicted that every man, woman and child would own a camera," Ewing says, but who could have guessed that artists would be creating fine art using cell phones or palm-size video cameras?

Eventually, Adamstein hopes to create a FotoWeek show that uses cell phone cameras to capture the world. But for now, Pyramid Atlantic proves that video continues to take its place in the fine art world with the IV Inter-American Biennial of Video Art. The traveling exhibit has been presented throughout the world and will be on view in the Kunst Vault. Its 13 short videos are an eclectic mix. One artist created a spoof of "Gone with the Wind," says Jose Dominguez, Pyramid Atlantic's artistic director.

In conjunction with the video art, Pyramid Atlantic is also showing "Portrait 2.0," an "unconventional examination of the conventional portrait by contemporary artists," according to curator Michael Pollack. After years of collecting photography, Pollack concluded that people are often afraid of hanging portraits in their homes – unless they depict their own families. In this show, however, he wants viewers to see that the "portrait is not what it first appears to be."

Pollack has included work by internationally known artists Sheila and Nicholas Pye and Whitney Biennial participant Chan Chao.

"Art work shouldn't always be easy," he says, in justifying his choices.

Perhaps it is not easy, but it sounds like visiting any or all these exhibitions will be interesting.

"Process: Word and Image" images by John Borstel and Matthew M. Smith are on view in Photoworks through Nov. 15. The gallery is open Saturday 1-4 p.m., Sunday, Monday 1-8 p.m. and during all scheduled classes. "On Top of the World: Book Artist From Australia" is on view at the Popcorn Gallery Saturday and Sunday, noon to 6 p.m. through Nov. 22. Both galleries are in Glen Echo Park, 7300 MacArthur Blvd. Call 301-634-2274 or visit glenechoPhotoworks.org.

"I SEE DC," an exhibit featuring photography of the nation's capital city captured by members of the mid-Atlantic region's more than 20 camera clubs opening Friday through Friday, Dec. 4, at the Washington School of Photography, 4850 Rugby Ave., Bethesda. Gallery hours are Monday, Wednesday 1 to 5 p.m., Tuesday, Thursday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. An opening reception is planned for 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, Dec. 13. Call 301-654-1998 or visit www.wsp-photo.com.

"Exploring The Land: Personal Observations by Ten Contemporary Photographers" is on view from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday through Jan. 16 at VisArts, 155 Gibbs St., Rockville. Call 301- 315-8200 or visit visartscenter.org.

Pyramid Atlantic is presenting three exhibits running through Dec. 5: Portrait: 2, an examination of conventional portraits and "The IV Inter-American Biennial of Video Art" noon to 6 p.m. Monday – Saturday and Sunday by appointment at Pyramid Atlantic, 8230 Georgia Ave., Silver Spring; A video artist's reception is set for 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Thursday and "Urban Photo Dialogue" explores the dialogue between subject and setting with a contemporary landscape noon to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday; noon to 8 p.m. Friday; 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday; 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday at ArtSpring Gallery, 8519 Georgia Ave., Silver Spring. An artist reception is planned for 6 to 8 p.m. Friday. Call 301-608-9101 or visit

www.pyramidatlantic.org.