The very picture of achievement

Self-esteem. Independence. Security. These less-publicized benefits of homeownership are on full, poignant display at the “Stories of Home: Photographs by Bill Bamberger” exhibit at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C.

Bamberger, an award-winning photographer, lived and worked with the subjects of his project, which defines, through photographs, essays and oral histories, what “home” means to Americans.

Images of William and Shirley Suggs, for example, who moved from a trailer park in flood-ravaged rural North Carolina to their first home, are among the 80 first-time, low-income buyers and aspiring homeowners he photographed in the South. The exhibit, on the first floor of the museum, runs through March 7.

-- Diane Wedner