My initial response to the the Bermuda Professional Photographers Association Biennial Exhibition was favourable. Indeed, upon entering, the viewer is confronted by two large, handsome photographs on canvas of water reflections by Ian Macdonald-Smith and across the room to the left are two additional framed reflection pieces by the same artist.

The exhibition seems sparse and clean and since the west windows are open to light, the room is also wonderfully bright.

As I turned the corner and wandered through the show, however, I had a growing sense of unease. Certain terms entered my head, such as "cheesecake" and "chocolate box".

In the end, with only a few exceptions, the show began to seem safe. There is not much in the way of risk-taking but that brings up a dilemma. What today comes across as safe, would have been seen as "cutting-edge" twenty years ago.

Even the works by Graeme Outerbridge, who is obviously expanding upon his sense of abstraction, are no longer in the forefront of photography. I had hoped for something more biting.

Bermuda is a pretty place and this is what most of these artists specialise in. Two years ago I said of that biennial, that I had hoped for something less pretty, more gritty, and only a few days ago, when talking to another artist, I asked why it is that so few artists here confront the pertinent issues of our time and place. His response was that most are afraid to deal with issues and mostly tiptoe around them.

There is one artist in this show, whose work is an exception, however. David Skinner's photographs are about the war in Iraq. They depict an installation on a beach in California. There, someone has placed hundreds of white crosses in even intervals along straight lines, recreating what seems to be graves in the desert. At first I did not realise that it was only an installation. I thought it the real thing and I was terribly moved. I still am.

This is a professional photographers' exhibition and technically the work is faultless but at the same time so commercial looking. That brings up the question of defining "professional". Most think it implies earning a living by whatever is under consideration, in this case photography.

Additionally, it suggests having reached a certain standard or skill and these photographers surely fit all these understandings. It is possible to be perfectly skillful and at the same time dull, however. I am afraid that this is what is happening with this show.

What this exhibition needs is a good international jury. I suggested in my review of the last photography biennial that if they were serious about it, they would use an overseas jury to judge the show. Unfortunately, as with the last biennial, they continue to self judge. Each participant selected his or her own work and that is the problem. An international jury would assist them in holding to a higher standard and the viewing public deserves nothing less.

The exhibition is in the Onions Gallery of the Bermuda Society of Arts and continues through December 4.