Bermuda Society of Arts' Annual Photographic Exhibition at the City Hall Gallery

The Bermuda Society of Arts' Annual Photographic Exhibition is a show where the expectation tends to run high. This is a good show, but the standard of the pictures in the current exhibition isn't quite up to the high quality one has become accustomed to.

The show starts on something of a down note, a set of what can only be described as family Polaroid snapshots by James Cooper so small that one's reading glasses had to be worn.

On the facing wall was a needlessly complicated set of pictures Jon Legere sliced into strips and presented in twos at a forty five degree angle so that the picture changed as one moved past. This is an advertising gimmick that serves only to make either picture involved harder to discern.

From there things decidedly improved. Amanda Temple's blue light impression of the Eiffel Tower was attractively evocative and gave charm to a hackneyed subject. It was artfully presented adjacent to two pictures of whales, also in a perhaps enhanced blue light the second of which, ‘Face Off', was suitably menacing.

Around the corner was a fascinating monochrome achieved in the famous Vigeland Sculpture Park in Norway. It was of the well known family groups on their flight of steps, but was achieved digitally through a wrought iron gate of striding male figures producing a most effective contrast of line and form.

Another digital print in black and white was an impressive study in texture of a weathered New Hampshire barn by Thomas Trimingham, setting out, perhaps, in the photographic footsteps of his distinguished uncle. His ‘Deusenburg', however, proves that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Martin Grznar's ‘Rome Night Street' was redolent with atmosphere and the distinctive feel and colour of the Eternal City. His ‘Quiet Harbour' on the other hand, suffered as did the entire show - by comparison with a similar shot in the neighbouring Retrospective Exhibition in the Edinburgh Gallery of the travel photography of De Forest Trimingham.

Juliette O'Connor's ‘Trash or Treasure' pair offer an interesting study in what makes a good photograph come to life. Both shots are of an oriental junk shop, the second brought to life by the presence in it of an impassive cyclist passing by in utter disinterest.

Once again suffering somewhat by comparison were the studies in brilliant colour by Jennifer Lapsley. The matadors, with their not quite matching brilliant cerise suits of light had a bold drama not achieved in the tourist shot of the ‘Carnival of Lights'.

Light is something Robert Rogers takes great trouble to achieve. His warm evening glow enhancing the crumbling stone unfinished church was only a little defeated by an egregious moon lowering over the pile. A dawn light produced a rich colour scheme and contrasts in ‘Cave'.

The parallels of pattern juxtaposed with contrasts in colour were only exceeded in fascination by the effort to determine the subject matter in Paul Slaughter's ‘Flamingo Tongue'. I identified the sea fan, but was defeated by its resident guest.

Coming close to my choice of the most beautiful work in the show was Anthony Turner's ‘Ceramic'. It is a subtly composed monochrome of contrasting shapes and soft textures betraying a very refined eye. His equally subtle, soft and sinuous ‘Palm Leaf' contrasted admirably with the rather brash and gaudy version of a similar subject a couple of pictures further on by Andrew Collett, whose ‘Botanical Impressions', if reproduced as a cloth pattern, would drive away even the most exotic dresser.

Meredith Andrews' series of exotica might well qualify for the ‘Well I Never1' award for reportorial photography, but the last, ‘Havana', was made somewhat haunting by the well known trick of including a distant small human figure well of the focus of the shot.

‘Duck at Sunset', a monochrome by Gretchen Cooney follows all the compositional rules to great visual effect and leads to expectations unmet by her other more pedestrian shots of sundry fauna.

The studies of texture in Robert Hollis' two banana leaf works was interesting and formed a good lead to one of the few portrait studies in the show, Sylvie Elliott's ‘Respect'. This was a study as much in texture as in character and is one of the highlights of the show.

Antoine Hunt has been to India. If he had known about the show in the Edinburgh Gallery he might not have submitted his ‘Bodhgaya' series to the show at all. That would have been a pity because despite the competition his work stands up very well. The girl in the green sari applying mud by hand to a wall is beautifully conceived and cleverly textured while the monk sitting at the corner of an elaborate temple, all lines of perspective centred on his simplicity, was exceptional.

Following in the oriental series are ‘Sitting Buddha' and ‘Sanctuary', two works of studied composition and subdued colour. The unifying theme is of diminishing perspectives in temple passages used to compelling effect. Her third work, ‘A dogs Life', however, runs to the humorous. It is of the steps to a quite commonplace mosque on which lie a few patient dogs and the sandals of their presumably worshipping owners.

Vincent Roberts' ‘Fishing' is an effective shot of a bird flying over water in mist, the reflection forming the composition, faint in a monochromatic light. Its haunting quality was repeated in ‘Late Ferry' by Kelvin Hastings-Smith, a shot from the Belmont ferry dock taken shortly after sunset in weather the suggested that the ferry probably didn't run at all.

It has a sense of desolation all its own. His ‘Potting Shed' was an interesting contrast of shapes in a subdued colour scheme. Joanne Harris' mixed media treatment unnecessarily complicated her rock pool photos. Left in their striking simplicity without the untidy surrounds they might have been much more effective than they managed to be.

Perhaps what distinguishes De Forest Trimingham's photography is the amount of work involved in achieving his remarkable results. ‘Dockyard Bollard' could be mistaken for a lucky snapshot, but one gets the sense the Mr. Trimingham saw his opportunity, calculated the light and the weather he wanted and either waited or went back, perhaps several times, until the conditions were perfect for exactly this photograph.

The same can be said for ‘Palm Shadows'. Luck just doesn't come round that often.

Pierangelo Lanfranchi may have worked just as hard to catch his ‘Flying Fish'. When they appear it is in the flash of an eye, usually when and where one least expects. This photograph, admirably composed is more a photo of symmetrical patterns on water in a sweeping curve than of the distant fish itself. It was either an incredible stroke of luck or the infinite painstaking nature of genius. ‘Papa Reflecting' by Anita Simons is a fine photograph of an old man by the seashore.

Its misfortune in this show is to be compared with a very similar photograph in the Trimingham Retrospective.

Not to worry; one of the best pictures in the show, both for colour scheme and for composition is Ms Simons splendid yellow ‘Flowers in a Vase'. Cleverly balanced against an engraved tray this fairly glows with intensity of colour and sticks in the memory long afterwards.

Almost at the end of the show is a shot by Bill Pantry of a beach on which one would like to stroll or lie or swim glimpsed through a grotty entryway through which one wouldn't like to pass. It sets up conflicting emotions not easily achieved in photography.

The combined photographic shows at the Society of Arts galleries at City Hall are more than well worth a visit.