I’m officially too old for shots. So if you see me ripping them at Patrick Henry’s, no you didn’t. But Church Hill is never too old to be shot by photographers, so The Lookout is once again putting out the semi-annual call for Very CHill Photo submissions. Got a killer shot of the East End? Send it in for a chance to have it showcased to the neighborhood!

There are two ways to submit:

Each week, The Lookout features a different perspective of the neighborhood captured by a reader on the go. Here are just a few of the recent Very CHill Photos submitted by amateur auteurs in the area:

The only real ground rules are that the subject of the photo must be in the East End, and cannot be a person. If you’ve got photos that fit the bill in your camera roll—and I bet you do—share them with the world, wouldja? Submit them for consideration!

For nearly as long as The Lookout has been publishing, each edition includes a Very CHill Photo at the bottom. As a neighborhood newsletter, it’s been a pleasure to spotlight the talent and vision of photographically inclined folks from around the East End. And it’s been a real treat to see parts of our neighborhood from new angles. I mean just look at these views:

All the photos I’ve shot for The Lookout are entered into the Creative Commons under a CC-BY license to assist archivists like Yesterdays (see below) in creating free, open-source visual records of the neighborhood over time. Earlier this summer, I launched a submission form for Very CHill Photos so that those shots will get entered into the Creative Commons as well. The CC-BY license means you’ll always retain credit as the photographer; learn more here. The idea is to help build a rich, always-growing repository of images depicting life in the East End.

If that sounds like a cool mission that you’d like to be a part of, and you’ve got photos to contribute, well, great! Submit them today!

The Lookout often reports on serious issues affecting the East End, from flooding, to dangerous road designs, to mass surveillance (see below, x2). That stuff can be very heavy, and your Very CHill Photos help to bring some levity to each edition. Thanks to all the photogs that have already shared their shots. And to the rest of youze: let ‘em rip.

Possum Poetry is original verse written exclusively for The Lookout by Penelope Poubelle, the Lookout’s litter critter-at-large. If you spot roadside trash you’d like her to immortalize in doggerel, email a photo to [email protected]. All submissions anonymous!

Yesterday, Mayor Danny Avula’s team published a video to its official social-media channels about Richmond Police Department’s ongoing contracts with Flock Safety, the controversial AI-powered surveillance technology that has lately drawn broad, bipartisan, and national backlash over privacy and abuse concerns. “I think that the shift in public sentiment around Flock, which has been particularly acute in the last couple of months, is a sign we need to reevaluate our relationship with Flock,” said the longtime East Ender in the four-minute video, which was posted on Saturday morning without an accompanying press release.

As I’ve previously reported, Richmonders have been expressing concerns against Flock—whose skinny black poles and always-on surveillance cameras and microphones can be spotted throughout the East End for much longer than the past couple of months. Avula’s administration had seemed content to let RPD call its own tune on Flock, even collaborating with the cops to “saturate the public narrative” with positive stories about the billionaire-backed tech in response to inquiries from The Lookout, The Richmonder, and other local outfits. The video, while light on specifics, marks an apparent effort by Avula to put a little daylight between himself and Flock by promising a "review" of Richmond’s million-dollar-plus contract with the Atlanta-based firm, and by directing RPD to reduce its data retention to seven days, from the 21 allowed by state law.

Expect more reporting on this, but for now, two notes. First, the seven-day period Avula is now touting tracks exactly with Flock's own panicked revision to its policies in the face of severe public scrutiny in mid-August. Critics like the libertarian Institute for Justice (which has sued municipalities in Virginia over use of the tech) slammed this voluntary reform as mere "window dressing." Second, the comments on Avula's video are full of people wary that the mayor is setting up a move to replace the embattled automated-license-plate-reader vendor with a competitor like Axon, in hopes that the latter's less notorious brand name will draw less opposition to state surveillance. This has become a common feint in cities that are pressured to cut ties with Flock.

File this one to the “How Time Flies” folder: earlier this summer, the intrepid geospatial savants at Yesterdays reached a remarkable milestone in their quest to map Richmond’s visual history. See, when The Lookout first reported on the MapRVA project back in October 2025, its database contained some 14,000 archival images waiting to be digitally affixed to the city’s grid. By July 6th of this year, Yesterdays users had georeferenced more than that—some 14,035 photos. At publication, the project is still cruising, having logged nearly 16,000 historical pictures of Richmond, including thousands in the East End alone.

Happenings on The Hill is a digital bulletin board for events, causes, and other items of interest to East Enders that don’t necessarily merit full editorial treatment. Got something for a future edition? Email the relevant details, links, etc. to [email protected] for consideration!

Want to share your Very CHill Photo from the neighborhood? Submit it via this form with your name as you’d like it to appear for publication, and the camera you shot it on.

By submitting, you agree that your photo may be entered into the Creative Commons under a CC-BY license, which assists archivists in creating free, open-source visual records of the neighborhood over time. You will always retain credit as the photographer. Learn more about Creative Commons.