Peter Matcham's photography exhibition in the Bermuda Society of Arts' Onions Gallery, is a super-romanticised view of Bermuda. Additionally, some of the pictures are, by Bermuda standards, super-large. Others are only of modest dimensions.

There are 64 photographs in the show, altogether — 63 are in colour, one in black and white. The exhibition is entitled, 'In a Different Light'.

All the works are digitally produced.

The romantic aspect of the show is especially evident in such pictures as #12, 'Destination Bermuda' — this photo depicts a Bermuda dinghy sailing through clouds high in the air — or in #53, 'Ely's Longtail Sunrise'. In this work, the flying longtail is nested in the wings of the same bird, only reversed and enlarged. These are obviously the product of Photoshop, a fact, confirmed by the artist.

You might think that this entire show is largely the result of Photoshop. I thought so myself, but I was wrong.

Most of the photographs are straight photography. In talking to the artist, he estimated that in only about ten percent of his work did he use Photoshop and in some pieces, only sparingly. There are three pictures of fish swimming in either a glass or a vase. I thought that these were surely products of manipulation, but again I was wrong. It is straight photography and the fish were really swimming in a glass or a vase.

Many pictures are night shots, either by moonlight or, at times, the artist used ambient light from street lights and houses. All seem to have required time-exposures.

In one case, there is a glow emanating from a ruin. This is #19, 'Curing Room'. Mr. Matcham told me that in this instant, he used a candle, although only the glow is visible. I counted at least eight moonlight shots. One particularly notable night picture, is #2, 'Electric Hamilton Fog'. This is a view of Hamilton harbour from Paget, but in fog. The city, including the fog, are all aglow. It has a misty, mystic quality.

One photograph of note is #3, 'Cedar Tempest'. This pictures an old, craggy Bermuda cedar amid other vegetation, particularly a Bermuda palmetto. Apparently it was a somewhat windy night and in order to capture the scene, a time exposure was required. The movement of the palm fronds appear as blurred. This does not in any way detract, however. Indeed it seems to actually capture the concept of windiness. The mood of this picture is one of dread. One almost expects to see ghosts.

One photo that captured the attention of most viewers is #11, 'Chick Revelation'. This picture is of a Longtail sitting in the nest, but with a chick protruding from underneath the parent. Who can resist the charm of the young, be it human or animal?

While some of Matcham's pictures are printed on paper, many are on stretched canvas. That begs the question, why?

I realise that this practice is popular, but it appears that some photographers do this to bring to the photograph what they perceive as the status of painting. Actually, I did speak to Mr. Matcham about this concern. He said that the idea of making the work look like a painting, never entered his thinking and that he was only attempting to bring to it a certain weightiness.

It wasn't long after the invention of photography that painters began to use photographs as references, in making their paintings. But it took a century or more, before photography was considered art. Today, photographs are highly considered in the art museum world. Indeed, it almost seems that in many exhibitions, photography eclipses painting. In those shows, however, I do not recall seeing a photograph printed on canvas. Most are very large and usually on paper.

The wish to bring weightiness to the work is a legitimate goal, however. In this exhibition, though, heavier stretchers would have been of even greater help in attaining the desired weightiness. I did notice, that in stretching the canvas, Matcham wraps a portion the photo around the edge of the stretcher. This seems to negates the wished-for weightiness.

The exhibition continues through October 10, 2007.