The Bermuda Professional Photographers Association 2010 Biennial at the Masterworks Museum is, to say the least, quite dreary. I have seen the show a couple times and I am trying to be fair. I want the exhibition to succeed, but try as I might, the overall impression is one of dismalness.

Yet it is not the photography that is primarily at fault, indeed, there are some memorable pieces in the show, if only it were possible to see them clearly. The most obvious difficulty is the Masterworks Museum's policy of keeping their lights so incredibly dim, you have to practically grope your way around the walls. I realise that there are lighting guidelines for museums, but, it seems that Masterworks carries these to extremes.

Because of the limited size and shape of the gallery, I also understand that each photograph had to be restricted to a small size. Most are about the same size of approximately 16 inches by 20 inches, which gives the show an unfortunate uniformity.

Given that this is a professional photographers' biennial, however, this exhibition should have been open to all kinds of innovation, technical, aesthetic, you name it. It seems though, that the strictures imposed have worked against this happening and I feel sorry for the curator, who has had to work within these limitations.

When I heard that this year's BPPA Biennial was to be curated, I had high hopes. Given that the first two biennials were self-juried, this seemed a step in the right direction and it is, nevertheless, I was hoping for much more, in terms of technical innovation. Despite some really good work, much the photography seems dated and old fashioned.

Despite these negative aspects, there is some thoughtful photography on exhibit. Antoine Hunt's Xochimilico 1, 2 & 3 are notable. These three photographs, which were taken on an island in the Xochimilico district of Mexico city, pictures a shrine-like area devoted to the memory of a little girl, whose body was washed-up at a particular place. Shortly after a doll washed up in the same location. This was seen as more than coincidental. Thereafter people from that area began to donate other dolls, which were then tied to trees and shrubs. I understand that today the dolls number in the thousands.

Of Meredith Andrews pictures, Rosie is especially memorable. It pictures a child with rosy cheeks looking from a window. The composition is a symmetrical arrangement, the child being the centre of attention. Although this is a simple design, the varying textures and muted colours of the surrounding walls and windows provide a setting that allows the child's face to capture our interest.

Ann Spurling's three photographs were all taken in the Lake District of northern England, but hers is more than just attractive landscape photography. Her keen observations of the interplay between vary objects and surrounding water reflections create an illusion of objects that, although in the water, appear to be hovering in the air. Of the three, #2, which depicts a rather broken down jetty, would have been even stronger, had the jetty been in sharper focus. It almost "pops" but not quite.

Graeme Outerbridge continues his investigation of found abstractions. This takes a trained eye, that sees beyond the identity of the subject to more formal arrangements. One abstract, entitled Torn particularly caught my attention, for it consists of varying layers of cut and torn coloured papers and corresponding shadows. The print's fine details create the illusion, not only of actual layering, but also embossing, that looks real enough, I initially thought that maybe there had been some mishap, but no, it is all intentional.

Gavin Howarth's Hanging Out depicts a lizard, hanging upside down along the bottom of a branch. The impressive things about this photograph are the reptile's scales, which are in incredibly sharp focus.

When I saw Scott Tucker's black and white photograph of a nude floating in what appears to be a mangrove swamp, my immediate response was, in a word, Ophelia. I am not sure why I thought that, for until then, any depictions that I had seen of the drowned Ophelia were always clothed. When I looked at the catalogue, however, I discovered that this photograph's title is, indeed, Ophelia. It must have been the pose.

The exhibition, in the Rick Faries Gallery at the Masterworks Museum, consists of 28 photographs by ten photographers. They are James Tavares, Scott Tucker, Gavin Howarth, Ally Lusher, Antoine Hunt, Graeme Outerbridge, Maredith Andrews, Ann Spurling, Anthony Francis and Ernest McCreight.

The show continues through October 30, 2010.