Today, Washington DC is mantled in snow. The world is chiaroscuro, in tones of grey and white. It looks like a photograph by Colin Winterbottom.
Winterbottom captures DC’s architecture in his photographs. The city becomes a gothic landscape through his lens. The photographs are full of statues, fountains, columns, plinths, cornices and monuments. He chronicles the secret history of my hometown with images made of shadow and light.
In addition to capturing the more iconic touchstones (the Capitol, and the Monument), there is also a nod to the DC’s esoteric places. Abandoned buildings and cemeteries tell their stories to the viewer. There’s a series he’s done on the legendary mental hospital, St. Elizabeth’s—a place where my father did his internship.
DC is his muse, but it’s not his only subject. There are also studies in color (the luminous jewel toned stain glass of the Cathedral) and the abstract images that studies of rust and decay.
Craig Laurance Gidney 
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